Use of Fosaprepitant for Management of Suspected Antimicrobial-Associated Nausea: A Case Report.

Intractable nausea can occur in numerous settings. We report on a 49-year-old woman with a past medical history of cystic fibrosis (CF) with chronic hypoxia, chronic nausea, complex infection history and frequent hospitalizations who was admitted to an academic medical center with a CF exacerbation. Her chronic nausea worsened with the use of antimicrobials, and she was unable to tolerate dopamine or serotonin antagonist antiemetics. Nausea persisted despite the use of benzodiazepines and antihistamines. She was given a one-time dose of fosaprepitant 150 mg intravenously (IV) with marked improvement of her nausea. During subsequent exacerbations, she again developed severe nausea which continued to respond well to a one-time dose of fosaprepitant 150 mg IV. Fosaprepitant is a substance P/neurokinin-1 (NK1) receptor antagonist that is FDA-approved for the prevention of chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting and has been used to prevent post-operative nausea and vomiting. Its use in other contexts has not been well established. This case suggests a role for fosaprepitant in the management of nausea outside the context of chemotherapy or general anesthesia.

Duplicate inferior vena cava complicating the evaluation of primary aldosteronism.

A 64-year-old man with a known duplicate inferior vena cava (D-IVC) and resistant hypertension presented to our emergency department in a hypertensive crisis. He had a longstanding history of hypertension and unexplained hypokalemia treated with oral potassium supplementation. The patient was diagnosed with primary aldosteronism and MRI of the abdomen revealed a left-sided adrenal adenoma. Adrenal venous sampling (AVS) lateralised aldosterone hypersecretion to the left adrenal gland. The patient subsequently underwent an uncomplicated laparoscopic left adrenalectomy. The patient's postoperative course was uneventful, and he was discharged on a single antihypertensive medication on postoperative day 1. D-IVC is one of several rare IVC anatomical variants that have been well described in the literature. Knowledge of this patient's unique abdominal venous anatomy enabled successful AVS and appropriate surgical management. It is necessary to identify potential anatomical variants of abdominal venous anatomy that may complicate these invasive procedures.