Cerebral demyelination and optic neuritis are often seen in children with acute disseminated encephalomyelitis following various infections and immunisations. An eight month old girl presented with a left axillary lymph node swelling and an erythematous lace-like rash over her cheeks and trunk. She then developed acute encephalopathy, bilateral nystagmus, right hemiparesis and left facial nerve palsy. Her electroencephalogram showed an encephalopathic process and visual evoked response study were grossly abnormal. Her MRI brain showed hyperintensities in the midbrain, pons and bilateral cerebellar peduncles. She was treated as postinfectious cerebral demyelination with intravenous antibiotics, methylprednisolone and immunoglobulin. Left axillary lymph node excision biopsy and GeneXpert test detected Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex that prompted initiation of antituberculous therapy. Her chest X-ray and cerebrospinal fluid examinations for tuberculosis were normal. She showed significant recovery after 2 weeks. This case illustrates a rare presentation of cerebral demyelination and bilateral optic neuritis following suppurative BCG lymphadenitis.
We present the case of a 24-year-old man who presented with vertigo and right-sided weakness. Subsequent imaging demonstrated a lateral ventricle haemangioblastoma. This is the first case ever to be treated with surgical excision augmented by preoperative endovascular embolisation, as illustrated with perfusion CT scanning performed pre-embolisation and postembolisation. We present the case followed by a summary of the previously published cases and a discussion of the advantages of perfusion scanning and endovascular embolisation in these highly vascular (and therefore potentially dangerous) lesions.
We would like to report a case involving a 38-year-old woman who presented with knee and ankle swellings 2 weeks prior to admission. There were also multiple painful oral ulcers and a few skin sores on the wrist. She also had associated diarrhoea for 2 weeks. There was also marked loss of weight (6 kg in 2 weeks). Colonoscopy examination showed macroscopic and histopathological findings of Crohn's disease; however, skin histology showed extensive neutrophilic infiltration in the dermis, predominantly in the perivascular region. Her final diagnosis was Sweet's syndrome with Crohn's disease.
Melioidosis is a protean disease which is endemic to Southeast Asia and northern Australia. Here, we report a case of infected aortic aneurysm due to Burkholderia pseudomallei in an immunocompetent man 6 months after a trip to northern Malaysia. This patient initially received inappropriate surgical and antibiotic treatment, leading to a peri-prosthetic aortic infection with lumbar spondylitis and contiguous psoas muscle abscess. This case highlights the difficulty of diagnosing melioidosis given its diverse clinical manifestations and the limits of routine microbiological methods to identify B. pseudomallei Melioidosis should be considered a possible diagnosis in individuals with unexplained fever subsequent to travel in an endemic area.
We report a case of a 70-year-old farmer admitted for viper bite who presented with bilateral hyphema and angle closure attack. He was managed conservatively with topical steroids and cycloplegics. He responded well and was discharged after 2 weeks.
Meckel's diverticulum has several known complications including diverticulitis and perforation. The presence of mesodiverticular band or a band from the diverticulum to the anterior abdominal wall is also described and can cause obstruction or rotation of the small bowel leading to volvulus. Meckel's diverticulum is also well known as the lead point for intussusception. It may be lined by ectopic gastric mucosa and can cause life-threatening gastrointestinal bleeding. We report a neonate who presented with acute intestinal obstruction secondary to a large, mobile Meckel's diverticulum which due to a direct compression effect on the adjacent small bowel caused mechanical intestinal obstruction. Diagnosis was confirmed at laparoscopy, and treated by curative surgical resection. This is the first report of a large mobile Meckel's diverticulum causing small bowel obstruction due to direct compression that was managed by minimally invasive surgical resection.
