Gastrointestinal Stromal Tumor: An Uncommon but Serious Cause of Gastrointestinal Bleeding.

Gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GISTs) are rare tumors of the GI tract that can sometimes present as a gastrointestinal bleeding source. This report describes a patient presented with upper GI bleeding secondary to a gastric GIST, which was initially detected on endoscopy. The patient underwent surgical resection of the tumor and was started on adjuvant chemotherapy with imatinib. The patient's postoperative course was complicated by an esophageal leak requiring re-exploratory laparotomy and esophageal stent placement. The stent was removed 5 weeks later and the patient remained stable for discharge after 60 days of inpatient care.

Left Ventricular Free Wall Rupture in Broken-Heart Syndrome: A Fatal Complication.

Takotsubo cardiomyopathy is usually a transient condition and is treated conservatively. It is rarely associated with ventricular free wall rupture, a fatal complication of the disease described in this report. Cardiothoracic surgery performed emergent ventricular wall repair; however, treatment was unsuccessful, and the patient expired.

Cavernous Hemangioma: A Rare Cause of Massive Lower Gastrointestinal Bleeding.

Due to their rarity, intestinal hemangiomas are not commonly considered as a cause of gastrointestinal (GI) bleeding. This report describes a patient who presented with massive, recurrent lower GI bleeding secondary to a cavernous hemangioma of the small intestine. The source of GI bleeding could not initially be identified despite using numerous diagnostic modalities. The lesion was eventually revealed on diagnostic laparoscopy and small bowel resection was performed.

Tuberculosis in an Immunocompetent Immigrant Patient.

Peritoneal tuberculosis (TB) is a rare medical condition in developed nations like the United States, and it is uncommon to observe this condition in patients without underlying immunosuppression. This report describes a patient who developed abdominal pain, constipation, and ascites. And later on, he was diagnosed with peritoneal TB following laparoscopy with peritoneal biopsy. The patient was an immigrant from a high TB burden country but had no other common risk factors for the development of peritoneal TB. Treatment with anti-TB therapy resulted in significant clinical improvement.

Association Between Psoriasis and Depression: A Traditional Review.

Psoriasis is a chronic inflammatory disease of the skin with multiple comorbidities, depression being one of them. Psoriasis affects the personal, social, and sexual lives of the patients resulting in psychological strain.  Psoriasis and depression amplify each other. Supporting evidence has proven multiple common mechanisms between the two diseases: inflammatory overlap, genetic evidence, low vitamin D3, and melatonin levels are common in both psoriasis and depression. Fear of social rejection and self-stigmatization act as a fuel to fire inflaming depression in psoriatic patients. The study explains the link between psoriasis and depression and their effects on quality of life. There is a need to highlight the importance of addressing the psychological effects of psoriasis along with its physical aspects for better treatment outcomes.

Acute Generalized Exanthematous Pustulosis in an African American Male Caused by Trimethoprim-Sulfamethoxazole.

Acute generalized exanthematous pustulosis (AGEP) is a rare drug-induced autoimmune disease that presents with hundreds of sterile pustules and systemic symptoms. Genetic predisposition, race, and medications prescribed are all factors in AGEP's frequency, which occurs most commonly in Caucasians and with the use of macrolides and aminopenicillins. Cases of AGEP with sulfonamides or in African American patients are rare. To our knowledge, this is the first documented example of trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole-induced AGEP in an African American male. In this article, we will further discuss our case and review the literature.

How to Treat Hernias in Pregnant Women?

A hernia is a common surgical problem. Although hernias during pregnancy are uncommon, they can be challenging for both the surgeon and the patient if present. To date, there is no consensus in the medical community regarding the elective repair of hernias in pregnant women. The debate mainly concerns three areas: the timing, the approach, and the surgical technique. This study aims to offer a clear pathway in this field based on the best available data. In this study, we collected reviews written in English and published in PubMed from 2010 to 2020 (the exception being three articles that were published before 2010, which we retained since they contained relevant information). We used regular and Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) keywords. Two of the authors screened the collected studies to select the best articles that would fit our inclusion criteria for the review. The articles considered for this review can be classified into retrospective studies, case reports, and reviews. No randomized controlled trials were found. The lack of an agreement about the treatment of ventral hernias in fertile women makes the decision to treat and the process challenging. The treatment significantly depends on two factors: the symptoms and the pregnancy status at diagnosis. If the hernia is incarcerated or strangulated at presentation, an emergency repair is obligatory. If the hernia is symptomatic, but not complicated, elective surgery should be offered. The timing of repair will depend on whether the patient is already pregnant or non-pregnant. In pregnant patients, if the hernia is small and asymptomatic, it may be better to delay the surgery until after delivery or after the last pregnancy. If the hernia is symptomatic and seems to affect the patient's quality of life, it may be better to postpone the repair until the second trimester or after delivery if complications do not occur. Internal herniation (IH) should be suspected as a cause of the abdominal pain in pregnant women who have undergone laparoscopic Roux-en-Y gastric bypass (LRYGB). In pre-pregnancy patients, if the hernia is large and symptomatic, it may be better to do an elective repair and then wait for one or two years before the next pregnancy. However, if the hernia is small or minimally symptomatic, it may be better to hold the repair until after delivery or after the last pregnancy. Pregnancy may be considered a significant risk factor for hernia recurrence. The laparoscopic mesh repair should be offered whenever possible, whereas the open approach may be preferred in complicated cases. The suture repair may be suitable for both small hernias and in cases of gross contamination.

