2021: Vol 8 No 6

The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) of the UK has approved the use of three vaccines to combat COVID-19 (SARS-CoV-2). There have been rare reports of thrombosis after vaccination with the AstraZeneca vaccine. We present three cases of vaccine-induced thrombotic thrombocytopenia (VITT) in one UK district general hospital following administration of this vaccine. Two of the patients had asymptomatic pulmonary emboli, while the other is the first known case of both renal vein thrombosis and pulmonary embolism.

The coexistence of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) and Crohn’s disease (CD) is very rare. The usual sequence of occurrence is CD followed by SLE, where CD treatment with anti-tumour necrosis factor (anti-TNF) induces the latter. Here, we present a case of this rare combination but with sequence reversal. The patient was unresponsive to steroids and we achieved remission with infliximab.

A 39-year-old man presented with severe COVID-19 pneumonitis requiring hospital admission. He represented three days following discharge with sudden onset breathlessness and chest pain. Initial imaging suggested the presence of a left pneumothorax. Following further clinical decline a plan was made to insert a CT guided chest drain. However, imaging in the prone position for the procedure unexpectedly revealed a large left lower lobe pneumatocele with only a very small pneumothorax. Events and appearances suggest that this is a rare case of delayed COVID-19 pneumonitis-related pneumatocele formation. We will discuss the clinical significance of this entity.

Misoprostol is a synthetic E1 prostaglandin commonly used to induce abortion in the United States and elsewhere. There is limited literature on the cardiovascular adverse effects of misoprostol, and, to the best of our knowledge, very few such events have been reported. We describe the case of 52-year-old woman who was given misoprostol for cervical softening before endometrial ablation and experienced a cardiac arrest due to coronary vasospasm. She was successfully resuscitated and echocardiography showed features consistent with Takotsubo cardiomyopathy. Coronary angiography revealed coronary artery spasm which responded to nitroglycerin. Our case adds to the limited literature on this life-threatening adverse event of misoprostol.

The authors describe a patient with severe hypothyroidism due to Hashimoto’s thyroiditis and describe the pitfalls of estimated glomerular filtration rate interpretation in such cases.

Paecilomyces species are a rare cause of fungal pulmonary infections in immunocompromised hosts. Paecilomyces variotii and Paecilomyces lilacinus are the two most common species of clinical significance. Both species differ in their susceptibility to antifungal agents. We present a rare case of a 47-year-old immunocompromised woman who developed Paecilomyces pneumonia despite being on voriconazole prophylaxis. We also present a review of the literature on other reported cases.

Klebsiella spp community-acquired meningitis caused by hypervirulent strains is well described as part of a distinct syndrome consisting of liver abscess and multiple septic metastatic lesions (Klebsiella pneumoniae invasive syndrome) occurring usually in diabetic, alcoholic, elderly or cancer patients, in Taiwan and other South-East Asian countries. In Western countries, these infections are very rare in natives and usually occur in patients of Asian origin. We report three cases of Filipino-origin patients, residents of Greece, with community-acquired invasive Klebsiella meningitis, who were treated in our ICU over a 10-year period.

Hepatic dysfunction, in the absence of liver metastases, occurs in 10–15% of renal cell carcinoma (RCC) patients, while immune hepatitis due to anti-CTLA4 and anti-PD1 administration affects about 3–9% and 0.7–1.8% of treated patients, respectively. Liver toxicity following combination therapy (anti-CTLA4 and anti-PD1) is seen in 29% of patients overall and grade 3–4 toxicity in 14% of patients.
Stauffer’s syndrome is a rare para-neoplastic phenomenon associated with RCC and characterized by abnormal liver function tests, hepato-splenomegaly and histological changes consistent with non-specific hepatitis. We describe a case of RCC treated with anti-CTLA4 and anti-PD1 therapy resulting in immediate liver toxicity and death after 2 months of progressive hepatic impairment. We hypothesize that high IL-6 levels due to Stauffer’s syndrome might have contributed to immune-related hepatic failure.

Mycobacterium chelonae is a non-tuberculous mycobacterium that can cause skin infections in immunocompetent individuals. We report a case of skin infection by this agent in a woman with dyslipidaemia, that culminated in statin-induced rhabdomyolysis due to the combination of clarithromycin, ciprofloxacin and simvastatin.

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is believed to have originated in the Hua nan South China Seafood Market in Wuhan and can present with a spectrum of clinical manifestations. We report the case of 24-year-old male patient who developed chest pain after administration of the second dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech mRNA COVID-19 vaccine and who was diagnosed with myocarditis on work-up.