We report an elderly man who presented with giddiness and right-sided weakness, constipation and constitutional symptoms for 6 months duration. Blood investigations indicated hypercalcaemia with normal serum phosphate and acute kidney injury. Serum intact parathyroid hormone was suppressed. CT revealed bilateral tiny lung nodules with right upper lobe tree in bud appearance and incidental findings of bilateral adrenal lesion. Tuberculosis was ruled out. CT adrenal showed multiseptated hypodense rim enhancement adrenal lesion bilaterally. Adrenal function tests were normal except for low dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA). Right-sided cervical lymph node biopsy confirmed fungal infection with the presence of intracellular and extracellular fungal yeast. Serum cryptococcus antigen titre was positive. Our final diagnosis was disseminated cryptococcosis with lungs, bilateral adrenal gland and lymph nodes involvement. The patient was then treated with antifungal treatment. Serum calcium was normalised after 1 month with marked clinical improvement.
A young adult patient with 46XX congenital adrenal hyperplasia (CAH) presented with recurrent painful haematuria. CAH was diagnosed at birth following ambiguous genitalia. Hormonal treatment was started, female gender was assigned and feminising genitoplasty was planned, however the patient was lost to follow-up. Gender dysphoria started to occur during childhood which prompted the family to raise the patient as a boy. He eventually identified himself as a male. Examination revealed a male phenotype with severely virilised genitalia. Imaging studies confirmed the presence of uterus with low confluent urogenital sinus. Total abdominal hysterectomy with bilateral salpingo-oophorectomy was performed, and the troublesome symptoms were cured.
We report a case of enucleation for painful blind eye secondary to recurrent bleeding from choroidal neovascularisation in an eye that was irradiated following presumed metastatic breast carcinoma to the choroid. A 58-year-old woman with a history of treated breast malignancy presented with haemophthalmus and intractable glaucoma in the right eye. One year previously she had presented with right vitreous haemorrhage with subretinal mass that had been irradiated given her history of breast carcinoma. Following irradiation, vitrectomy was performed to clear the blood. Intraoperative and postoperative angiography findings suggested a diagnosis of breakthrough bleeding secondary to polypoidal choroidal vasculopathy. At this presentation, however, the intraocular bleeding was recurrent resulting in elevated intraocular pressure and pain. Despite repeat surgery and medical therapy, the eye had to be enucleated. Histopathology showed choroidal neovascularisation.
Catheter-related bloodstream infection (CRBSI) is one of the common healthcare-acquired infections imposing a high burden of morbidity and mortality on the patients. Non-tuberculous mycobacterium is a rare aetiology for CRBSI and poses challenges in laboratory diagnosis and clinical management. This is a case of a woman in her early 60s with underlying end-stage renal failure, diabetes mellitus and hypertension presented with a 2-week history of high-grade fever postregular haemodialysis, vomiting, lethargy and altered mental status.Blood cultures from a permanent catheter and peripheral taken concurrently yielded Mycobacterium senegalense, identified by matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionisation time-of-flight mass spectrometry, which established the diagnosis of CRBSI atypically presented with concurrent acute intracranial bleeding and cerebrovascular infarction at initial presentation. She was started on a combination of oral azithromycin, oral amikacin and intravenous imipenem, and the permanent catheter was removed. Despite the treatments instituted, she developed septicaemia, acute myocardial infarction and macrophage activation-like syndrome, causing the patient's death.
Heparin resistance (HR) is an increasingly common occurrence due to a greater awareness of the benefits of antithrombosis prophylaxis in hospitalised patients with low molecular weight and unfractionated heparin. Furthermore as more high-risk patients with prior heparin exposure undergo cardiac surgery we can expect to encounter more such cases. Adequate anticoagulation is essential for the safe conduct of any operation requiring cardiopulmonary bypass and is usually achieved with systemic heparinisation. We report a case of successful anticoagulation with the intraoperative administration of fresh frozen plasma in a high-risk coronary patient with HR and highlight the perils of unwitting overheparinisation in such cases. This case highlights the importance of clinical awareness of this phenomenon and the available alternative anticoagulants.
A 13-year-old boy presented with a 2 weeks history of tearfulness, childish behaviour, separation anxiety, hypersomnia, hyperphagia and sexual disinhibition following a brief episode of fever. He had been experiencing the episodes since he was seven. The episodes lasted from a few days to 3 weeks and would normally occur once in a year. Most of the time it started with fever and resolved spontaneously. In the past he described auditory hallucination but not this time. Examination revealed a slightly overweight adolescent male appearing appropriate to his age. During the session he was restless, sleepy and burst into tears frequently. He constantly asked his mother when he could go home to sleep. He was very childish and clung to his mother. He was given a trial of risperidone 1 mg to be taken once a day for 3 days. On follow-up he had completely recovered.
