Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: UMLS:C0022116 (ischemia)
 91,303 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Reversible thermal injury to the esophagus from drinking boiling-hot liquids has been reported to produce alternating pink and white linear bands that impart a "candy-cane" appearance to the inner esophageal wall. This injury has been associated with chest pain, dysphagia, odynophagia, and abdominal pain. We describe a case of candy-cane esophagus caused by thermal injury from smoking freebase cocaine, associated with left shoulder and arm pain, diaphoresis, hypotension, and transient cardiac ischemia. This case illustrates the importance of considering candy cane esophagus in the evaluation of chest pain, even when this symptom is suspected to be of cardiac origin.
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PMID:Candy cocaine esophagus. 1200 65

Subclavian artery stenosis (SAS) is a rare lesion accounting for nearly 2.5% of all extracranial arterial occlusions. Symptoms from SAS usually relate to subclavian steal, and include syncope, vertigo, ataxia, and, rarely, upper limb paralysis or hemipareses. Upper extremity ischemia may result in intermittent or constant arm pain. The majority of patients with SAS are asymptomatic. Upper extremity ischemia is particularly unusual. More commonly, patients with significant SAS have symptoms of cerebral ischemia, which are usually triggered by vigorous motion of the arm on the side of the severe proximal subclavian obstruction. Stress exercise radionuclide imaging appears to be a valuable modality in determining the functional significance of SAS. We describe a case in which radionuclide imaging with thallium-201 after stress of the upper extremities was used for risk stratification of subclavian stenosis, and to help decide treatment options.
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PMID:Determining functional significance of subclavian artery stenosis using exercise thallium-201 stress imaging. 1644 Sep 26

We report the case of a 32-year-old man who presented at the emergency department with severe chest pressure, left arm pain, and dizziness. These symptoms were described as intermittent, occurring after exercise and at rest. He had undergone several stress tests during the past 8 years, but no objective evidence of ischemia was produced. His history of hyperlipidemia and increasing frequency of symptoms prompted us to perform coronary angiography, which showed a single coronary artery with an ostium at the right sinus of Valsalva. The vessel had an initial, mixed common trunk that gave rise to both the right coronary artery proper and to the left coronary artery. The left main trunk followed a prepulmonic course. The anatomic features were eventually confirmed by computed tomographic angiography. The left main stem had a fixed 50% to 60% area narrowing, at baseline study. A treadmill stress myocardial perfusion study showed no evidence of ischemia. The patient was referred to a 2nd facility, where intravascular ultrasonography, at baseline, revealed 63% left main narrowing without evidence of atherosclerosis. Acetylcholine provocation demonstrated worsening of the stenosis to about 80%, with reproduction of angina and ST-segment depression, which indicated that medical management of spasm might provide symptomatic relief.
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PMID:Single coronary artery with prepulmonic coursing left main coronary artery manifesting as prinzmetal's angina. 1817 28

A 45-year-old woman presented with a metastatic breast carcinoma and was treated with capecitabine, oral vinorelbine and trastuzumab combination therapy. The initial echocardiogram and the ECG were considered normal. She began treatment with 3-weekly cycles of the combination therapy. After the fourth dose of capecitabine, she presented with severe chest and arm pain, which was responsive to nitroglycerine spray. ECG at admission demonstrated tachycardia with ST-segment elevation suggesting ischemia. The clinical symptoms returned to baseline after a few hours and within 24 h the ECG showed inverted T in leads V3-V6. Cardiac ultrasonography revealed hypokinesia in the left ventricle without segmentary hypokinesia, with mildly reduced global systolic function, which normalized 1 week later. Two weeks later, she was rechallenged with capecitabine. After the fourth dose, the patient developed chest pain. ECG showed infero-apico-lateral injury, which normalized after administration of nitrates, nicorandil and verapamil and discontinuation of capecitabine. This case suggests that capecitabine can lead to the cardiotoxicity characteristic of other fluoropyrimidines. Therefore, it is important to inform patients about the risk of angina-like chest pain, to stop treatment immediately if symptoms occur, and to monitor the patient in hospital. Fluoropyrimidine rechallenge should be avoided because of the risk of ischemic event or sudden death.
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PMID:Cardiac toxicity with capecitabine, vinorelbine and trastuzumab therapy: case report and review of fluoropyrimidine-related cardiotoxicity. 1930 37

Pain is a negative emotional experience that is modulated by a variety of psychological factors through different inhibitory systems. For example, endogenous opioids and cannabinoids have been found to be involved in stress and placebo analgesia. Here we show that when the meaning of the pain experience is changed from negative to positive through verbal suggestions, the opioid and cannabinoid systems are co-activated and these, in turn, increase pain tolerance. We induced ischemic arm pain in healthy volunteers, who had to tolerate the pain as long as possible. One group was informed about the aversive nature of the task, as done in any pain study. Conversely, a second group was told that the ischemia would be beneficial to the muscles, thus emphasizing the usefulness of the pain endurance task. We found that in the second group pain tolerance was significantly higher compared to the first one, and that this effect was partially blocked by the opioid antagonist naltrexone alone and by the cannabinoid antagonist rimonabant alone. However, the combined administration of naltrexone and rimonabant antagonized the increased tolerance completely. Our results indicate that a positive approach to pain reduces the global pain experience through the co-activation of the opioid and cannabinoid systems. These findings may have a profound impact on clinical practice. For example, postoperative pain, which means healing, can be perceived as less unpleasant than cancer pain, which means death. Therefore, the behavioral and/or pharmacological manipulation of the meaning of pain can represent an effective approach to pain management.
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PMID:Pain as a reward: changing the meaning of pain from negative to positive co-activates opioid and cannabinoid systems. 2333 53

