A 38-year-old woman experienced sudden onset of rest tremor in the left forearm 1 week after learning that her deeply loved husband was involved in an affair. The patient was in good health and had no neurological disease or prior trauma. The surface electromyography results were consistent with features of the typical rest tremor, and the increased glucose metabolism in the putamen, seen on positron emission tomography scan, was consistent with the early stages of Parkinson’s disease (PD). Furthermore, her trembling symptoms were relieved significantly after antiparkinsonian medications. For this patient, stress played an important role in the development of PD. The mechanism may have been the direct effects of numerous neurotransmitters or dopamine depletion after its massive release during severe stress. This case suggests that severe stress can worsen the neurological symptoms and prompted early onset of PD. It is the first case of PD occurring so early in life after exposure to major stress, and arouses our attention to the effects of stress on the nervous system.
Introduction:
Patients with cardiac amyloidosis light chain (AL) present with negative Tc-99m pyrophosphate (PYP) scintigraphy (absent or mild heart uptake). On the contrary, patients with cardiac amyloidosis transthyretin (ATTR) present with positive Tc-99m PYP scanning (intensive heart uptake). We present a false positive Tc-99m PYP scintigraphy (grade 2, the heart-to-contralateral ratio is 1.65) in a patient with AL.
Patient concerns:
A 42-year-old Chinese man complained of effort intolerance, chest discomfort, and short of breath progressively over 1 year. New York Heart Association Class III. Physical examination showed legs swelling. Laboratory revealed elevated brain natriuretic peptide of 23,031 ng/mL (0–88) and Troponin-T of 273.4 ng/mL (0–14).
Diagnosis:
Cardiac amyloidosis light chain. Evidences: free light chains (FLCs): decreased serum free kappa/lambda ratio of 0.043 (0.31–1.56). Immunofixation electrophoresis: a positive lambda light chain monoclonal protein. Cardiac biopsy: HE: Ambiguity Congo red strain. Myocardial immunofluorescence: positive lambda light chain. Myocardial immunohistochemistry: positive lambda light chain, negative kappa light chain, and TTR.
Interventions:
Furosemide 40 mg qd, torasemide 20 mg qd, spirolactone 20 mg qd, potassium chloride 10 mL per 500 mL urine, atorvastatin calcium tablet 20 mg qd, aspirin enteric-coated tablets 100 mg qd during the 2-weeks in-hospital.
Outcomes:
The patient died 2 months later after discharge.
Conclusion:
False positive Tc-99m PYP scintigraphy may rarely presented in patients with cardiac amyloidosis light chain. So, the clonal plasma cell process based on the FLCs and immunofixation is a base to rule out AL cardiac amyloidosis when we interpret a positive Tc-99m PYP scintigraphy.
Prepubertal vaginal discharge is most commonly caused by vulvovaginitis and is rarely caused by lymphatic malformations, resulting in chylous vaginal discharge. The diagnosis of chylous vaginal discharge remains a challenge because of a knowledge gap. We describe a 12-year-old girl with intermittent vaginal discharge for 10 years. Although we found a high signal in the vagina on T2-weighted magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), the final diagnosis, vaginal lymphatic leakage, was established on lymphoscintigraphy. Lymphatic leakage in the vagina on lymphoscintigraphy was the key imaging feature of chylous vaginal discharge in this patient. Moreover, diffuse radioactivity was found in the abdomen and thorax on lymphoscintigraphy, which indicated the multiple cystic lymphatic malformations and intestinal lymphangiectasia combined with T2-weighted MRI. Thus, T2-weighted MRI could be used in combination with lymphoscintigraphy to simply identify chylous vaginal discharge. (J Vasc Surg Cases and Innovative Techniques 2020;6:1-5.)
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