Acute Recurrent Exacerbations of Mesenteric Panniculitis With Immunosuppressive Therapy: A Case Report and a Brief Review.

Mesenteric panniculitis (MP) is a rare, benign, and idiopathic disorder characterized by chronic inflammation of the mesenteric adipose tissue of the small intestine. The exact etiology of MP is unknown and its associations with underlying malignancies continues to be poorly understood. In this case report, we describe a rare case of acute exacerbations of MP in a middle-age female with a known past medical history of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma in remission and small bowel resection for a localized carcinoid tumor. The patient was diagnosed with MP 4 years ago and started on tamoxifen therapy with adequate control of her symptoms. Last year, she reported to the emergency department with multiple episodes of sudden-onset, severe, and localized right upper quadrant abdominal pain and nausea without vomiting. She was diagnosed with an acute exacerbation of MP and a decision was made to add 60 mg prednisone daily in addition to her tamoxifen regimen. She remained symptomatically stable for the next 6 months after the start of dual therapy with tamoxifen and prednisone. However, for the past 6 months, the patient reported to the emergency department on an average of 2 times/month with the same recurrent symptoms despite high compliance with tamoxifen and prednisone therapy. She was admitted for her pain management and her dose of prednisone was increased and she was subsequently discharged home with improvement of her symptoms. Her tamoxifen was switched to mycophenolate on her follow-up visit with gastrointestinal clinic, and her disease has remained stable for the past 2 months. Our case report discusses in-depth the literature on MP and its management. We also detail the steps in management of a rare case of recurrent acute exacerbations of MP despite the patient being on immunosuppressive therapy.

Habit Mimics the Illness: EVALI During the Era of the COVID-19 Pandemic.

Globally, health care providers have been challenged to provide adequate care during the coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. Due to the ever changing and rapidly evolving nature of the novel coronavirus, there is increased public anxiety and knowledge gaps that have created major dilemmas in health care delivery. In this environment, there is tremendous pressure on clinicians to diagnose each and every case of COVID-19. This has led to a situation in which clinicians are primed to suspect all respiratory illness is due to COVID-19 infection until proven otherwise. Because of this, providers may misdiagnose patients who have illnesses that are distinct from COVID-19 but present in a similar manner. In the current article, we present the case of e-cigarette- and vaping-associated acute lung injury (EVALI) mimicking pneumonia secondary to the novel coronavirus. It is unknown if vaping puts patients at higher risk of respiratory failure if coinfected with COVID-19. Therefore, exposure history in patients presenting with pneumonia-like syndrome is important. Physicians should be aware of the overlap between these conditions and should pay particular attention during history taking to distinguish EVALI from COVID-19 pneumonia.

Atezolizumab-Induced Bell's Palsy in a Patient With Small Cell Lung Cancer.

Immune checkpoint inhibitors are rapidly becoming popular therapeutic options for patients suffering from a number of malignancies. Atezolizumab is a programmed cell death ligand-1 inhibitor, and binding to this ligand decreases the ability of tumor cells to evade the immune system, resulting in self-tolerance. While inhibition of these molecules leads to increased T-cell destruction of tumor cells, it also may lead to autoimmune destruction of healthy cells. Neurotoxicity is a rare complication of immune checkpoint inhibitor therapy, and facial palsy as a complication of atezolizumab therapy has only been reported in one additional study. We present the case of a 68-year-old female with a history of small cell carcinoma of the lung presenting with sudden-onset facial palsy and numbness of the distal extremities in the setting of receiving atezolizumab immunotherapy. Our patient was managed with temporary cessation of her immunotherapy, oral prednisone, and supportive measures. Within 4 weeks, the patient had complete resolution of her facial palsy and was able to resume immunotherapy without further complication. Clinicians should be aware of this rare adverse effect in order to enact early management including temporary cessation of therapy to prevent morbidity in patients undergoing immunotherapy.

Epstein-Barr Virus Versus Novel Coronavirus-Induced Hemophagocytic Lymphohistocytosis: The Uncharted Waters.

Hemophagocytic lymphohistocytosis (HLH) is a hyperinflammatory syndrome characterized by fever, hepatosplenomegaly, and pancytopenia. It may be associated with genetic mutations or viral/bacterial infections, most commonly Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) and cytomegalovirus. As for the novel coronavirus, severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2), also known as COVID-19 (coronavirus disease-2019), the cytokine storm it triggers can theoretically lead to syndromes similar to HLH. In this article, we report a case of a 28-year-old female who presented with high-grade fevers, found to have both SARS-CoV-2 and EBV infections, and eventually began to show signs of early HLH. To our knowledge, this is the first case reported in literature that raises the possibility of SARS-CoV-2-related HLH development.

Monoclonal Gammopathy of Renal Significance-A Rare Renal Presentation: A Review of Cases Reported.

Monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance is a precursor to multiple myeloma characterized by monoclonal gammopathy without evidence of end organ damage. Some patients with clonal plasma cell disorder that do not meet the requirements for multiple myeloma have been seen to develop pathologic renal disease due to direct effects from deposition of monoclonal protein, referred to as monoclonal gammopathy of renal significance. In this article, we present a rare renal manifestation of monoclonal gammopathy of renal significance as focal segmental glomerulosclerosis.

Resistant Hypertension Secondary to Severe Renal Artery Stenosis With Negative Duplex Ultrasound: A Brief Review of Different Diagnostic Modalities.

Renal artery stenosis is a cause of resistant hypertension, which can present with several features such as severe hypertension, deterioration of renal function (with or without associated angiotensin-converting inhibitor or angiotensin receptor blocker therapy), and flash pulmonary edema. When evaluating for the presence of renal artery stenosis, the most widely utilized imaging modalities are duplex ultrasonography and computed tomography angiography. In this article, we discuss the case of a 77-year-old female who presented with shortness of breath and mild pulmonary edema, secondary to hypertensive emergency. Later, she was diagnosed with renal artery stenosis and underwent stent placement in the left renal artery. Our case highlights the different diagnostic modalities and emphasizes that the most commonly used screening, which is duplex ultrasonography, was performed on our patient but gave a false-negative result, despite high-grade stenosis, which was later diagnosed on computed tomography angiography.