Graves' disease treated by complementary medicine leading to thyroid storm: A case report.

BACKGROUND: Thyroid storm is a rare, life-threatening condition characterized by severe clinical manifestations of thyrotoxicosis and can be precipitated by several factors. We described a thyroid storm precipitated by a long-term treatment using homeopathic medicine containing iodine. CASE PRESENTATION: A 55-year-old Italian woman was admitted to our Sub-Intensive Care Unit with the diagnosis of congestive heart failure and thyrotoxicosis. She has been diagnosed with Graves' disease two years before; she refused conventional therapy and in the preceding six months had been using phytotherapeutic and homeopathic medicine. We found serum and urine iodine levels consistent with severe intoxication by iodine (serum iodine: 42100 mcg/L and urinary iodine: 4223 mcg/L, respectively). After a few hours, the patient went into cardiac arrest. She was subjected to invasive ventilation, dialyzed with continuous veno-venous hemofiltration and treated with vasoactive amines. CONCLUSION: The high level of iodemia manifested in our patient - around a thousand times greater than the normal range and itself associated with fatal outcomes - was caused by long-term homeopathic treatment. This long-term treatment has two consequences: first, iodine load-precipitated hyperthyroidism in thyroid storm, and secondly, it prevents us from treating patients with inorganic iodide.

Hypertension Urgencies and Emergencies: The GEAR Project.

Acute elevations in blood pressure (BP), usually defined as ≥ 180/110 mmHg, may present with highly heterogeneous profiles ranging from absence of symptoms to life-threatening target organ damage. In most recent years the diagnostic approach and the treatment of hypertension have gained interest by patients and physicians. The GEAR project (Gestione delle Emergenze e urgenze in ARea critica, management of hypertensive emergencies and hypertensive urgencies in the emergency setting) was proposed by the group of Young Investigators of the Italian Society of Hypertension as a survey aimed to evaluate the awareness, diagnosis and treatment of hypertensive emergencies and urgencies in Italy.

Relationship between arterial stiffness and unattended or attended blood pressure values.

BACKGROUND AND METHOD: Measurement of 'unattended' blood pressure (BP) may reduce or eliminate the 'white-coat effect'. Despite the possible advantages of this approach for BP measurement, only few studies analysed the relationship between unattended BP and cardiovascular events or with hypertension-mediated organ damage (HMOD). The aim of our study was to evaluate the relationship between 'attended' or 'unattended' BP values and carotid-femoral pulse wave velocity (PWV) in 285 individuals undergoing a visit and assessment of arterial stiffness at an ESH Excellence Centre. Unattended BP (measured with the patient alone in the room, with an oscillometric device programmed to perform three BP measurements, at 1-min intervals, after 5 min) and attended BP were measured with the same device, on the same day of the measurement of PWV, in a random order. RESULTS: Mean age was 63 ±â€Š13 years, mean BMI 26 ±â€Š4, 47% were women, 76% had hypertension (55% treated). Systolic unattended BP was lower than attended SBP (124.4 ±â€Š14.3 vs. 130.9 ±â€Š16.1 mmHg). PWV was similarly correlated with attended and unattended SBP values (r = 0.428 and r = 0.404, P < 0.0001, respectively). No difference for the prediction of increased arterial stiffness was observed at receiver operator curves (ROCs) analysis [attended SBP area under the curve (AUC) 0.665, 95% confidence interval (95% CI) 0.607-0.720 vs. unattended SBP: AUC 0.651, 95% CI 0.593-0.706, P for the comparison = ns]. CONCLUSION: Attended and unattended BP values are similarly correlated with PWV, the gold standard measure of arterial stiffness. These findings may provide further information on the clinical value of unattended BP.

Therapeutic Approach to Hypertensive Emergencies: Hemorrhagic Stroke.

Arterial hypertension represents the most important risk factor for ischemic and haemorrhagic stroke, and an acute hypertensive response is often observed in patients with intracranial haemorrhage (ICH). Available data indicate that the vast majority (> 70%) of patient with acute ICH have a systolic BP above 140 mmHg at the time of presentation in the ED; about 20% have SBP values above 180 mmHg. Severe BP elevation in the presence of ICH represents a hypertensive emergency, and worsening of clinical conditions is not infrequent in the first hours after admission; an aggressive early management is therefore required for these patients. Despite this, appropriate management of BP in acute ICH is still controversial, due to the complex issues involved, and the heterogeneous results obtained in clinical trials. This article will review the available evidence supporting acute BP reduction in acute ICH.