Cardiac SPECT studies can be used effectively for assessing ischemia in patients with angina and myocardial bridging. The evaluation of myocardial perfusion with dipyridamole stress SPECT imaging showed a good agreement with exercise stress SPECT imaging for the detection of ischemia in this group of patients.
Infections due Scedosporium spp. in lung transplant recipients are associated with disseminated disease with high mortality rates. The adjunctive local antifungal therapy may be a useful option when systemic treatment is insufficient and/or surgery is not feasible. We present a case of mixed disseminated infection due Scedosporium apiospermum and S. prolificans in a lung transplant recipient. Combined local and systemic antifungal therapy provided an unusual long-term survival in the intensive care unit.
Aspergillus tracheobronchitis (AT) is an uncommon clinical presentation of pulmonary aspergillosis that frequently progresses to invasive pulmonary aspergillosis. Diagnosis of AT may be delayed because of its insidious onset, non-specific signs and symptoms, and scarcity of radiographic abnormalities. We report the case of a patient who received a heart transplant (HT) because of cardiac amyloidosis and who developed pseudomembranous AT. Possible risk factors concurrent in this case were splenectomy, lymphocytopenia, and previous cytomegalovirus infection. Chest computed tomography scan showed thickening of the left bronchi and a 'tree-in-bud' pattern with multiple small nodules. Bronchoscopic examination revealed raised yellowish pseudomembranous plaques on the tracheobronchial tree. Bronchoalveolar lavage and aspirate cultures yielded Aspergillus fumigatus. The patient recovered with voriconazole. Clinicians should be aware of AT as a potential cause of respiratory symptoms with few radiographic abnormalities in HT recipients, as delay in performing bronchoscopy could result in an unfavorable prognosis.
Panton-Valentine leukocidin (PVL) is a cytotoxin produced by Staphylococcus aureus that exhibits highly specific lytic activity against polymorphonuclear cells, monocytes, and macrophages. A 34-year-old man admitted for right parietal brain abscess and thickened dura mater in close proximity to a lytic bone lesion is presented. The abscess culture yielded methicillin-sensitive S. aureus that produced PVL. The patient did well after surgery and antibiotic treatment. A hematogenous infection, route of bone infection with progression to dura mater and brain parenchyma was hypothesized. To our knowledge this is the first reported case of a brain abscess due to PVL-positive S. aureus.
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