ABSTRACT
The diagnosis of bilateral panuveitis was made in a 9-year-old girl who was referred to our hospital for blurred vision accompanied by periorbital and abdominal pain. Endothelial dusting, vitreous haze and optic nerve edema were deemed as signs of involvement of all segments of the eye. The bloodwork results were suggestive of infectious uveitis, with elevated inflammatory markers and the patient was treated with IV antibiotics. Cerebral-CT was normal, screening for common infectious causes of uveitis and cultures were negative. There was no history of autoimmune disease, and autoimmune antibody tests were negative. Pediatric inflammatory multisystem syndrome induced panuveitis, secondary to SARS-CoV-2 (PIMS), was suspected by the infectious disease consultant. The syndrome commonly affects school-age children and represents a generalized inflammatory response in the body that appears about one month after the initial infection with the SARS-CoV-2 virus. Initial symptoms include fever, abdominal pain, eye redness, rashes, dizziness, accompanied by laboratory evidence of inflammation unexplained by any other plausible cause. The patient’s coronavirus IgG titer was positive, while the RT-PCR for SARS-CoV-2 virus, taken from the nasopharyngeal swab, was negative. As all the other investigations turned out negative, COVID-19 was the only presumptive cause for the pediatric multisystem inflammatory syndrome temporally associated with SARS-CoV-2 (PIMS-TS). A diagnosis of probable COVID-19 induced uveitis was made and the patient started IV Dexamethasone, followed by oral steroids that were gradually tapered and made a full recovery. The aim of this report was to shed light and enrich the scarce literature available on Uveitis as a sign of pediatric inflammatory syndrome following COVID-19 infection. Abbreviations: ACE2 = Angiotensin converting enzyme 2, ANA = Antinuclear antibodies, c-ANCA, p-ANCA = Cytoplasmic and perinuclear anti-neutrophil cytoplasm antibodies, BCVA = Best corrected visual acuity, CMV = Cytomegalovirus, COVID-19 = coronavirus disease 2019, CRE = Carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae, CRP = C-Reactive Protein, EBV = Epstein Barr virus, ESBL = Extended spectrum beta-lactamase, ESR = Erythrocyte Sedimentation Rate, FCoV = Feline coronavirus, MDR = Multidrug resistant, MRSA = methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, MHV = mouse hepatitis virus, MIS-C = multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children, NSAID = Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug, NT pro BNP = precursor natriuretic brain peptide, PIMS-TS = Pediatric inflammatory multisystem syndrome temporally associated with SARS-CoV-2, RNFL = Retinal nerve fiber layer, SARS CoV-2 = severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2, SD-OCT = Spectral domain optical coherence tomography, VRE = Vancomycin-resistant Enterococci
ABSTRACT
Post-COVID-19 telogen effluvium has been largely reported as a sequela in the post-acute phase of COVID-19, causing major emotional distress among the affected patients. The affected individuals are further exposed to a vast amount of misinformation from the internet and social media and it is important for physicians to be familiar with the phenomenon and provide appropriate counselling to their patients regarding this condition. This article aims to review the evidence-based complementary strategies that can help enhance hair regrowth after post-COVID-19 hair loss, from psychological support and patient education to the importance of optimal nutrition and potential indications and benefits of oral nutritional supplementation, as well as the role of both topical and injectable hair growth stimulators.
ABSTRACT
Glucagonomas are neuroendocrine tumors (NETs) that arise from the alpha cells of the pancreatic islets. They are typically slow-growing tumors associated with abnormal glucagon secretion, resulting in one or more non-specific clinical features, such as necrolytic migratory erythema (NME), diabetes, diarrhea, deep vein thrombosis, weight loss, and depression. Here, we report the case of a 44-year-old male with a history of diabetes mellitus, presenting with a pruritic and painful disseminated cutaneous eruption of erythematous plaques, with scales and peripheral pustules, misdiagnosed as disseminated pustular psoriasis and treated for 2 years with oral retinoid and glucocorticoids. During this period, the patient complained of weight loss of 32 kg and diarrhea and developed deep vein thrombosis. These symptoms, together with an inadequate response to therapy of the skin lesions, led to the reassessment of the initial diagnosis. Laboratory tests confirmed elevated plasma glucagon levels (>1000 pg/mL) and computed tomography (CT) scans revealed a 35/44 mm tumor in the pancreatic tail. Due to considerable disease complications and the COVID-19 pandemic, the surgical removal of the tumor was delayed for nearly 2 years. During this time, somatostatin analogue therapy efficiently controlled the glucagonoma syndrome and likely prevented tumor progression. As in other functional pancreatic NETs, the early clinical recognition of hormonal hypersecretion syndrome and the multidisciplinary approach are the keys for best patient management.
ABSTRACT
The COVID-19 pandemic had a great negative impact on nursing homes, with massive outbreaks being reported in care facilities all over the world, affecting not only the residents but also the care workers and visitors. Due to their advanced age and numerous underlying diseases, the inhabitants of long-term care facilities represent a vulnerable population that should benefit from additional protective measures against contamination. Recently, multiple countries such as France, Spain, Belgium, Canada, and the United States of America reported that an important fraction from the total number of deaths due to the SARS-CoV-2 infection emerged from nursing homes. The scope of this paper was to present the latest data regarding the COVID-19 spread in care homes worldwide, identifying causes and possible solutions that would limit the outbreaks in this overlooked category of population. It is the authors' hope that raising awareness on this matter would encourage more studies to be conducted, considering the fact that there is little information available on the impact of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic on nursing homes. Establishing national databases that would register all nursing home residents and their health status would be of great help in the future not only for managing the ongoing pandemic but also for assessing the level of care that is needed in this particularly fragile setting.