Thromboangiitis obliterans (Buerger disease) is an occlusive, nonatherosclerotic, inflammatory vasculitis that causes ischemia in small and medium vessels. Most commonly, Buerger disease is diagnosed in 40- to 45-year-old men with a heavy smoking history. Our case exemplifies the most common presentation, diagnosis, and treatment in a 53-year-old male smoker who presents with arm pain and dusky cool fingers. A Buerger diagnosis requires exclusion of autoimmune, diabetic, and embolic causes. The only recognized treatment for this disease is smoking cessation.
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PMID:Thromboangiitis obliterans (Buerger disease). 2664 9

Acute coronary syndrome usually presents with retrosternal chest pain, nausea, vomiting, sweating, and jaw and arm pain. Some patients only present with neck, epigastric, or ear discomfort. A 47-year-old male with a history of hypertension and coronary artery disease presented to the emergency department complaining of bilateral otalgia. He never felt chest pain, jaw pain, nausea, diaphoresis, or shortness of breath. He had a history of 2 acute coronary events and had a stress test 2 months prior to admission, which was unremarkable. The initial electrocardiography was sinus rhythm with Q-waves in the inferior leads and nonspecific ST changes in the lateral leads. His troponin on admission was normal but subsequently elevated to 20.00 mg/mL after 24 hours. He underwent left heart catheterization, which found significant occlusive disease of the second and fourth obtuse marginal branches and 2 drug-eluting stents were placed. His ear pain resolved soon after cardiac catheterization. The pathophysiology of this referred pain is thought to be related to the neuroanatomy of the nerves innervating the heart and ear. The auricular nerve branch of the vagus nerve supplies the inner portion of the external ear. Only a few cases with the complaint of otalgia have been reported. Patients were older, more frequently women, and with diabetes or heart failure. Clinicians should be aware of the atypical presentation of angina that may be life-threatening cardiac ischemia. Ear pain and fullness could be the sole presenting symptom in a patient with acute coronary syndrome.
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PMID:Myocardial Infarction Presenting as Ear Fullness and Pain. 2955 70

Occurrence of paradoxical arterial embolism may cause the first symptoms in patients with a coexisting hypercoagulable state and patent foramen ovale (PFO). This can result in significant morbidity and mortality depending on the location of the embolism. The risks and benefits of closure of small PFOs have not been well elucidated in prior studies. We describe a patient with a history of Factor V Leiden heterozygosity who presented with left arm pain secondary to arterial embolism. The patient was a 51-year-old male who initially presented to the emergency department after awaking from sleep with progressive, severe, burning left arm pain. He had also noted intermittent shortness of breath over the 2 weeks prior to admission. Temperature was 97.4 F, pulse 86, respiratory rate 20 and blood pressure 121/87. Oxygen saturation was 94% on supplemental oxygen. He had a cool left upper extremity and the patient described subjective paresthesias in this extremity. Left radial pulse was difficult to palpate. Physical exam was otherwise unremarkable. Troponin I was mildly elevated at 0.217 ng/l. White blood cell count was 11.8 and INR 1.1. EKG showed sinus tachycardia with non-specific T abnormalities in the anterior leads. His past medical history was notable for only hypertension and hyperlipidemia. Current recommendation is for antiplatelet or anticoagulation for those with hypercoaguable states who suffer a stroke; there is currently no absolute indication for closure device. We describe the case of a 51-year-old male who had presented with left arm pain and shortness of breath. The computed tomography (CT) angiography of chest showed pulmonary emboli with heavy clot burden bilaterally. Heparin was started, but patient was found to have occlusion along large arteries of the left arm. Emergent left axillary, brachial, radial and ulnar embolectomy for acute critical arm ischemia were performed. The transthoracic echocardiogram done the next day with bubble study was positive for patent foramen ovale. Hypercoaguability showed factor V Leiden heterozygosity. Decision was made for the patient to initiate long-term anticoagulation with rivaroxaban and closure was performed. Patient was advised that closure is off label but opted to proceed with closure in light of hypercoaguable state.
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PMID:PFO closure in high-risk patient with paradoxical arterial embolism, deep vein thrombosis, pulmonary embolism and factor V Leiden genetic mutation. 2957 72

Paraplegia after posterior fossa surgery is a rare and devastating complication. The authors reviewed a case of paraplegia following Chiari decompression and surveyed the literature to identify strategies to reduce the occurrence of such events.An obese 44-year-old woman had progressive left arm pain, weakness, and numbness and tussive headaches. MRI studies revealed a Chiari I malformation and a cervicothoracic syrinx. Immediately postoperatively after Chiari decompression the patient was paraplegic, with a T6 sensory level bilaterally. MRI studies revealed equivocal findings of epidural hematoma at the site of the Chiari decompression and in the upper thoracic region. Surgical exploration of the Chiari decompression site and upper thoracic laminectomies identified possible venous engorgement, but no hematoma. Subsequent imaging suggested a thoracic spinal cord infarction. Possible explanations for the spinal cord deficit included spinal cord ischemia related to venous engorgement from prolonged prone positioning in an obese patient in the chin-tucked position. At 6.5 years after surgery the patient had unchanged fixed motor and sensory deficits.Spinal cord infarction is rare after Chiari decompression, but the risk for this complication may be increased for obese patients positioned prone for extended periods of time. Standard precautions may be insufficient and intraoperative electrophysiological monitoring may need to be considered in these patients.
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PMID:Spinal cord infarction with resultant paraplegia after Chiari I decompression: case report. 3186 Aug 15