Splenic spread and hepatic encephalopathy in metastatic malignant melanoma.

An older adult patient was admitted with epigastric pain and vomiting and found to have an abdominal mass, increased cholestatic liver enzymes and markedly elevated serum lactate dehydrogenase (LDH). Imaging revealed extensive liver metastases of unknown primary but also an unusual splenic metastasis diagnosed by liver biopsy as malignant melanoma. The patient became lethargic and developed mental status changes associated with asterixis, abnormal EEG, and increased serum ammonia levels. All reversed with high-dose lactulose and had no alternative explanation other than an unusual hepatic encephalopathy secondary to portosystemic shunts bypassing the extensively metastatic liver.

The Wide Spectrum of Presentations of Cytomegalovirus Infection in Immunocompetent Hosts: An Exhaustive Narrative Review.

CMV is a ubiquitous DNA virus that establishes infection and results in 40-100% seropositivity. Viral replication occurs following an acquired primary infection (or reinfection) or by the reactivation of life-long latency. In immunocompetent patients, CMV infection is mostly asymptomatic or mild and self-limited. However, an extensive review of the literature published up to April 2024 reveals that despite immunocompetence, CMV can cause a very large variety of clinical syndromes in any part of the gastrointestinal tract (the most common pattern), the central or peripheral nervous system, and the eyes, as well as hematological, pulmonary, cardiac, and cutaneous disease. Not uncommonly, more than one system is involved, and though the disease is often self-limited, treatment with intravenous ganciclovir or oral valganciclovir may be required, and in isolated cases, fatalities may occur. Thus, a potential CMV infection should be considered in the differential of myriad syndromes in non-immunocompromised patients. Associated systemic symptoms (fever, sweats, and weight loss), lymphocytosis, and hepatitis are not uncommon and can be a useful clue. Some populations, such as critically ill patients in intensive care, pregnant women, elderly patients, and those with inflammatory bowel disease, may be more susceptible. Moreover, the potential of past, latent CMV infection (i.e., CMV seropositivity) to be associated with significant cardiovascular morbidity and all-cause mortality years later is intriguing and requires further study. All these data indicate the outstanding importance of developing a vaccine against CMV, which hopefully will become available in the foreseeable future. Meanwhile, a solid diagnosis of active CMV infection can be quickly established (or ruled out) by widely available serology tests and PCR amplification, and clinicians in all disciplines need to be more aware of the diverse guises of CMV infection and remember to consider it in any host, including an immunocompetent one.

In ILD, a step-up diagnostic strategy vs. immediate surgical biopsy reduced need for unexpected chest tube drainage.

SOURCE CITATION: Kalverda KA, Ninaber MK, Wijmans L, et al. Transbronchial cryobiopsy followed by as-needed surgical lung biopsy versus immediate surgical lung biopsy for diagnosing interstitial lung disease (the COLD study): a randomised controlled trial. Lancet Respir Med. 2024;12:513-522. 38640934.

Comprehensive Evidence-Based Health Maintenance.

The potential of primary prevention to prevent, delay, or ameliorate disease is immense. However, the total spending on preventive services in the United States remains astoundingly small and represents a meager 3.5% of total health care spending. Moreover, training focused on prevention in medical schools is often neglected, and time-constrained primary providers frequently omit effective preventive and early detection measures, or perform them perfunctorily. Indeed, preventable conditions of serious consequences including "premature" mortality, cardiovascular events, and major organ failure are ubiquitous with the global obesity and diabetes epidemics, and the ongoing high prevalence of noxious habits and drug abuse. Although each aspect has been the subject of extensive research, a succinct evidence-based summary is scarce. We have conducted a review of high-quality evidence (systematic reviews, meta-analyses, and practice guidelines) over the last 20 years to extract the best updated recommendations on comprehensive disease prevention and approved screening, briefly citing significant risk reductions by lifestyle interventions, pharmacological prevention, cancer screening, other endorsed screening, immunizations, and issues in the patient-provider interface.