Humans ; Infant, Newborn ; Shock, Septic ; diagnosis ; etiology ; therapy

Varicella is a self-limited disease, but sometimes it may be associated with some serious life-threatening complications.Necrotizing fasciitis is a rare complication of varicella. This is a case of a 7-year-old girl with septic shock caused by necrotizing fasciitis as a complication of varicella. Swelling and pain in the left inguinal region and left axillary region were found five days after varicella. Then a high fever occurred followed by hypotension. Fluid infusion, vasopressor and antibiotics were administered. Group A beta-hemolytic Streptococcus was isolated from exudates from the wounds. The clinical symptoms markedly improved after surgical drainage and removal of the necrotic tissue. Both wounds were covered with skin grafts after healthy granulation tissue formed. Although there have been few reports of life-threatening necrotizing fasciitis following varicella in western countries, it is rare in China. Usually patients with varicella were admitted to pediatric or infectious disease department but not surgical departments; so that the clinicians should be aware that varicella may be complicated by life-threatening surgical infections. Necrotizing fasciitis should be suspected in patients of varicella who showed an increasing pain and swelling in any body areas associated with increasing fever and local erythema. Early identification, surgical drainage and debridement are essential for successful treatment of necrotizing fasciitis.
Chickenpox ; complications ; Child ; Fasciitis, Necrotizing ; diagnosis ; drug therapy ; etiology ; Female ; Humans ; Shock, Septic ; diagnosis ; drug therapy ; etiology

20-year-old man presented to our emergency department after he was hit by a forklift. He developed haemorrhagic shock from a subcutaneous haematoma in his left thigh and required monitoring in the surgical intensive care unit. He stabilised with aggressive fluid resuscitation with crystalloids and blood transfusion. The recovery was complicated by an infection of the subcutaneous haematoma. Following open drainage of the infected subcutaneous haematoma, he improved and was discharged. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first reported case of a subcutaneous haematoma causing haemorrhagic shock.
Accidents, Traffic ; Diagnosis, Differential ; Hematoma ; complications ; diagnosis ; Humans ; Male ; Shock, Hemorrhagic ; diagnosis ; etiology ; Soft Tissue Injuries ; complications ; diagnosis ; Young Adult

Cardiogenic unilateral pulmonary edema (UPE) is a rare clinical entity that is often misdiagnosed at first. Most cases of cardiogenic UPE occur in the right upper lobe and are caused by severe mitral regurgitation (MR). We present an unusual case of right-sided UPE in a patient with cardiogenic shock due to acute myocardial infarction (AMI) without severe MR. The patient was successfully treated by percutaneous coronary intervention and medical therapy for heart failure. Follow-up chest Radiography showed complete resolution of the UPE. This case reminds us that AMI can present as UPE even in patients without severe MR or any preexisting pulmonary disease affecting the vasculature or parenchyma of the lung.
Acute Disease ; Aged ; Coronary Angiography ; Diagnosis, Differential ; Heart Atria/ultrasonography ; Heart Failure/diagnosis/etiology ; Humans ; Male ; Mitral Valve Insufficiency/ultrasonography ; Myocardial Infarction/complications/*diagnosis/therapy ; Pulmonary Edema/*diagnosis/etiology/therapy ; Shock, Cardiogenic/*diagnosis/etiology/therapy ; Tomography, X-Ray Computed

INTRODUCTIONAtherosclerotic coronary artery thrombosis is the most common cause of acute myocardial infarction.

CLINICAL PICTUREA 30-year-old lady presented with acute peripartum massive anterior ST segment myocardial infarction and cardiogenic shock. This was due to acute Stanford type A aortic dissection with the intimal flap occluding the left coronary ostium. The initial diagnosis was not apparent. Echocardiography confirmed the diagnosis.

TREATMENT AND OUTCOMEShe underwent emergency surgical repair (Bentall procedure). Pathology confirmed underlying idiopathic cystic medial degeneration.

CONCLUSIONA high index of clinical suspicion is required in acute myocardial infarction presenting without traditional cardiovascular risk factors.

Acute Disease ; Adult ; Aneurysm, Dissecting ; complications ; diagnosis ; surgery ; Aortic Aneurysm ; complications ; diagnosis ; surgery ; Echocardiography ; Electrocardiography ; Female ; Humans ; Myocardial Infarction ; etiology ; physiopathology ; Pregnancy ; Pregnancy Complications, Cardiovascular ; Shock, Cardiogenic ; etiology

Eosinophilic myocarditis usually results from myocardial damage as a result of drugs or parasites, and is generally associated with increased peripheral eosinophil count. This form of myocarditis is difficult to diagnose clinically. A 25 year-old previously healthy woman was transferred from a local clinic because of hypotension and dyspnea with sudden cardiogenic shock after a three day history of gastrointestinal illness. Echocardiography revealed concentric left ventricular wall thickening with moderate pericardial effusion. Biopsy of endomyocardial tissue from the right ventricle showed diffuse infiltration of inflammatory cells, mostly eosinophils, even though the patient had a peripheral eosinophil count that was normal at the time of biopsy. The patient was treated with corticosteroids for the symptoms of pericarditis, and she recovered without cardiac sequelae, clinically and echocardiographically. We here report a case of acute eosinophilic myopericarditis, with cardiogenic shock, diagnosed by endomyocardial biopsy with normal peripheral eosinophil count at the time of biopsy, and complete recovery without sequelae.
Shock, Cardiogenic/blood/*etiology ; Pericarditis/blood/*diagnosis ; Myocarditis/blood/*diagnosis ; Leukocyte Count ; Humans ; Female ; *Eosinophils ; Eosinophilia/blood/*diagnosis ; Adult ; Acute Disease

