Pachydermoperiostosis and bladder cancer.

Pachydermoperiostosis or the Touraine-Soulente-Golé syndrome is a rare monogenetic disorder characterized by pachydermia, periostosis and digital clubbing accounts for approximately 3∼5% of all patients with hypertrophic osteoarthropathy. Missense mutations in SLCO2A1 and HPGD genes could plausibly underlie the pathogenesis of pachydermoperiostosis. Patients have usually a favorable outcome with very few cases associated with cancer. Herein, we report the first case of a patient with pachydermoperiostosis associated with bladder cancer.

Granulomatous peritonitis after laparoscopic cholecystectomy.

BACKGROUND: Granulomatous peritonitis may indicate a number of infectious, malignant, and idiopathic inflammatory conditions. It is a very rare postoperative complication, which is thought to reflect a delayed cellmediated response to cornstarch from surgical glove powder in susceptible individuals. This mechanism, however, is much more likely to occur with open abdominal surgery when compared with the laparoscopic technique. METHODS: We report a case of sterile granulomatous peritonitis in an 80-y-old female after a laparoscopic cholecystectomy. Management was conservative, and no relapse was observed after over 1-y of follow-up. DISCUSSION: We propose that peritoneal exposure to bile acids during the laparoscopic removal of the gallbladder was the trigger of granulomatous peritonitis in this patient. Severe complications, such as peritoneal adhesions, intestinal obstruction, and fistula formation, were observed, but no fatalities were reported. CONCLUSION: We should be aware of this rare cause of peritonitis in the surgical setting.

Warfarin-associated hematomyelia.

A 71-year-old woman on warfarin (2.5 mg daily) developed severe low back pain with reduced touch sensation and weakness of the lower limbs that progressed to complete paralysis within 28 to 30 hours. Imaging revealed bleeding at the D4 through D11 level, however the patient refused emergency laminectomy. No recovery was observed and the patient was discharged to a rehabilitation facility. Only few other cases of hematomyelia linked to anticoagulant therapy have been reported. Early diagnosis, appropriate management and immediate intervention are needed to prevent irreversible neurological sequelae. The elusive clinical features at presentation may cause an important diagnostic delay.

Cugini's syndrome: its clinical history and diagnosis.

INTRODUCTION: This article deals with the description and diagnosis of a new nosographic syndrome, which received the eponym of "Cugini's syndrome" by the name of the Author who discovered its clinical picture. This syndrome is characterized by the binomial: "minimal target organ damage associated to monitoring prehypertension". CLINICAL HISTORY AND DIAGNOSIS: Between the years 1997 and 2002, the Author published a series of investigations regarding some office normotensives who inexplicably showed incipient signs of target organ damage (TOD). Investigated via ambulatory (A) blood (B) pressure (P) monitoring (M), these subjects were surprisingly found not to be hypertensive. Neverthless, the office normotensives with TOD exibited the daily mean level of their systolic (S) and diastolic (D) BP (DMLSBP/DBP) significantly more elevated as compared to true normotensives. Because of these ABPM findings, the Author realized that the investigated subjects were false normotensives whose TOD was associated with a monitoring prehypertension (ABPM-diagnosable prehypertension alias monitoring prehypertension alias masked prehypertension). The year after the last Cugini's investigation, the INC-7 Reports introduced the term: "prehypertension" in its classification of arterial hypertension, as an office sphygmomanometric condition in between office normotension and office hypertension. The ABPM cut-off upper limits for a differential diagnosis between monitoring normotension, prehypertension and hypertension are reported, as calculated by the Author in its collection of ABPMs. The eponym of "Cugini's syndrome" was assigned in 2007 and confirmed in 2009. CONCLUSIVE REMARKS: The monitoring prehypertension is a further condition of discrepancy between office sphygmomanometry and ABPM, as per a masked prehypertension, whose diagnosis has to be immediately diagnosed, for preventing the onset of a TOD. There are reported the present investigations dealing with the possible need for an early antihypertensive treatment of prehypertension. A pharmacological treatment seems to be especially justified in the presence of a Cugini's syndrome.

Hypomagnesemia and proton-pump inhibitors.

INTRODUCTION: Proton pump inhibitors (PPIs) have been linked to clinically symptomatic hypomagnesemia. AREAS COVERED: We searched Medline database in all languages using 'proton-pump inhibitors, magnesium, hypomagnesemia and hypomagnesemic hypoparathyroidism' as search terms and other articles were identified through searches of the files of the authors and reference lists from relevant articles. All patients presented with hypomagnesemic hypoparathyroidism, however, they rarely had life-threatening conditions such as malignant ventricular arrhythmias associated with prolonged QT interval, tetany and generalized seizures. Hypomagnesemia was seen with different PPIs, which could suggest a class effect, and was refractory to Mg replacement until PPIs were stopped. Hypomagnesemia may recur after re-challenge with the same or a different PPI and is not clearly dose-related. Mechanisms are poorly understood but PPI-induced hypochlorhydria does not seem involved. Carriers of TRPM6/7 mutations could be at risk. EXPERT OPINION: Although mechanism and incidence rate remain unclear, there seems little doubt that PPIs may cause hypomagnesemia. We should obtain blood Mg levels prior to initiation of PPIs when patients are expected to be on treatment for long period of time and in those with other potential causes of hypomagnesemia. Use of H2-blockers may be an appropriate alternative.