A 70-year-old man with multisystem failure after a sextuple coronary-artery-bypass graft procedure
Article Abstract:
A 70-year-old man with a long history of high blood pressure, difficulty breathing and angina was diagnosed with amyloidosis of the heart, lungs, kidneys, blood vessels and liver and with coronary atherosclerosis. Amyloidosis is characterized by protein deposits in tissues and organs, and atherosclerosis is caused by fatty deposits blocking arteries. The patient died two weeks after undergoing a coronary-artery-bypass graft procedure. He had been a firefighter and later worked for a sawmill where he had breathed sawdust and fine metallic particles. He had smoked for twenty years. Tests ruled out the possibility of an infection or tumor and suggested the patient had restrictive cardiomyopathy, a hardening of the heart ventricle walls. Amyloidosis can cause restrictive cardiomyopathy and would explain the kidney and liver difficulties the patient experienced after surgery. An autopsy of the patient confirmed this diagnosis.
Publication Name: The New England Journal of Medicine
Subject: Health
ISSN: 0028-4793
Year: 1992
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A 22-year-old man with a sickle cell crisis and sudden death
Article Abstract:
A 22-year-old man with a history of sickle cell anemia was admitted to a hospital in respiratory distress. He was from Ghana and had many sickle cell crises after moving to Boston. He was placed on a ventilator and a chest X-ray revealed fluid in his lungs and other signs of lung disease. On the second hospital day, he went into cardiac arrest and CPR was unable to resuscitate him. During autopsy, a portion of his left hip joint was found to be dead from lack of blood, a condition called infarction. Analysis of lung tissue revealed that the dead bone had released fat, which traveled to the lungs and in combination with sickled cells, caused his lung failure.
Publication Name: The New England Journal of Medicine
Subject: Health
ISSN: 0028-4793
Year: 1997
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A 53-year-old man with cardiac amyloidosis and a left pulmonary mass
Article Abstract:
A 53-year-old man with a history of amyloidosis was admitted to a hospital when he began coughing up blood. Amyloidosis is caused by abnormal deposits of a protein called amyloid. In this case, the deposits were in his heart. A chest X-ray showed a large diffuse mass in his left lung. A lung biopsy revealed amyloid deposits in his lung.
Publication Name: The New England Journal of Medicine
Subject: Health
ISSN: 0028-4793
Year: 1998
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