ABSTRACT
A case of brucellosis pericarditis in a patient affected with acute brucellosis hospitalized in the Infectious Disease Department of Asti Hospital is described. During the hospitalization, the patient revealed (in addition to the classical symptoms and signs), a modest shooting pain in the chest and typical electrocardiographic alterations confirmed by an echocardiography that revealed slight pericardial effusion at both front and rear, subsequently and by steroid and specific antibiotic therapies. The real possibility of finding this complication, considered so rare in the literature, in cardiovascular brucellosis is pointed out as is the capacity of modern echocardiographic research to confirm and reinforce diagnosis and consequently also the description of modest pericardial effusions with unclear symptoms and electrocardiographic signs that were once practically ignored when the pericardial involvement often escaped a clinical identification, being concealed by the most important signs of the primary infection.
Subject(s)
Brucellosis/complications , Pericarditis/etiology , Acute Disease , Echocardiography , Electrocardiography , Humans , Male , Middle Aged , Pericarditis/diagnosisSubject(s)
Creatine Kinase/blood , Myocardial Infarction/diagnosis , Acute Disease , Adult , Aged , Female , Humans , Male , Middle Aged , Myocardial Infarction/enzymologyABSTRACT
Personal experience with arrythmia in 57 out of 132 cases of myocardial infarct treated over a period of one yr. in a coronary unit. The ECG and biohumoral enzyme pictures gave clear indications of infarct in all 132 cases. The various types of primary stimulus formation or conduction arrhythmia observed in these 57 patients are examined in relation to the site and extent of infarct. The treatment modalities are described. Mortality was less than 10 per cent in the entire series, with 3 per cent deaths due to serious rhythm disturbances. It is concluded that the introduction of coronary units has primarily contributed to the reduction of infarct deaths by their effective treatment of arrhythmia. Earlier admission to such units would lead to further reductions in mortality.
