Insulinoma after streptozotocin therapy for metastatic gastrinoma: natural history or iatrogenic complication?

Islet cell carcinoma frequently produces more than one chemical product, although its clinical expression is usually restricted to a single hormone. We describe an unusual patient who presented with full-blown metastasizing gastrinoma. He was treated with cimetidine for five years and then streptozotocin therapy, which resulted in a regression in hepatomegaly and a fall in serum gastrin levels. Following one year's therapy with streptozotocin, he was admitted in hyperinsulinemic hypoglycemic stupor. This appears to be the first reported case of a "shift" from clinical gastrinoma to insulinoma possibly related to prolonged streptozotocin therapy.

Plasmacytoma of the stomach.

A case of plasmacytoma of the stomach is described. The clinical presentation, diagnostic pitfalls and the treatment of this rare entity are discussed.

Serum myoglobin levels in patients with ischemic myocardial insult.

Serum myoglobin levels were studied in 178 consecutive patients admitted for chest pain due to ischemic cardiac injury. Serum myoglobin level was compared with the clinical condition, electrocardiographic changes, and serum creatine kinase levels. Elevated serum myoglobin concentration was present in all patients with acute myocardial infarction, as defined by World Health Organization, Geneva, criteria, and, in addition, in about 50% of patients with so-called acute coronary insufficiency. On this basis we could define two different groups of patients with acute coronary insufficiency: cases exhibiting elevated serum myoglobin levels (group 1) and those with normal levels (group 2). In group 1 although creatine kinase levels were in the normal range, they were significantly higher than in group 2. Four patients from group 1 developed heart failure and another a typical acute myocardial infarction during hospitalization, whereas no patients of group 2 had such complications. In patients with acute myocardial infarction, the elevation of serum myoglobin preceded that of creatine kinase in most cases. Myoglobin release appears to be related to infarct size, the highest levels were found in extensive myocardial infarction and less marked elevations in cases of subendocardial infarction and in half of the cases with acute coronary insufficiency. It is proposed that serum myoglobin is a reliable measure of myocardial necrosis and serves to detect a hitherto undefined population of small-size acute myocardial infarction, with its attendant clinical and prognostic implications.

Cardiac rupture in patients with acute myocardial infarction.

The occurrence of myocardial rupture was evaluated in an unselected population of 1,737 patients with acute myocardial infarction (AMI). Patients with cardiac rupture after AMI were compared with age- and sex-matched control patients with fatal AMI not related to rupture and with AMI survivors discharged home. Rupture was found in 40 patients (15.7 percent of hospital deaths), or 2.3 percent of all cases of AMI. At the highest risk for rupture were women aged 60 to 69, although the age distribution did not differ significantly from that of patients dying of other causes. More patients with myocardial rupture had hypertension during hospitalization, persistent pain, and inferior wall myocardial infarction when compared with controls. The majority (95 percent) of cardiac ruptures occurred within the first six days, 40 percent within the first 24 hours after the onset of symptoms. Approximately 20 percent of ruptures were diagnosed as subacute; in only two was surgical intervention attempted unsuccessfully. The high-risk group of patients should be carefully monitored within the first six days after the onset of symptoms of AMI in an effort to prevent myocardial rupture.

Serum myoglobin in detection of myocardial necrosis in patients with "coronary insufficiency".

Myoglobin, an oxygen-binding protein, is synthesized exclusively in striated and cardiac muscle, and is normally found in blood. Serum myoglobin determination has been used in the diagnosis of acute myocardial infarction. Experimental work has shown that myoglobin is released only after muscular necrosis. This prospective study included 101 patients: 62 with acute coronary insufficiency, 16 with acute myocardial infarction, and 23 controls. In all the patients with infarction the serum myoglobin levels were elevated. None of the controls showed serum myoglobin above normal. In patients with coronary insufficiency the peak serum myoglobin ranged from normal to 280 ng/ml. Half of all the patients with coronary insufficiency had a significant elevation of serum myoglobin (p less than 0.001). The obvious explanation of this finding is that myocardial necrosis to some extent develops in cases of so-called coronary insufficiency. Furthermore, this study confirms previous findings that serum myoglobin assessment constitutes a very early marker of myocardial damage.

