Thyroid storm is a rare, life-threatening condition characterized by severe or exaggerated clinical manifestations of thyrotoxicosis, commonly occurring in patients with longstanding, untreated hyperthyroidism such as Graves' disease and toxic nodular goiter. Subacute painful thyroiditis, also known as de Quervain thyroiditis, is a self-limited inflammatory disease of the thyroid gland that is characterized by neck pain, a tender diffuse thyroid goiter, elevated inflammatory markers, and a predictable course of thyroid function evolution. Rarely, it can cause thyroid storm. Herein, we report a rare case of a 25-year-old woman who was admitted for sepsis and acute painful thyroiditis who then developed thyroid storm. The patient was treated in the intensive care unit (ICU) and responded very well to steroids, propranolol, a seven-day trial of propylthiouracil, and ultimately achieved a euthyroid state on discharge.
Immunotherapy with checkpoint inhibitors such as ipilimumab, a cytotoxic T-lymphocyte antigen-4 (CTLA-4) inhibitor, and nivolumab, a programmed death-1 (PD-1) inhibitor, has significantly improved the survival of patients with metastatic melanoma. The immune-related endocrinopathies of these treatments have been well documented, such as hypothyroidism, hyperthyroidism, primary adrenal insufficiency (PAI), insulin-dependent diabetes, and hypophysitis. We report the onset of PAI in a patient with metastatic melanoma to the lung and neck of unknown primary origin who was treated with ipilimumab. The patient's symptoms resolved with steroid replacement. After the completion of 16 cycles of another checkpoint inhibitor, nivolumab, full remission was achieved.
Focal seizures related to non-ketotic hyperglycemia (NKH) are rare in clinical practice. Plasma glucose levels are usually above 16.6 mmol/L and with normal or slightly elevated serum osmolality. The occurrence of focal seizures may be augmented by the absence of ketoacidosis. Electroencephalogram (EEG) during seizures usually confirms the diagnosis, however, the absence of epileptiform discharges does not rule out seizures. A non-ketotic hyperglycemiaassociated occipital lobe seizure can manifest itself as color flashes, blurry vision with periodic confusion, and usually resolves with insulin treatment and rehydration. We are reporting a 65year-old male patient who presented with intermittent confusion and left-sided visual disturbances, found to have a blood glucose of 33.7 mmol/L with a normal anion gap of 10 and calculated serum osmolality of 303 mOsm/L. The patient's visual disturbances responded very well to rehydration and insulin treatment.
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