A case report of left atrial myxoma presenting with amnesia.

BACKGROUND: Primary cardiac tumors are rare, and approximately 90% of them are benign. Myxoma is the most common type of these tumors occurring in the left atrium in 75-85% of cases. The tumor can cause the left atrio-ventricular valve obstruction and embolization phenomenon. Case presentation We reported a case of 54-year-old man with complaints of dyspenea and amnesia. In our patient, transthoracic echocardiography revealed a mass of 28*63 mm attached to the upper intra-atrial septum, which was prolapsing through the mitral valve into the left ventricle during diastole, being indicative of the left atrial myxoma. On examination, he was alert and conversant, and no pathological abnormality was observed in the examination of cardiovascular, gastrointestinal, respiratory, hepatic, renal and nervous systems. After myxoma diagnosis, the tumor was removed under cardiac surgery and discharged under good conditions. In the telephone follow-up after discharge, the patient recovered and did not report the disease and surgery complications. CONCLUSIONS: Patients with cardiac myxoma are usually asymptomatic, but they may have manifestations related to the embolism phenomenon or intracardiac obstruction. Therefore, myxoma may represent an emergency. Surgery should be performed as soon as possible. If surgery is delayed, the patient may suffer from serious and irreversible complications, such as stroke and cardiac arrest.

Prevalence of hepatitis A virus infection in a HIV positive community.

Hepatitis A is acute and usually self-limiting disease, but sometimes it can be dangerous such as in immunosuppressed patients. Purpose of this study is to investigate the prevalence of hepatitis A serology in HIV/AIDS Patients. 247 HIV positive patients from March 2005 to September 2006 were entered in this study. Participants completed questionnaires to elicit demographic, drug and sex risk information, and were (tested for hepatitis A. They were all referred to Counseling center for behavioral diseases in Imam Khomeini Hospital. Cases were chosen from volunteers with no history of jaundice or acute hepatitis. Data were analyzed by SPSS version 13 and results were compared between seropositive and seronegative groups using T test and chi square. Statistical significance was accepted at a level of P < 0.05.200 (80.98%) were male and 47 (19.02) were female. The mean age was 36 +/- 9.3. 238 (96.3%) of patients were seropositive. One hundred percent and 96% who were born in rural and urban areas were seropositive, respectively. Also, 85.7% and 96.6% who reside in rural and urban areas were seropositive, respectively. Iran is an endemic country for hepatitis A in which most people has asymptomatic infectious during childhood. According to high prevalence of hepatitis A positive serology in HIV/AIDS patients, routine vaccination seems to be unnecessary. But special sub populations like HIV infected infants should be evaluated more precisely and different approaches may be needed for them.