Chest radiograph is one of the most commonly employed imaging modalities in primary care. It may be done for symptomatic patients or routine health screening. Hence, it is important for a primary care physician to be able to interpret chest radiograph systematically in relation to patient's clinical history. Here, we would like to illustrate a case of abnormal chest radiograph detected during health screening.
Brucellosis is a rare zoonotic infection caused by small, fastidious Gram-negative coccobacilli of the genus Brucella that may be associated with haemolytic complications including thrombotic microangiopathy and haemolytic anaemia. We describe a patient with culture confirmed brucellosis who presented with malaise, high grade fever, hepatosplenomegaly and Coombs-positive autoimmune haemolytic anaemia. The patient was successfully treated with combination of doxycycline and rifampicin with no further episodes of relapses or haemolysis. Although rare, the possibility of brucellosis should always be kept in mind in patients with risk factors who present with haemolysis and endemic area.
Thyroid disease is common and can have various systemic manifestations including cardiac diseases. Hypothyroidism is commonly associated with sinus bradycardia, low QRS complexes, prolonged QT interval and conduction blocks but rarely may cause arrhythmias. We present a patient who presented with presyncope and supraventricular tachycardia with severe hypothyroidism. Patient responded well to thyroxine replacement with biochemical improvement, the disappearance of arrhythmia after restoration of euthyroidism suggests that hypothyroidism might be the cause of supraventricular tachycardia. The aim of this report is to underline the possible aetiological link between supraventricular tachycardia and hypothyroidism, although supraventricular arrhythmias are ordinary features of hyperthyroidism.