ABSTRACT
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), initially appreciated as a respiratory illness, is now known to affect many organs in the human body. Significant data has become available on muscle involvement, with creatinine kinase elevations present in a significant percentage of patients. For those with suspected COVID-19-associated myositis, the imaging modality of choice has been gadolinium-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging; however, the use of technitium-99 m bone scan has not been previously reported. Here, we report two cases of COVID-19 patients with severe elevation in creatinine kinase who underwent technitium-99 m bone scan. The resulting images showed diffuse symmetrical muscle involvement. Both patients developed acute renal injury due to rhabdomyolysis. To our knowledge, this is the first report of bone scan as a diagnostic imaging modality for COVID-19-associated myositis.
ABSTRACT
We describe the case of a 50-year-old male with a history of asthma and seizure disorder who presented with a 5-month history of dyspnea. The patient had been treated with multiple courses of antibiotics for presumed community-acquired pneumonia before being determined to have allergic bronchopulmonary aspergillosis (ABPA) by serologic and radiographic criteria. Inflammation resulting from this disease had potentiated a postobstructive pneumonia caused by Nocardia asteroides and Stenotrophomonas maltophilia. Therapy with corticosteroids, trimethoprim sulfa, and voriconazole failed to prevent subsequent destruction of the right upper lobe and the patient required surgical intervention. The discussion emphasizes the diagnostic criteria for ABPA including historic, serologic, and radiographic findings; staging, and treatment. Other possible diagnoses, such as invasive pulmonary aspergillosis, chronic necrotizing aspergillosis, and hyper-IgE syndrome are also briefly reviewed.