Fat embolism syndrome (FES) is a continuum of fat emboli. Variants of FES: acute fulminant form and classic FES are postulated to represent two different pathomechanisms. Acute fulminant FES occurs during the first 24 h. It is attributed to massive mechanical blockage pulmonary vasculature by the fat emboli. The classic FES typically has a latency period of 24-36 h manifestation of respiratory failure and other signs of fat embolism. Progression of asymptomatic fat embolism with FES frequently represents inadequate treatment of hypovolaemic shock. We present a rare case of two variants of FES evolving in a patient with multiple fractures to emphasis the importance of adequate and appropriate treatment of shock in preventing the development of FES. Since supportive therapy which is a ventilatory support remains as the treatment of FES, it is appropriate to treat FES in the intensive care unit setting.
Chronic neglected subtalar dislocation associated with a non-union talar neck fracture is rare and never documented before. The lack of information from the literature on the optimal management prompted us to describe our experience in the management of this condition. We reported a case of a 57-year-old women presented with this injury. A satisfactory outcome was obtained using a tibio-talo-calcaneal arthrodesis through a plantar approach.
Headache is a common presenting complaint in the paediatric population, with often migraine being a clinical diagnosis. Hemiplegic migraine is characterised by aura, sudden onset weakness of one side of the body which usually recovers without any residual neurological deficit. We report a child with a history of seizure disorder, well controlled and off medication for 3 years, who presented with a headache, aura and transient hemiplegia. Similar history in the patient's mother suggests the diagnosis of familial hemiplegic migraine. We would like to emphasise the importance of detailed history as an important aid in the diagnosis of neurological disorders in children.
Dural venous sinus thrombosis, especially of the sigmoid sinus, is a known but uncommon intracranial extradural complication of chronic suppurative otitis media. Even rarer is the simultaneous occurrence of bilateral abducens palsy in the same patient. We report the case of an adolescent male who presented with signs of raised intracranial pressure, diplopia and bilateral lateral rectus palsy associated with a history of left ear discharge and neck swelling. Extensive dural sinus thrombosis extending right up to the left internal jugular vein was confirmed on CT imaging. The patient was successfully treated with thrombolytic agents and antibiotic therapy. The pathophysiology of the concurrent complications is discussed.
Severe extensive deep neck abscess in an infant is uncommon. We share the case of a previously well 4-month old infant who was referred for a 4-day history of fever, lethargy and left lateral neck swelling. Contrast-enhanced CT scan revealed a large 5.3×8 cm collection involving the left parapharyngeal and retropharyngeal space, causing significant airway narrowing. 40 mL of frank pus was drained via intraoral incision and drainage with the aid of endoscope, and undesirable complications from an external approach were averted. The infant was extubated 48 hours postsurgery and was discharged home well after completion of 1 week of intravenous antibiotics. The child was discharged well from our follow-up at 1 month review. We discuss the pathophysiology of deep neck space abscesses, its incidence in the paediatric population and the various management options.
Rituximab (RTX) is a monoclonal anti-CD20 antibody used to treat non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. RTX-organising pneumonia (RTX-OP) is a rare complication following treatment with RTX. We report a 49-year-old woman, with CD5-negative B-cell lymphoproliferative disorder who developed high-grade fever, dyspnoea and dry cough 3 days after the first dose of RTX. She responded poorly to antibiotics and antifungal therapy. High-resolution CT (HRCT) of the chest revealed bilateral patchy ground-glass opacities with arcade-like signs suggestive of OP. She was pulsed with intravenous methylprednisolone and RTX was discontinued. She was able to be weaned off the non-invasive ventilation (NIV) support and was discharged with maintenance prednisolone 1 mg/kg and tapered over 6 weeks. A repeated HRCT of the chest at 6 weeks showed a total resolution of OP. This highlights the early occurrence at day 3 of RTX-OP following the first dose of RTX and the complete resolution with steroid therapy.