[Pericardial extravasation as an indicator of congestive heart failure due to thiamine deficiency in a young adult]. / Epanchement péricardique révélateur d'une insuffisance cardiaque à débit élevé par carence en thiamine chez un adult jeune.

INTRODUCTION: Thiamine (B1) deficiency is one of the classical causes of congestive heart failure. Although in the western world and in other developed regions this disorder is generally associated with chronic alcoholism, it may also only occur as a result of a deficient diet. EXEGESIS: A young patient was admitted for electrocardiographic examination, and pericardial extravasation was recorded. The etiological assessment showed a case of congestive heart failure due to thiamine (B1) deficiency. A hemodynamic examination and investigation of thiamine blood levels confirmed this diagnosis. The patient's health status improved following thiamine administration, with complete and rapid regression of symptoms of congestive heart failure. CONCLUSION: Although cardiomyopathic beriberi is infrequent, it should systematically be taken into account in the etiology of congestive heart failure. The present study also notes that a dietary thiamine deficiency is uncommon, but should nevertheless be considered when other symptoms of denutrition are present.

[Pericardial effusion revealing cardiac amyloidosis in the course of rheumatoid arthritis]. / Epanchement péricardique révélateur d'une amylose cardiaque au cours de l'évolution d'une polyarthrite rhumatoïde.

Pericardial effusion is common in patients with rheumatoid arthritis. It is essentially a sign of pericardial involvement of the rheumatoid disease, but viral, bacterial and especially tuberculous pericarditis must not be excluded. Pericardial amyloidosis of the AA type is much less common and difficult to diagnose before cardiac biopsy even in cases of myocardial amyloidosis, as in the reported case, in which the classical association of microvoltage on the ECG and myocardial hypertrophy on echocardiography was absent. The absence of myocardial uptake of technetium-labelled pyrophosphates at myocardial scintigraphy and the absence of a restrictive profile on cardiac gamma-angiography were not suggestive of the diagnosis of amyloidosis. Pericardial and endomyocardial biopsy, justified by the negativity of the preceding investigations, provided an accurate histological diagnosis, a prognostic evaluation and was also useful for guiding management.