Acute ischaemic colitis associated with oral phenylephrine decongestant use.

In this case, the authors have presented for the first time that ischaemic colitis may be associated with phenylephrine use. Since phenylephrine is the more common active ingredient in over-the-counter (OTC) cold medications, other presentations may follow this case. A MEDLINE search was performed for all case reports or case series of ischaemic colitis secondary to pseudoephedrine or phenylephrine use published between 1966 and 2013. The search resulted in four case reports and one case series describing patients with acute onset ischaemic colitis with exposure to pseudoephedrine immediately prior to onset. However, we found no case reports of ischaemic colitis associated with phenylephrine use. We present this case as an unexpected clinical outcome of phenylephrine, which has not been associated with ischaemic colitis in the literature. Also, this case serves as a reminder of the important clinical lesson to question all patients' use of OTC and prescribed medications.

Acute respiratory failure secondary to esophageal dilation from undiagnosed achalasia.

Achalasia is an idiopathic motility disorder causing progressive dysphagia and dilation of the esophagus. Rarely this esophageal dilation can cause acute respiratory insufficiency and/or failure. We describe a 63-year-old woman presenting for total knee arthroplasty in whom induction of anesthesia was complicated by pulmonary aspiration requiring postoperative ventilation, hypotension requiring vasopressor therapy, and postextubation, recurrent, acute respiratory failure. Computed tomography of the chest performed for suspected pneumothorax revealed severe esophageal dilation with a mass effect. As this case describes, achalasia may present with the life-threatening complication of respiratory failure and requires a high index of suspicion for timely diagnosis and appropriate interventions.