A Case Report of Congenitally Absent Pericardium Masquerading as Recurrent Pericarditis.

A 24-year-old female with a history of Swyer-James-MacLeod syndrome presented with acute onset of pleuritic chest pain and was initially diagnosed with acute pericarditis. The 12-lead electrocardiogram demonstrated typical diffuse ST-segment elevation and PR-segment depression. Symptoms resolved rapidly with anti-inflammatory therapy consisting of ibuprofen and colchicine. After completing a 3-month course of the latter, her symptoms rapidly recurred. Workup, including labs and cardiac imaging consisting of a transthoracic echocardiogram and cardiac magnetic resonance imaging, was initially interpreted as normal. Re-review of her cardiac imaging revealed the patient had signs of a congenitally absent pericardium, including a "Snoopy Sign" on her posterior-anterior chest X-ray, which is characterized by levoposition of the cardiac silhouette, a lucent area between the pulmonary artery and aorta because of the presence of lung tissue, a lucent area between the base of the heart and the left hemidiaphragm, loss of the right heart border, a prominent pulmonary artery, and a flattened and elongated left ventricular contour. The patient had a cardiac computed tomography scan, which confirmed the diagnosis. In conclusion, a congenitally absent pericardium is a rare disorder, often undetected or misdiagnosed. There are characteristic findings on imaging such as a "Snoopy Sign" on a posterior-anterior chest X-ray, which can be easily missed because of its rarity. Our goal of this report is to educate health care providers about this rare disorder.

Flecainide suppresses defibrillator-induced storming in catecholaminergic polymorphic ventricular tachycardia.

Catecholaminergic polymorphic ventricular tachycardia (CPVT) is an inherited condition associated with ventricular tachycardia (VT) triggered by exercise or sympathetic stress. Incessant VT may develop due to defibrillator-induced storming-a condition where implantable cardioverter-defibrillator discharges result in a hyperadrenergic state, provoking further VT and defibrillator discharge. We describe the case of a 14-year-old boy with CPVT caused by a calsequestrin-2 mutation, who presented with defibrillator-induced storming refractory to ß-blockers, calcium-channel blockers, amiodarone, and dronedarone. Flecainide and ß-blocker use suppressed incessant VT and defibrillator-induced storming.

Lessons learned from a community-academic partnership addressing adolescent pregnancy prevention in Filipino American families.

BACKGROUND: Filipino Americans have more adolescent pregnancies than other Asian-Pacific Islanders (APIs). Few community-academic collaborations have addressed adolescent pregnancy prevention in this community. OBJECTIVES: We sought to describe the lessons learned from and impact of a community-based teen pregnancy prevention program for Filipino Americans implemented by a Filipina pediatrics resident. METHODS: We formed a community-academic partnership between the Filipino Youth Coalition, a community-based organization (CBO) in San Jose, California, and the Stanford School of Medicine's Pediatric Advocacy Program. We developed a culturally tailored parent-teen conference addressing adolescent pregnancy prevention in Filipino Americans. We qualitatively and quantitatively evaluated this intervention by collecting both pre- and post-conference data using a convenience sample design. LESSONS LEARNED: Engaging particular aspects of Filipino culture (i.e., religion and intergenerational differences) helped to make this community-academic partnership successful. For physicians-in-training who are conducting community-based participatory research (CBPR), project challenges may include difficulties in building and maintaining academic- community relationships, struggles to promote sustainability, and conflicting goals of "community insiders" and "academic outsiders." Authors offer insights and implications for residents interested in practicing CBPR. CONCLUSION: CBPR is a key tool for exploring health issues in understudied populations. CBPR experiences can provide meaningful educational opportunities for physicians-in-training and can build sustained capacity in CBOs. They can also help residents to develop analytic skills, directly affect the health of the communities they serve, and, for minority physicians, give back to the communities they call home.

Estimating the population burden of lymphedema.

Lymphedema is a complex, regional edematous state that ensues when lymph transport is insufficient to maintain tissue homeostasis. The disorder is remarkably prevalent, but the population implications of lymphatic dysfunction are not well-studied. Prevalence estimates for lymphedema are relatively high, yet its prevalence is likely underestimated. The ability to estimate the burden of disease poses profound implications for current and future lymphedema patients, but the challenge to correctly surmise the incidence and prevalence of lymphedema is complex and the relevant medical literature is scanty. In the absence of the highly desired, prospectively designed and rigorously performed relevant epidemiologic studies, it is instructive to look at the existing studies of lymphedema disease burden. In the current review, the extant literature is examined in the context of the disease setting in which tissue edema is encountered. Incidence or prevalence estimates are provided or inferred, and, where feasible, the size of the subject population is also identified. It is extremely attractive to contemplate that future approaches will entail formal, prospectively designed studies to objectively quantitate incidence and prevalence statistics for individual categories, as well as for the global lymphedema population.