Sterile cerebrospinal fluid ascites, hydrothorax and hydrocele as a complication of ventriculoperitoneal shunting in an elderly patient.

An 89-year-old man with a history of multiple abdominal surgeries and ventriculoperitoneal (VP) shunt placement for normal pressure hydrocephalus presented for intractable abdominal bloating and scrotal swelling, for which imaging revealed massive ascites, bilateral hydrocele and small bilateral pleural effusions. Cardiac, hepatic and renal workup were insignificant. Culture and cytology of ascitic fluid were negative for infection or malignancy. Aetiology of the ascites as secondary to Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) from the VP shunt was confirmed via ligation of the shunt. Sterile CSF ascites, hydrothorax and hydrocele are rare complications of VP shunt for hydrocephalus and are mostly presented in paediatric patients. We report the first known case of concurrent CSF ascites, hydrothorax and hydrocele in an elderly patient. We examine the difficulty of shunt replacement as a diagnostic and treatment modality in this age group and propose the use of reversible shunt ligation as a diagnostic modality.

Transaminitis is an indicator of mortality in patients with COVID-19: A retrospective cohort study.

BACKGROUND: Since its discovery in Wuhan, China in December of 2019, the novel coronavirus has progressed to become one of the worst pandemics seen in the last 100 years. Recently, there has been an increased interest in the hepatic manifestations of coronavirus disease 19 (COVID-19). AIM: To describe the demographic and clinical characteristics of COVID-19 positive patients and study the association between transaminitis and all-cause mortality. METHODS: This is a descriptive retrospective cohort study of 130 consecutive patients with a positive COVID PCR test admitted between March 16, 2020 to May 14, 2020 at a tertiary care University-based medical center. The Wilcoxon-rank sum test and paired t-test were used for comparing non-parametric and parametric continuous variables respectively and a multivariable logistic regression models to study the association between transaminitis and mortality using SAS version 9.4 (SAS Institute, Cary, NC, United States). RESULTS: Out of the 130 patients, 73 (56%) patients were found to have transaminitis and 57 (44%) did not. When compared to patients without transaminitis, the transaminitis group was found to have a higher median body mass index (30.2 kg/m2 vs 27.3 kg/m2, P = 0.04). In the multivariate analysis those with transaminitis were found to have 3.4 times higher odds of dying as compared to those without transaminitis adjusting for gender, the Age-adjusted Charlson Comorbidity Index and admission to the intensive care unit (P = 0.03). CONCLUSION: Our study showed that transaminitis on admission was associated with severe clinical outcomes such as admission to the intensive care unit, need for mechanical ventilation, and mortality.