Severe Bartonella henselae bone infection in a kidney transplanted young man.

We present a case of a young kidney transplanted man. He was admitted with lymphadenopathy, fluctuating fever and night sweats 2 months after a cat bite. After admission, he developed severe pain around his right hip. An 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG)-positron emission tomography/CT revealed intense FDG-uptake in lymph nodes, spleen and bone, suggestive of lymphoma. An extracted lymph node showed confluent granulomas, microabscesses with neutrophils and scattered multinucleated giant cells histologically. The patient had history of latent tuberculosis and proteinase 3 -anti-neutrophil cytoplasmic antibodies associated (PR3-ANCA) vasculitis, making differential diagnostic considerations complicated. Bartonella henselae antibodies was detected in blood and B. henselae DNA in a lymph node. He was started on doxycycline and rifampicin. Due to severe drug interactions with both tacrolimus and increasing morphine doses, rifampicin was changed to azithromycin. He received 12 days of relevant antibiotic treatment and responded well. He was discharged after 16 days with close follow-up and was still in habitual condition 12 months later.

[Red yeast rice as the presumed cause of acute kidney and liver failure].

Alternative medicine and food supplements are getting increasingly popular. The regulation of these remedies is lenient compared to the regulation of traditional medicine. Hence knowledge about adverse effects from alternative medicine and food supplements is scarce. This is a case report of a 65-year-old healthy male who had a daily intake of 315 mg of red yeast rice and was admitted to hospital with acute renal deficiency, hepatitis and rhabdomyolysis. This case report underlines the potential problems with these remedies, namely a lack of knowledge of adverse effects and a lack of control with the production.

Rapid Diagnosis of Ethylene Glycol Poisoning by Urine Microscopy.

BACKGROUND Ethylene glycol poisoning remains an important presentation to Emergency Departments. Quick diagnosis and treatment are essential to prevent renal failure and life-threating complications. CASE REPORT In this case report, we present a patient who was admitted unconscious to the hospital. Ethylene glycol poisoning was immediately suspected, because the patient had previously been hospitalized with similar symptoms after intake of antifreeze coolant. A urine sample was sent for microscopy and showed multiple calcium oxalate monohydrate (COM) crystals, which supported the clinical suspicion of ethylene glycol poisoning. The patient was treated with continuous intravenous ethyl alcohol infusion and hemodialysis. Two days after admission, the patient was awake and in clinical recovery. CONCLUSIONS Demonstration of COM crystals using microscopy of a urine sample adds valuable information supporting the clinical suspicion of ethylene glycol poisoning, and may serve as an easy, quick, and cheap method that can be performed in any emergency setting.

Tophaceous Gout in an Anorectic Patient Visualized by Dual Energy Computed Tomography (DECT).

BACKGROUND Gout is characterized by deposition of uric acid crystals (monosodium urate) in tissues and fluids. This can cause acute inflammatory arthritis. The 2015 ACR/EULAR criteria for the diagnosis of gout include dual energy computed tomography (DECT)-demonstrated monosodium urate crystals as a new criterion. DECT is a spectral decomposition that permits recognition of different types of tissues based on their characteristic energy-dependent photon attenuation. A positive scan is defined as the presence of urate at articular or periarticular sites. CASE REPORT We describe a 51-year-old woman known to have anorexia nervosa. During our clinical examination, we detected plenty of tophi on both hands, but no swollen joints. The diagnosis of gout was made by visualizing crystals in a biopsy from a tophus. The first line of treatment was allopurinol, the second line was rasburicase, and the current treatment is febuxostat 80 mg/day, allopurinol 300 mg twice a day, and colchicine 0.5 mg twice a day. The patient has unchanged arthralgia and the size and number of tophi remain the same as before treatment in spite of active treatment for 3 years. Previously the patient had problems with adherence, but now she claims that she follows the proposed treatment. The last plasma urate (P-urate) was 0.57 mmol/L. Following two years of treatment, DECT of hands visualized monosodium urate crystal deposits in the tophi, as seen on the clinical photos, but also crystals in relation to the tendons and soft tissue.  CONCLUSIONS DECT is an imaging modality useful to assess urate crystal deposits at diagnosis of gout and could be considered during treatment evaluation. Lack of adherence to treatment should be considered when P-urate values vary significantly and when DECT scans over years persistently visualize monosodium urate crystals.