Reversible Cerebral Vasoconstriction Syndrome in a Background of Eclampsia Responding to Milrinone Infusion.

BACKGROUND Reversible cerebral vasoconstriction syndrome (RCVS) is a rare neurological disorder with a complex physiopathology that is not fully understood. Suggested underlying mechanisms include failure of autoregulation, endothelial dysfunction, and oxidative stress. It is characterized by reversible multifocal constriction of the cerebral arteries, and can be triggered by many conditions, including, vasoactive medications (eg, triptans), cerebrovascular events, primary headache disorders, and metabolic causes (eg, hypercalcemia). RCVS can also be associated with pregnancy-related conditions, such as thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura, eclampsia, and pre-eclampsia. Thunderclap headache is the most common clinical manifestation; however, other symptoms can result from complications of the disease, such as stroke, brain edema, and seizures. Several case reports have been published of an association between RCVS and eclampsia, but to the best of our knowledge, only 3 cases were successfully treated with intravenous milrinone and this is the only patient reported in Saudi Arabia. CASE REPORT We report a case of 25-year-old primigravida woman who presented with acute-onset headache, nausea, elevated blood pressure, and generalized tonic clonic seizure. She was diagnosed as having RCVS secondary to eclampsia based on clinical and radiological features. She was initially started on nimodipine, which is usually the first-line management of RCVS, as well as magnesium sulfate and levetiracetam; however, she only achieved full recovery after starting intravenous milrinone. CONCLUSIONS Milrinone is one of the emerging drugs for treatment of RCVS, and this case report delineates the potential of using the drug, especially in cases refractory to standard therapy.

Use of sodium bicarbonate in out-of-hospital cardiac arrest: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

BACKGROUND: Out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) is a common cause of death worldwide (Neumar et al., Circulation 122:S729-S767, 2010), affecting about 300,000 persons in the USA on an annual basis; 92% of them die (Roger et al., Circulation 123:e18-e209, 2011). The existing evidence about the use of sodium bicarbonate (SB) for the treatment of cardiac arrest is controversial. We performed this study to summarize the evidence about the use of SB in patients with out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA). METHODS: We searched PubMed, Scopus, EBSCO, Web of Science, and Cochrane Library, until June 2019, for randomized controlled trials (RCTs) and observational studies that used SB in patients with OHCA. Outcomes of interest were the rate of survival to discharge, return of spontaneous circulation (ROSC), sustained ROSC, and good neurological outcomes at discharge. Odds ratio (OR) with their 95% confidence interval (CI) were pooled in a random or fixed meta-analysis model. RESULTS: A total of 14 studies (four RCTs and 10 observational studies) enrolling 28,412 patients were included; of them, eight studies were included in the meta-analysis. The overall pooled estimate did not favor SB or control in terms of survival rate at discharge (OR= 0.66, 95% CI [0.18, 2.44], p=0.53) and ROSC rate (OR= 1.54, 95% CI [0.38, 6.27], p=0.54), while the pooled estimate of two studies showed that SB was associated with less sustained ROSC (OR= 0.27, 95% CI [0.07, 0.98], p=0.045) and good neurological outcomes at discharge (OR= 0.12, 95% CI [0.09, 0.15], p<0.01). CONCLUSION: The current evidence demonstrated that SB was not superior to the control group in terms of survival to discharge and return of spontaneous circulation. Further, SB was associated with lower rates of sustained ROSC and good neurological outcomes.