ABSTRACT
A 53-year-old post-menopausal Indian female presented with invasive ductal carcinoma, treated with neoadjuvant chemotherapy and pembrolizumab due to a PD-L1 combined positive score of 5. Following a right mastectomy and axillary dissection, she received a breast expander and AlloDerm™ graft. After resuming pembrolizumab and paclitaxel postoperatively, she developed severe breast redness and high-grade fever, necessitating expander removal due to suspected pembrolizumab-induced complications. This case underscores the unique and severe adverse effects of pembrolizumab on breast reconstruction, highlighting the need for careful monitoring and management in patients undergoing similar treatments. LEARNING POINTS: Among patients with early triple-negative breast cancer, the combination of pembrolizumab with neoadjuvant chemotherapy enhances outcomes compared to chemotherapy alone.Early recognition is essential for managing pembrolizumab-induced complications, as demonstrated by the need for expander removal and debridement in this case.The unique adverse effects observed in this case underscore the importance of tailoring cancer treatment plans to individual patients, taking into account the potential risks associated with immunotherapy in the context of reconstructive surgery.
ABSTRACT
Brugada syndrome is an inherited disorder characterized by a channelopathy of cardiac sodium, potassium, and calcium channel. The pathophysiology of this disorder is not completely elucidated yet, however, most of the reported cases are caused by a pathogenic alteration in the SCN5A gene, leading to the malfunction of cardiac sodium channels. Several stressors are well known to unmask this pathology including fever and electrolytes imbalance. Three ECG patterns are frequently described in the literature, type 1, type 2, and type 3. However, only the type 1 pattern is considered diagnostic of Brugada syndrome in the appropriate clinical context. Therapeutic strategies can range from conservative medical management with antiarrhythmic medications to Automatic Implantable Cardioverter Defibrillator (AICD) placement. Prompt recognition is of utmost importance since this pathology can rapidly evolve into life-threatening arrhythmias and sudden cardiac death. Here we present a case of a 22-year-old male who presented after a syncopal episode and was found to have Brugada syndrome in the setting of Influenza A infection.
ABSTRACT
Anal fistulae can be a very difficult disease to manage. The management of complex fistulae is even more challenging. The risk to the fecal continence mechanism due to damage to the anal sphincters and refractoriness to the treatment (high recurrence rate) pose the two biggest challenges in the management of this disease. Apart from these, there are several other challenges in the treatment of complex fistulae. The intriguing and uphill task is that satisfactory solutions to most of these challenges are still not known, and there is hardly any consensus on whatever treatment solutions are available. To summarize, there is no gold-standard treatment available for treating complex anal fistulae, and the search for a satisfactory treatment option is still on. In this review, the endeavor has been to discuss and highlight recent path-breaking updates in the management of complex anal fistulae.
