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Although primary breast cancer (BC) is the most frequent cancer in the world, their mammary metastases are rare. In this paper, we report the case of a 51-year-old male patient diagnosed with a mammary lump and an intracranial hypertension syndrome. Mammography showed the presence of an irregular opacity without microcalcifications. After a cytological and immunohistochemical examination, the breast biopsy showed an adenocarcinoma of pulmonary origin. Computed tomography (CT) scans of the cerebrum, cervicothoracic spine, and abdomen showed a right apical pulmonary tumor associated with Barety's lymphadenopathy, as well as the presence of a mass in the right breast and secondary brain lesions. The patient received total brain irradiation which resulted in a marked clinical improvement. Afterward, he was treated with six cycles of palliative chemotherapy based on carboplatin area under the curve (AUC) 6 and paclitaxel, 175 mg/m² every 21 days, with a good response. After two months, the patient presented with a progression and he was treated with second-line chemotherapy. However, after three chemotherapy courses, the disease rapidly progressed and the patient was altered which required his admission to the palliative care department. The patient died 40 days later. This case shows the poor prognostic survival outcomes in this population of patients. Copyright © 2020, Guerrouaz et al.INTRODUCTION AND OBJECTIVES For Canadian medical students completing their emergency medicine (EM) clerkship rotation, developing an approach to undifferentiated patients can be difficult. Open educational resources (OERs) are a convenient solution, but faculty authored materials may not meet students' needs. Selleckchem SCH772984 There is a lack of EM OERs that deconstruct these undifferentiated EM presentations for medical students. The objective of this study was to identify EM topics poorly understood by medical students to inform a novel Free Open Access Medical Education podcast curriculum for approaching undifferentiated EM patients for medical students. METHODS An online survey-based needs assessment was distributed to key stakeholders through direct email, social media, and the blog CanadiEM. The survey included 32 EM topics graded on a five-point Likert scale according to how much participants believe medical students require further teaching. RESULTS Over six weeks, a total of 74 participants completed the needs assessment survey, and 58 participants met the criteria for inclusion into our study medical students (n=23) and EM educators (inclusive of resident physicians (n=19), and staff EM physicians (n=16)). A number of presentations (n=23) were prioritized by both students and EM educators to be of the greatest need for medical students. No presentations identified as high priority by students were not also identified as high priority by EM educators. CONCLUSIONS The greatest mean topic scores in both EM educators and medical student responses included critical care and acute medicine topics. Of the 32 topics in the survey, 23 topics were determined to be high priority for the development of future online educational resources. Analysis of free-text responses revealed nine topics not previously listed in our survey. Our findings will be used to inform the development of our new open access podcast and can be useful for developing medical student curricula in EM. Copyright © 2020, Forestell et al.Implantable pacemakers have been the mainstay of therapy for patients with severely decreased left ventricular ejection fractions and recurrent arrhythmias, among other cardiac pathology. Twiddler's syndrome (TS) is an uncommon but potentially life-threatening complication of pacemaker therapy, defined as pacemaker malfunction in the setting of device lead dislodgment due to physical manipulation. Traditionally, there are three distinct TS variants (reeling, ratchet and coiling). This case offers evidence of a unique and new variant of TS, severe recurrent erosive subtype with pacemaker externalization. Copyright © 2020, Stuart et al.Phyllodes tumours of the breast are characterized by having both an epithelial as well as stromal component and these usually comprise almost 3% of all fibroepithelial tumours. They are exceptional in this aspect to convert into a stromal sarcoma of the breast after multiple recurrences. To the best of our knowledge, there are only three case reports regarding this in the available literature as it is an exceptional change. In this case report, we present a case of recurrent phyllodes transforming into a breast fibrosarcoma in a middle age postmenopausal woman. Histopathological examination and immunohistochemistry of the lesion were performed to confirm the diagnosis of breast fibrosarcoma. Copyright © 2020, Jabeen et al.Interventional cardiologists encounter a wide range of lesions that cannot be angiographically distinguished from fixed atherosclerotic obstructive disease. In this case report, we document vasospasm at multiple sites in the coronary territory in a patient presenting with acute coronary syndrome. A 61-year-old woman was referred to our hospital with typical chest pain lasting approximately 1 h. After performing the left coronary artery angiography, a severe tubular stenosis was detected in circumflex (Cx) artery. Diffuse spasm was observed in the right coronary artery (RCA) and it resolved after intracoronary administration of nitroglycerin. After performing left system angiography again, severe stenosis in Cx artery was also completely resolved. Our finding is of clinical importance in that it is more likely to simulate a constant coronary stenosis than would have spasm occurred proximally. The clinical importance of our report is that a catheter-induced vasospasm (CIV) may simulate fixed coronary stenosis, not always osteally and in some instances