An 84-Year-Old Man With Progressive Dyspnea and an Abnormal Chest CT Scan.

CASE PRESENTATION: An 84-year-old man without a history of smoking presented with progressive dyspnea of 6 months' duration accompanied by fatigue and unintentional weight loss. He denied fever, chills, chest pain, hemoptysis, rash, joint pains, or muscle aches. He had multiple hospitalizations for similar presentations that were diagnosed as pneumonia. History was significant for diastolic heart failure, hypertension, and type 2 diabetes mellitus.

Bosutinib induced pleural effusions: Case report and review of tyrosine kinase inhibitors induced pulmonary toxicity.

Tyrosine kinase inhibitors are known to cause pulmonary complications. We report a case of bosutinib related bilateral pleural effusions in a patient with chronic myeloid leukemia. Characteristics of the pleural fluid are presented. We also discuss other tyrosine kinase inhibitors induced pulmonary toxicities, including pulmonary hypertension and interstitial lung disease.

Transudative pleural effusion of malignant etiology: Rare but real.

A 62-year-old female presented to the emergency room with one-month history of epigastric abdominal pain, nausea and vomiting. She endorsed progressive dyspnea over two weeks. CT of the abdomen demonstrated bilateral pleural effusions and pancreatic inflammation, so the working diagnosis was pancreatitis. A diagnostic thoracentesis was performed and the pleural fluid analysis was classified as transudate by Light's criteria. Given the atypical features in history and concern for malignancy, fluid was sent for cytological examination and immunohistochemistry which suggested a mucinous malignancy. EGD revealed poorly differentiated signet ring cell adenocarcinoma of stomach. Patient underwent placement of indwelling pleural catheters for symptomatic improvement and was discharged to hospice. The decision whether to routinely send transudative effusions for cytological evaluation remains controversial. This case demonstrates the importance of using clinical judgement to guide that decision.

Coronary artery bypass grafting in a patient with active idiopathic cryoglobulinemia: revisiting the issue.

BACKGROUND: Cryoglobulinemia is a cold-reactive autoimmune disease. It is of distinctive importance in cardiac surgery because of the use of hypothermic cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB). Cryoglobulins, which activate at variable levels of hypothermia, can cause precipitation during surgery leading to possibly severe leukocytoclastic or necrotizing vasculitis, clinically manifested as ischemic events, such as cutaneous ulcerations, glomerulonephritis, arthritis, or peripheral neuropathies among the most reported associated comorbidities. Management of CPB and systemic protection in this rare but unique scenario requires individualized planning. We report the case of a patient with active cryoglobulinemia who was preoperatively managed with plasmapheresis. He underwent hypothermic coronary bypass with no precipitation and flare during and after surgery. CASE PRESENTATION: We describe the case of a 59-year-old Caucasian male with clinically significant idiopathic cryoglobulinemia and history of recurrent skin lesions and toe amputations secondary to cold exposure. He presented with 2-h duration of chest pain and new onset atrial fibrillation. After cardiac catheterization, a diagnosis of three-vessel coronary artery disease was established and coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) was scheduled. Because of a high risk of flare-up during surgery, the patient was preemptively treated with two sessions of plasmapheresis before bypass. He then underwent hypothermic CABG. The pre- and perioperative course was unremarkable without any clinical evidence of precipitation. The patient was discharged on day 6 postoperatively without any complications. CONCLUSION: Preoperative plasmapheresis before hypothermic coronary bypass can prevent fatal cryoglobulinemia-related complications in patients with active disease.