Pulmonary edema frequently occurs after severe burn. It not only impairs pulmonary function directly, but also can induce or exacerbate other pulmonary complications such as lung infection, acute lung injury ( ALI), and ARDS. Extravascular lung water (EVLW) is closely related to the pulmonary edema. Dynamical monitor of EVLW has been used to predict and quantify the degree of pulmonary edema clinically. This review focuses on the recent progresses at home and abroad on the formation mechanism, monitoring approach, and prevention and treatment of EVLW after severe burn injury.
Acute Lung Injury ; etiology ; physiopathology ; Burns ; Extravascular Lung Water ; Humans ; Pulmonary Edema ; diagnosis ; etiology ; Severity of Illness Index ; Shock, Septic ; complications ; physiopathology ; Thermodilution ; Trauma Severity Indices

OBJECTIVETo explore the relationship between continuous thrombocytopenia and sepsis in patients with severe burns.

METHODSClinical data of 148 severely burned patients admitted to our,two burn centers from January 2007 to December 2011 and conforming to the study criteria were retrospectively analyzed. All patients were divided into sepsis group (n =44) and non-sepsis group (n = 104) according to the presence or absence of sepsis within post burn day (PBD) 30. The data of age, gender, total burn area, full-thickness burn area, fluid infusion volume within post burn hour (PBH) 24, plasma concentration of calcium ion on PBD 1, plasma concentration of albumin on PBD 1, platelet count on PBD 1, acute physiology and chronic health evaluation (APACHE) II score on admission, the presence or absence of hypovolemic shock or inhalation injury on admission, the presence or absence of disseminated intravascular coagulation (DIC) within PBH 48, operation or no operation within PBD 3, thrombocytopenia duration within PBD 10, and mortality were statistically compared between two groups to screen the independent risk factors of sepsis. Data were processed with t test, chi-square test, single factor Logistic regression analysis, and multi-factor Logistic regression analysis.

RESULTSBetween two groups, there were statistically significant differences in total burn area, full-thickness burn area, plasma concentration of calcium ion on PBD 1, plasma concentration of albumin on PBD 1, APACHE II score on admission, presence or absence of hypovolem- ic shock on admission, presence or absence of inhalation injury on admission, presence or absence of DIC within PBH 48, and mortality (with t values from 2.433 to 4.082, χ2 values from 8. 818 to 31.528, P < 0.05 or P < 0.01). Furthermore, the duration of thrombocytopenia within PBD 10 in sepsis group was (5.2 ± 2.4) d, which was significantly longer than that in non-sepsis group [(2.9 ± 1.9) d, t =6. 189, P <0.01]. There were no statistically significant differences in the other indexes between two groups (with t values from 0.971 to 1. 250, χ2 values respectively 0. 054 and 1.529, P values above 0.05). Single factor and multi-factor Logistic regression analysis indicated that APACHE II score on admission and duration of thrombocytopenia within PBD 10 were closely related to occurrence of sepsis (with odds ratio respectively 1. 140 and 1.569, P values below 0.01).

CONCLUSIONSDuration of thrombocytopenia within PBD 10 is one of the risk factors for sepsis in severely burned patients, which can reflect pathophysiological changes in the body, thus providing predictive value for the occurrence of sepsis.

Aged ; Albumins ; Burn Units ; Burns ; blood ; complications ; diagnosis ; Humans ; Predictive Value of Tests ; Regression Analysis ; Retrospective Studies ; Sepsis ; blood ; etiology ; Shock ; blood ; etiology ; Thrombocytopenia

Mushroom exposures are increasing worldwide. The incidence and fatality of mushroom poisoning are reported to be increasing. Several new syndromes in mushroom poisoning have been described. Rhabdomyolytic mushroom poisoning is one of new syndromes. Russula subnigricans mushroom can cause delayed-onset rhabdomyolysis with acute kidney injury in the severely poisoned patient. There are few reports on the toxicity of R. subnigricans. This report represents the first record of R. subnigricans poisoning with rhabdomyolysis in Korea, describing a 51-year-old man who suffered from rhabdomyolysis, acute kidney injury, severe hypocalcemia, respiratory failure, ventricular tachycardia, cardiogenic shock, and death. Mushroom poisoning should be considered in the evaluation of rhabdomyolysis of unknown cause. Furthermore, R. subnigricans should be considered in the mushroom poisoning with rhabdomyolysis.
Acute Kidney Injury/*etiology ; Basidiomycota/isolation & purification/*pathogenicity ; Electrocardiography ; Heart Ventricles/physiopathology ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Mushroom Poisoning/*diagnosis/microbiology/mortality ; Rhabdomyolysis/*etiology ; Shock, Cardiogenic/*etiology ; Tachycardia, Ventricular/etiology

With the increasing incidence of blast injury, the research on its mechanisms and protective measures draws more and more attention. Blast injury has many characteristics different from general war injuries or trauma. For example, soldiers often have various degrees of visceral injury without significant surface damage, combined injuries and arterial air embolism. Researchers in China began to investigate blast injury later than the United States and Sweden, but the development is so fast that lots of achievements have been gained, including the development of biological shock tube, the mechanisms and characteristics of blast injury in various organs, as well as protective measures under special environments. This article reviews the past and current situation of blast injury research in China.
Animals ; Blast Injuries ; diagnosis ; etiology ; prevention & control ; therapy ; Brain Injuries, Traumatic ; etiology ; China ; Disease Models, Animal ; Ear ; injuries ; Eye Injuries ; etiology ; High-Energy Shock Waves ; Humans ; Lung Injury ; etiology ; Research