at multiple sites. Awareness of this phenomenon and liberal use of nitroglycerin in any patient with discrete luminal narrowing, even when an ostial "lesion" is not present, can help to avoid misinterpreting CIV as an atherosclerotic lesion. Copyright © 2020, Esenboga et al.Fat embolism syndrome (FES) is a rare event following a traumatic injury, and its pathophysiologic mechanism continues to be elusive. Fat embolism syndrome generally occurs when a bone marrow fat enters the bloodstream resulting in a cascade of inflammatory response, hyper-coagulation, and an array of symptoms that generally begin within 24-48 hours. FES early symptoms include petechial rash, shortness of breath, altered mental status, seizures, fever, and may result in decreased urine output. The common etiologies of a fat embolism include long bone fractures, mainly femoral and pelvic fractures. There are multiple management methods described in the literature to help prevent FES and other long bone fracture complications from occurring. Although not universally adopted, the damage control orthopedics (DCO) has been the major management option for patients with a long bone fracture. DCO is entertained by provisional immobilization of patients with long bone fractures and those who are considered severely traumatized patients (STP). Thus, immobilization can help minimize the traumatic effect and the subsequent second hit by performing non-life saving surgical procedures. In this case, a patient with a transverse femur fracture suffered disconcerting symptoms of fat embolism prior to definitive femur repair. Hence, damage control orthopedics was entertained with a postponement of his femur repair to facilitate stabilization. The use of damage control orthopedics was successful in this patient with no long term complications. Copyright © 2020, Wilson et al.Background Cardiac allograft vasculopathy (CAV) is a leading cause of graft failure in cardiac transplant recipients. Progression of intimal thickening noted during routine surveillance intracoronary imaging is associated with the development of CAV. However, mechanisms of CAV development are poorly understood and targets for therapy modification remain elusive. We investigated the association of neovessels (INs) within the intima, noted by optical coherence tomography (OCT) during routine CAV surveillance imaging, with intimal thickening and co-incident CAV. Methods Coronary angiography and OCT images of 45 consecutive cardiac transplant recipients undergoing surveillance coronary imaging were reviewed. The presence of INs, defined as dark, tubular or rotund intimal structures, measuring 50-200 µm in diameter, noted in at least three OCT frames, was quantified. CAV diagnosis was determined by utilizing the International Society of Heart and Lung Transplant classification system. Demographic and clinical data was obtained by chart review. Significant associations between the presence of INs and CAV, intimal thickening, and demographic features were evaluated. Results INs were observed in 22/45 evaluated patients (49%), while angiographic CAV was observed in 24/45 patients, with a significant association noted between the presence of INs and CAV (p less then 0.001). INs were also associated with increasing intimal thickness (p less then 0.001), co-morbid hypertension (p = 0.010), and increasing transplant age (p= 0.002) on multivariate analysis. Conclusion INs are prevalent in cardiac transplant recipients and are significantly associated with CAV, increased intimal thickness, increasing transplant age, and co-morbid hypertension. Further investigation is warranted regarding the temporal relationship of IN development and the onset of CAV, as well as the mechanisms of IN development in this population. Copyright © 2020, Chahal et al.Background Patients with mitral stenosis (MS) are more prone to develop left atrial (LA) thrombus. This cross-sectional study was conducted to determine the frequency of LA thrombus on transthoracic echocardiography (TTE) in patients with MS. Methods In this study, we included patients diagnosed with MS undergoing TTE at the echocardiography department of the National Institute of Cardiovascular Disease (NICVD), Karachi, Pakistan. The severity of MS was classified based on the mitral valve area (MVA) as follows very severe MVA of ≤1.0 cm2; severe MVA of ≤1.5 cm2; and mild to moderate MVA of >1.5 cm2. The LA thrombus was observed and noted on TTE. Results A total of 256 MS patients were included in this study, out of which 46.5% (119) were male. The mean age was 33.78 ±11.51 years. MS was classified as mild to moderate in 3.5% of the patients, severe in 54.3%, and very severe in 42.2%. In 98.8% of the patients, the etiology of MS was rheumatic. LA thrombus was observed in 25% (64) of the patients and LA smoke To face the pandemic outbreak of a novel coronavirus many countries developed a series of containment methods; however, developing countries in South America had reacted apathetically to this worldwide concern. Ecuador's response to the novel virus Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) started on February 26, 2020, one month after the outbreak began in China. As of today, the countries with more confirmed cases in South America are Brazil and Ecuador. Although Brazil has two times the number of cases than Ecuador (Brazil 700 cases per 100000 people vs. Ecuador 400 cases per 100000), the huge population difference between the two countries raises concerns about the public health policies implemented by the Ecuadorian government. Even though there is no cure for COVID-19, chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine are promising alternatives. The COVID-19 pandemic outbreak has shown that there is room for improvement in the healthcare systems worldwide and the disastrous results on the fragile often unprepared are those systems in developing countries.