Palliative Care Emergency: A Rare Etiology of Acute Pain.

Patients with serious or life-threatening illnesses are typically referred to palliative care to discuss goals of care, advance care planning, and to seek control of their cancer-related pain. Physicians who care for patients near the end of life quite often attribute worsening pain to advancing disease. We present a case of a patient with metastatic gallbladder adenocarcinoma who presented to a palliative care clinic with complaints of worsening chest and back pain, uncontrolled with her established opioid pain regimen. Findings on physical examination prompted the search for other etiologies of this patient's worsening pain. An initial review of her recent investigations revealed a suspicious positron emission tomography (PET) scan obtained prior to her clinic appointment, which showed a large right-sided pneumothorax with tension physiology. The patient was urgently sent to the emergency room for emergent placement of a chest tube. This case attempts to bring awareness to the potential bias physicians may have regarding the pain experienced by patients with advanced disease and who are near the end of life. The performance of a thorough physical examination can be neglected in a developed, resource-rich country where imaging is easily accessible. Although the adoption of a stepwise ladder in pain management for patients at the end of life is frequently implemented, forgoing a thorough history and physical examination can have detrimental effects. Consideration of other etiologies of acute pain remains imperative when treating patients at the end of life.

Myocardial Bridging Unmasks as an Acute Coronary Syndrome from Dehydration.

A 50-year-old male presented for loss of consciousness. He was initially treated with intravenous epinephrine and fluids, and an electrocardiogram (ECG) displayed an ST-segment elevation in lead aVR with global ST-segment depressions. A subsequent left heart catheterization revealed that the middle segment of the left anterior descending artery (LAD) demonstrated severe stenosis during systole but would become patent during diastole, which was suggestive of myocardial bridging. After stopping the epinephrine and increasing the fluid infusion, the ECG changes rapidly resolved. The patient had later admitted to significant dehydration all day. Myocardial bridging is a congenital anomaly in which a coronary artery segment courses through the myocardium instead of the usual epicardial surface. Occasionally, myocardial bridging may present similarly to acute coronary syndrome in severe dehydration or hyperadrenergic states. The diagnosis can be made through coronary angiography, which reveals a dynamic vessel obstruction pattern corresponding with the cardiac cycle. Long-term effects may also include accelerated atherosclerosis. Treatment consists of reversing precipitating causes during acute presentations and decreasing the risk of coronary artery disease on a chronic basis.

Malignant Müllerian Adenocarcinoma Manifesting With Cardiac Tamponade and Pleural Effusion.

A 54-year-old woman with a past medical history of untreated stage IV Müllerian adenocarcinoma presented for dyspnea. She was found to have a large right-sided pleural effusion through basic radiology and clinically improved after a CT-guided therapeutic thoracocentesis. However, the patient rapidly deteriorated shortly afterward. A broader workup that included echocardiography revealed a large pericardial effusion with tamponade physiology. The patient underwent an emergent pericardiocentesis, which briefly improved hemodynamics, but her clinical status kept declining until she eventually expired. Subsequent cytology of the pleural and pericardial fluid revealed malignant cells of Müllerian origin.