Sarcoidosis presenting with acute pleurisy, hemoptysis, pruritus and eosinophilia.

Sarcoidosis carries a low prevalence in Israel, and acute pleural involvement in sarcoidosis is uncommon throughout the world. We report a case of a young Israeli male of Yemenite origin who presented with atypical manifestations of sarcoidosis: pleuritic pain, hemoptysis, pruritus and alcohol-induced pain. The differential diagnosis from Hodgkin's disease was involved. Various aspects of diagnosis are discussed.

Complicated infective endocarditis: surgical treatment.

The destructive intracardiac complications of infective endocarditis present a continuing problem even though the mortality from the disease is decreasing. Osler in 1885 correctly described it as a malignant process. Tissue necrosis secondary to infection can cause destruction of valve leaflets and abscess formation in the valve annulus; the process may extend into adjacent parts of the heart and may even perforate into the pericardial cavity. For surgery to succeed it is necessary to excise all necrotic tissue, to replace the valve, and repair annular or other defects and suture the prosthesis to healthy tissue. The technical considerations in achieving a successful surgical result are illustrated and discussed in relation to a patient suffering from severe aortic valve regurgitation and a ventricular septal defect due to active infective endocarditis.

'Essential' hypertension with hypokalemia. Caused by aldosterone-secreting adrenal adenoma.

Primary aldosteronism is a potentially curable cause of hypertension; it occurs in about 1% of hypertensive patients. In the case reported here, persistent hypokalemia developed in a 72-year-old man who had been treated for 13 years for essential hypertension. Investigation revealed elevated aldosterone level and reduced plasma renin activity. Computed tomography and selective angiography showed a tumor in the right adrenal gland. Aldosterone-secreting adenoma of the adrenal gland was diagnosed, and right adrenalectomy was performed. At a six-month follow-up examination, the patient's blood pressure and potassium level were normal.

Steroid therapy in inappropriate secretion of antidiuretic hormone due to malignant thymoma.

The authors present the case of a 48-year-old female known to have malignant thymoma with metastases for 6 years and treated continuously for 4 years by corticosteroids with marked regression of tumor. The patient ceased medication on her own accord, and was admitted with extensively enlarged tumor and metastases in association with the syndrome of inappropriate secretion of antidiuretic hormone (SIADH). In view of the previous excellent response of the thymoma to corticosteroids, the same treatment was given again with disappearance of the tumor and the features of SIADH. The authors are unaware of previous use of corticosteroids in SIADH as a consequence of their effect on tumor regressions.

Cardiac tamponade in Dressler's syndrome. Case report.

A case of Dressler's syndrome with cardiac tamponade is presented. 19 days after an acute lateral myocardial infarction, the patient, 46 years old, was admitted the second time with a characteristic clinical picture of cardiac tamponade. The patient did not receive at any time during his admission an anticoagulant treatment. The clinical diagnosis was supported by fluoroscopic and echocardiographic findings. A pericardiocentesis performed immediately revealed a hemorrhagic pericardial fluid. After withdrawal of 60 ml, the patient's clinical condition improved dramatically and this improvement continued further under treatment with corticosteroids. At the best of our knowledge this is the second case in the literature of Dressler's syndrome with cardiac tamponade and hemorrhagic fluid in a patient not treated with anticoagulants.

Legionnaires' disease: a case acquired in Israel.

What is probably the first case of presumably nosocomial Legionnaires' Disease (LD) in Israel is described in a 56-yr-old man hospitalized for acute myocardial infarction. The patient developed bilateral pneumonia and hemorrhagic pleural effusion. The diagnosis of LD was confirmed by serological examinations that showed a significant increase and decrease in IgM- and IgG-type antibodies to Legionella pneumophila serogroups 1 and 3. The patient recovered on antibiotic treatment which included erythromycin.