Plasmablastic lymphoma (PBL) commonly presents as a primary (de novo) oral or extraoral mucocutaneous or nodal mass lesion in patients with HIV/AIDS. PBL developing as a secondary malignancy at the same location as a pre-existing tumour is extremely rare and has never been reported in association with longstanding or recurrent anal condyloma. A Buschke-Löwenstein tumour is a rare gigantic, locally destructive condyloma that is usually located in the anogenital region. We report a case of a diagnostically and therapeutically challenging PBL that presented as a rapidly enlarging mass underlying a giant condyloma, thereby mimicking a benign Buschke-Löwenstein tumour. Clinical suspicion was further masked by the co-presence of fistulae in ano and adjacent abscess pockets at the time of diagnosis. By the time of final diagnosis, the lymphoma had disseminated to regional lymph nodes, a month later to pleural cavities and 4 months later to the leptomeninges and bilateral kidneys, leading to permanent deferral of chemotherapeutic intervention.

Colon ischaemia is the most frequent type of ischaemia of the digestive tract. It is more common among the elderly, especially patients with haemodynamic disturbance. In young patients, it is associated with particular drugs such as oral contraceptives and ergotamine derivatives.

Anaphylaxis is characterized by acute onset and skin and mucosal involvement together with cardiovascular involvement. Gastrointestinal symptoms are common in anaphylaxis, but gastrointestinal bleeding and acute colon ischaemia are rarely described. Here, we present the case of a 52-year-old woman with acute ischaemic colitis associated with an anaphylactic reaction to amoxicillin.

Dermal fillers are applied using a minimally invasive technique with a good safety profile. However, they can have side effects. We present the case of a patient who, 2 months after undergoing polycaprolactone (Ellansé^®) injections, developed nodular facial and nodal lesions that were compatible with sarcoidosis on histology. This complication has not been previously described for polycaprolactone and could be the expression of an autoimmune syndrome induced by adjuvants.

We report a case of anti-HMGCR myopathy mimicking limb-girdle muscular dystrophy in a 27-year-old male patient with no history of statin intake and presenting with a chronic onset form over 3 years. Treatment with prednisone and methotrexate was initiated with an insufficient response, so intravenous immunoglobulin was added. One year after initial treatment was started, as levels of creatine kinase (CK) were >1000 U/l, treatment with rituximab was added. Despite a 3-year delay before treatment, muscle strength improved even though CK levels remain elevated.

Thrombus in the aortic trunk is a rare complication. We report the case of a 63-year-old patient with a factor V Leiden mutation in whom an aortic arch thrombus was discovered accidentally. Conservative treatment was initiated with therapeutic anticoagulation with low-molecular-weight heparin leading to complete thrombus lysis after 3 months but associated shortly after anticoagulation initiation with a large splenic and limited renal infarctions.

Objectives: There is limited experience regarding the meaning of SARS-CoV-2 antibodies after vaccination in patients with naturally acquired immunity.

Methods: We describe the case of a patient who received the first dose of the mRNA-1273 SARS-CoV-2 vaccine 6 months after his recovery from moderately severe COVID-19.

Results: Our patient had a positive nucleocapsid SARS-CoV-2 IgG/IgM titre with 78.7 multiple of cut-off indicating persistent humoral immune response 6 months after infection. After vaccination, he developed prolonged systemic symptoms (fever, fatigue, nausea, diarrhoea and myalgia) for a duration of 6 days.

Conclusion: SARS-CoV-2 nucleocapsid antibodies provide information about naturally acquired immunity. For the assessment of immune response to vaccination, measurement of the SARS-CoV-2 spike antibody titre before and after vaccination is essential. Patients with naturally acquired immunity might develop a prolonged systemic reaction to the first dose of the mRNA-1273 SARS-CoV-2 vaccine.

Zinner syndrome is a developmental anomaly of the urogenital tract. This condition is defined by the triad of unilateral renal agenesis, ipsilateral seminal vesicle cyst and ipsilateral ejaculatory duct obstruction. The syndrome is due to malformation of the mesonephric duct during embryogenesis. The condition used to be rare but is now frequently encountered due to the advent of MRI and CT. MRI confirms the diagnosis by revealing the seminal vesicle cyst and its contents, and the ejaculatory duct obstruction, while CT confirms renal agenesis. We report the case of a young patient with Zinner syndrome.

Background: Takotsubo cardiomyopathy is characterized by transient left systolic dysfunction that can mimic acute myocardial infarction. Atrioventricular (AV) block associated with Takotsubo is rare, but a few cases have been reported in recent years.

Methods: We present the case of a 77-year-old woman presenting with second-degree AV and Takotsubo syndrome.

Results: The diagnosis of Takotsubo syndrome was based on echocardiogram changes and the absence of coronary artery obstruction on coronary angiography.

Conclusions: We describe a patient with a diagnosis of Takotsubo syndrome and AV conduction defect. These conditions rarely occur simultaneous, but when they do, a dilemma arises regarding pacemaker implantation.