Life-saving myocarditis? A case in a young adult leading to discovery of an anomalous origin of the right coronary artery.

Myocarditis and coronary artery anomalies are both potentially life-threatening aetiologies of cardiac chest pain in children. We present a case of a young man presenting with non-exertional chest pain and subsequently found to have an anomalous origin of the right coronary artery from the left coronary sinus with an interarterial course in addition to a diagnosis of myocarditis. The patient subsequently was able to undergo surgical correction of his anomalous coronary to mitigate the risk of sudden cardiac death.

Characterizing microscopic and submicroscopic malaria parasitaemia at three sites with varied transmission intensity in Uganda.

BACKGROUND: Parasite prevalence is a key metric used to quantify the burden of malaria and assess the impact of control strategies. Most published estimates of parasite prevalence are based on microscopy and likely underestimate true prevalence. METHODS: Thick smear microscopy was performed in cohorts of children (aged 6 month to 10 years) and adults every 90 days over 2 years, at three sites of varying transmission intensity in Uganda. Microscopy-negative samples were tested for sub-microscopic parasitaemia using loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP). Generalized estimating equation models were used to evaluate associations between age and parasitaemia, factors associated with sub-microscopic infection and associations between parasitaemia and haemoglobin. RESULTS: A total of 9260 samples were collected from 1245 participants. Parasite prevalence among children across the three sites was 7.4, 9.4 and 28.8 % by microscopy and 21.3, 31.8 and 69.0 % by microscopy plus LAMP. Parasite prevalence among adults across the three sites was 3.1, 3.0 and 5.2 % by microscopy and 18.8, 24.2 and 53.5 % by microscopy plus LAMP. Among those with parasitaemia, adults and persons recently treated with anti-malarial therapy had the highest prevalence of sub-microscopic infection. Children with sub-microscopic or microscopic parasitaemia had lower mean haemoglobin levels compared to children with no detectable parasites. CONCLUSIONS: Across a range of transmission intensities in Uganda, microscopy vastly underestimated parasite prevalence, especially among adults.

Ondansetron does not prevent physical dependence in patients taking opioid medications chronically for pain control.

OBJECTIVES: In this study, we investigated the co-administration of ondansetron with morphine, and whether it could prevent the development of physical dependence in patients taking opioids for the treatment of chronic pain. METHODS: A total of 48 chronic back pain patients (N = 48) participated in this double-blinded, placebo-controlled, randomized study. Patients were titrated onto sustained-release oral morphine and randomized to take 8 mg ondansetron or placebo three times daily concurrently with morphine during the 30-day titration. Following titration, patients underwent Naloxone induced opioid withdrawal. Opioid withdrawal signs and symptoms were then assessed by a blinded research assistant (objective opioid withdrawal score: OOWS) and by the research participant (subjective opioid withdrawal score: SOWS). RESULTS: We observed clinically significant signs of naloxone-precipitated opioid withdrawal in all participants (ΔOOWS = 4.3 ±â€¯2.4, p < 0.0001; ΔSOWS = 14.1 ±â€¯11.7, p < 0.0001), however no significant differences in withdrawal scores were detected between treatment groups. CONCLUSION: We hypothesized that ondansetron would prevent the development of physical dependence in human subjects when co-administered with opioids, but found no difference in naloxone-precipitated opioid withdrawal scores between ondansetron and placebo treatment groups. These results suggest that further studies are needed to determine if 5HT3 receptor antagonists are useful in preventing opioid physical dependence.

Ondansetron Does Not Reduce Withdrawal in Patients With Physical Dependence on Chronic Opioid Therapy.

OBJECTIVES: Individuals taking opioids for an extended period of time may become physically dependent, and will therefore experience opioid withdrawal should they stop taking the medication. Previous work in animal and human models has shown that the serotonin (5-HT3) receptor may be implicated in opioid withdrawal. In this study, we investigated if ondansetron, a 5-HT3-receptor antagonist, could reduce the symptoms of opioid withdrawal after chronic opioid exposure in humans. METHODS: In this double-blinded, randomized, crossover study, 33 chronic back pain patients (N = 33) were titrated onto sustained-release oral morphine for 30 days. After titration, participants attended 2 study sessions, 1 week apart, in which opioid withdrawal was induced with intravenous naloxone, with or without 8 mg intravenous ondansetron pretreatment. Opioid withdrawal symptoms were assessed by a blinded research assistant (objective opioid withdrawal score [OOWS]) and by the research participant (subjective opioid withdrawal score [SOWS]). RESULTS: Clinically significant signs of withdrawal were observed during both the ondansetron (ΔOOWS = 3.58 ±â€Š2.22, P < 0.0001; ΔSOWS = 12.48 ±â€Š11.18, P < 0.0001) and placebo sessions (ΔOOWS = 3.55 ±â€Š2.39, P < 0.0001; ΔSOWS = 12.21 ±â€Š10.72, P < 0.0001), but no significant differences were seen between the treatment sessions in either the OOWS or SOWS scores. CONCLUSION: We hypothesized that ondansetron would reduce opioid withdrawal symptoms in human subjects, but found no difference in withdrawal severity between ondansetron and placebo sessions. These findings suggest that more investigation may be necessary to determine if 5-HT3-receptor antagonists are suitable treatment options for opioid withdrawal.