No abstract

Amiodarone, an iodinated benzofuran derivative, introduced in 1960's as an anti-anginal agent, emerged as a potent anti-arrhythmic agent by 1970's and is currently one of the most commonly prescribed drugs in US for ventricular and atrial arrhythmias. Although amiodarone is considered a class III anti-arrhythmic agent, it also has class I, II, IV actions, making it a unique and effective anti-arrhythmic agent. Because of its minimal negative inotropic activity and very low rate of pro-arrhythmia, it is considered safe in treating arrhythmias in patients with Coronary Artery Disease and Left ventricular systolic dysfunction. Despite these advantages, long term oral therapy with amiodarone is limited by side effect profile involving various organs like thyroid, lung, heart, liver, skin etc. Though the side effects can be decreased significantly by keeping the maintenance dose at 200 to 300 mg/day, patients on amiodarone should be followed closely. Amiodarone interacts with medications such as Warfarin, Digoxin, Macrolides, Floroquinolones etc., which share Cytochrome P450 metabolic pathway. Hence reducing their doses prior to starting amiodarone is recommended. Amiodarone, a category D drug, is contraindicated in pregnant and breast feeding women. This review discusses the pharmacokinetics of amiodarone, its evolving clinical indications, management of toxicity and drug interactions.

BackgroundAutoimmune pancreatitis is a rare chronic inflammatory pancreatic disease that is increasingly being diagnosed worldwide. As a result of overlap in clinical and radiological features, it is often misdiagnosed as pancreatic cancer. We report the case of a patient with autoimmune pancreatitis that was initially misdiagnosed as pancreatic cancer.Case presentationA 31-year-old Caucasian man presented to our hospital with epigastric pain, jaundice and weight loss. His CA 19-9 level was elevated, and computed tomography and endoscopic ultrasound revealed a pancreatic head mass abutting the portal vein. Endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreaticography showed narrowing of the biliary duct and poor visualization of the pancreatic duct. Fine-needle aspiration biopsy revealed atypical ductal epithelial cells, which raised clinical suspicion of adenocarcinoma. Because of the patient's unusual age for the onset of pancreatic cancer and the acuity of his symptoms, he was referred to a tertiary care center for further evaluation. His immunoglobulin G4 antibody level was 365 mg/dL, and repeat computed tomography showed features typical of autoimmune pancreatitis. The patient's symptoms resolved with corticosteroid therapy.ConclusionAutoimmune pancreatitis is a rare disease with an excellent response to corticosteroid therapy. Its unique histological appearance and response to corticosteroid therapy can reduce unnecessary surgical procedures. A thorough evaluation by a multidisciplinary team is important in rendering the diagnosis of autoimmune pancreatitis.

We report a case of a 56-year-old Caucasian man who presented with acute onset of substernal chest pain at rest with electrocardiogram showing diffuse ST segment depression. He had coronary artery bypass graft surgery 16 years ago with a left internal mammary artery graft to the left anterior descending artery and saphenous vein grafts to the right coronary artery (RCA) and left circumflex artery. He underwent coronary angiography, which showed two large aneurysms in the saphenous venous graft (SVG) to the RCA and a venous leak from the aneurysm. The venous leak was later confirmed with computer tomographic scan to be a fistulous communication between the SVG and the right atrium. We discuss in detail about the treatment options of SVG aneurysm.

This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited and is not used for commercial purposes.