The Utility of Therapeutic Anticoagulation in the Perioperative Period in Patients Presenting in Emergency Surgical Department With Extremity Vascular Injuries.

Extremity vascular trauma is a challenging surgical emergency in both civilian population and combat environment. It requires vigilant diagnosis and prompt treatment to minimize limb loss and mortality. A multidisciplinary team approach is required to deal with shock states, concomitant abdominal injuries, head injuries, and fractures with significant tissue loss and psychological stress. Anticoagulation is frequently used during traumatic vascular repair to avoid repair site thrombosis, postoperative deep venous thrombosis, and pulmonary embolism (PE). In this review article, we are going to search about how frequent is the use of anticoagulation in terms of limb salvage rates, and mortality rates or side effects of anticoagulation in terms of risk of bleeding episodes, and the need for future prospective studies. Extremity vascular trauma is managed by a variety of methods including open repairs, endovascular repairs, and nonoperative management. Most of the literature demonstrates the use of systemic or regional anticoagulation in the management of vascular injuries with the improvement in limb salvage rates and reduced morbidities but confounding factors lead to variable results. Some studies show an increased risk of bleeding in trauma patients with the use of anticoagulants in trauma settings without any significant effect on repair site thrombosis. More comprehensive studies and randomized controlled trials are needed to confirm the importance of perioperative anticoagulation while avoiding the confounding factors in terms of injury severity scores, ischemia time, demographics of patients, modes of injury, comorbidities, grades of shock, concomitant injuries that need anticoagulation like venous injuries or intracranial injuries that are contraindications to the use of anticoagulation, type of anticoagulation and expertise available as well as the experience level of the operating surgeon. Literature also reveals the use of new oral anticoagulants (e.g., dabigatran) to be associated with lesser bleeding episodes when compared to warfarin, so in future, we can check the feasibility of these agents to reduce the bleeding episodes and at the same time improve the limb salvage rates.

Major risk factors for leprosy in a non-endemic area of the United States: A case series.

Approximately 200 cases of leprosy are reported each year in the United States, and about 175 of the cases are diagnosed for the first time. Florida contributes a large number of reported cases each year and is showing an increasing incidence. Studies from other southern U.S. states demonstrate infection with the same strain of Mycobacterium leprae, confirming human armadillo exposure as the main risk factor. In contrast, cases from Florida show no clear risk factor. We present three cases (two foreign born and one autochthonous case) from Hillsborough county Florida, that were reported from this non-endemic area during the past five years. The first case was a 35-year-old male from Mexico, with history of exposure from a Haitian inmate, who presented with multiple erythematous non-tender cutaneous lesions and numbness in both hands. Biopsy confirmed borderline lepromatous leprosy. The second case was a 34-year-old male, from Florida who presented with sparse annular non-supporative lesions on left cheek with one-month duration and denied leprosy or armadillo exposure. Biopsy confirmed the diagnosis of borderline tuberculoid leprosy. The third case was a 38-year-old female, from Puerto Rico who presented with disseminated painless plaques, edema of the hands with numbness and paresthesia. She denied leprosy or armadillo exposure. The biopsy confirmed borderline lepromatous leprosy with erythema nodosum leprosum. Our case series demonstrates that a history of armadillo exposure is not always present. Other risk factors need to be considered when leprosy is a possible diagnosis in a patient.

Outcomes with cilostazol after endovascular therapy of peripheral artery disease.

The role of cilostazol after endovascular therapy (EVT) of peripheral artery disease (PAD) remains unclear. We conducted a meta-analysis for all studies reporting the outcomes of cilostazol after EVT of PAD from January 2000 through November 2018 with the outcomes of interest including primary patency, major adverse limb events (MALE), target lesion revascularization (TLR), and major amputation. We included eight studies (three randomized controlled trials (RCTs) and five observational studies) with a total of 3846 patients (4713 lesions). During a mean follow-up duration of 12.5 ± 5 months, the use of cilostazol was associated with higher primary patency (OR 2.28, 95% CI (1.77, 2.94), p < 0.001, I2 = 24%), lower risk of TLR (OR 0.37, 95% CI (0.26, 0.52), p < 0.001, I2 = 0%), and lower risk of major amputation (OR 0.15, 95% CI (0.04, 0.62), p = 0.008, I2 = 0%). The use of cilostazol in RCTs was associated with significantly higher odds of primary patency compared with observational studies (OR 3.37 vs 2.28, p-interaction = 0.03). After further subgroup analysis, cilostazol remained associated with higher primary patency regardless of the use of anticoagulants (warfarin) (p-interaction = 0.49). We conclude that the use of cilostazol after EVT of femoropopliteal and iliac lesions is associated with improved primary patency and lower risk of major amputation and TLR. The favorable impact of cilostazol is independent of the use of warfarin. PROSPERO identifier: CRD42018092715.