Springer Science and Business Media LLC

Eosinophilic myocarditis (EM) is a rare and potentially fatal disease if left untreated. Because the disease can have a delayed presentation and can appear even after 2 years, its underlying causes often remain unknown. We report the case of a 63-year-old man with an atypical clinical presentation of hypersensitive EM and significant coronary artery disease, which was confirmed through coronary angiography. The patient was treated with hydrochlorothiazide (12.5 mg once daily for 2 years) and budesonide/formoterol (160/4.5 µg once daily for 2 years). Amoxicillin/clavulanic acid (1000/200 mg three times daily for 2 days) and azithromycin (500 mg once daily for 2 days) were used to treat pneumonia, while ibuprofen (600 mg three times daily for 2 days) was used to treat pericarditis. Extremely high levels of eosinophils led to clinical suspicion of non-acute coronary syndrome as the cause of chest pain and myocardial necrosis. In addition, early pulse doses of methylprednisolone (500 mg intravenously once daily) were administered. Complete clinical recovery and a fast decrease in eosinophils and troponin levels were observed after a few hours on the same day. No signs of recurrent myocarditis were noticed after 3 days of administering the same pulse doses of methylprednisolone, which was then replaced by oral methylprednisolone administered for the next 2 months (step-down regimen, starting from 64 mg/day). Despite causality assessment being difficult, prompt therapy must be given as soon as possible to prevent fatal outcomes. Delayed corticosteroid treatment, which is necessary regardless of the underlying cause, can result in heart failure and death.

Many chemicals used as medical treatments can cause chemical burns as an untoward side effect. One of such chemicals is potassium permanganate. It is a caustic chemical used as a disinfectant. The most common sites of burn by potassium permanganate are exposed sites like the face and hands. Chemical burns in the perianal and anal region are rare in clinical practice and even sparser in the pediatric age group. In this article, we report a case of perianal and anal chemical burn in an 18-month-old, male child, caused by potassium permanganate crystal applied wrongly for the treatment of pinworm infestation. As a chemical burn in this region can have serious complications, it is necessary to be vigilant when using such chemicals in these cases. Early and timely management in such cases leads to good outcomes. This is the first of such cases of chemical burn caused by potassium permanganate in the anal and perianal region.

We present a 35-year-old female patient who was started on rifampicin (900 mg orally once daily) and trimethoprim/sulfamethoxazole (TMP/SMX) (160/800 mg orally twice daily) after being diagnosed with brucellosis. Following defervescence and improvement in her general condition, fever recurred on the 12th day of treatment. A re-challenge drug test lead to causality assessment and treatment was switched to a combination of streptomycin (1 g intramuscularly) for 10 days and TMP/SMX (160/800 mg orally twice daily) for 4 weeks. Our patient is doing well after 12 months of follow-up.

We describe the case of an elderly woman with elderly-onset rheumatoid arthritis, where the use of 4 mg/kg/day of hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) was followed by the onset of psychomotor agitation with marked physical and verbal violence towards her partner, including throwing objects at her partner. No disturbance in sleep and no anxiety, nervousness, or irritability had emerged before the onset of her psychomotor agitation. The disappearance of agitation following targeted pharmacologic intervention and HCQ interruption, its re-onset after reintroduction of the drug, and the high score (9) of Naranjo’s algorithm are surely linked to the existence of a causal relationship between HCQ and psychomotor agitation. HCQ may produce undesirable effects on the central nervous system, mainly irritability, nervousness, emotional changes, and nightmares. To the best of our knowledge, there are only a few case reports of psychosis due to HCQ. No favoring condition such as pharmacokinetic interactions or a personal and family psychiatric history was present in our patient. The neuropsychiatric manifestations we observed could be considered a bizarre-type adverse drug reaction linked to an individual’s hypersensitivity.

Tyrosine kinase inhibitors have revolutionized the chemotherapy arena as targeted therapies for a multitude of malignancies. They are more selective than conventional chemotherapy, and often elicit fewer systemic adverse events, however toxicities still exist. Cutaneous toxicities are common and their management presents a novel challenge to physicians and patients. Ponatinib is a third-generation tyrosine kinase inhibitor increasingly reported to cause cutaneous eruption. A 50-year-old woman with a history of chronic myelogenous leukemia presented with a 4-month history of worsening atrophic and ichthyosiform pink plaques involving the axillae, thighs and abdomen; red patches were also observed on the cheeks and forehead. She was started on the third-generation, ponatinib, 5 months earlier because of disease refractory to previous therapies including interferon, imatinib, dasatinib and bosutinib. A skin biopsy revealed perifollicular fibrosis, alternating orthokeratosis and parakeratosis, and a sparse perivascular lymphocytic infiltrate consistent with a pityriasis rubra pilaris-like reaction. Topical tretinoin 0.025% cream was initiated, resulting in resolution within 3 weeks without discontinuation of ponatinib. A review of previous reports identified significant similarities among the ponatinib-induced drug reactions. Here, we highlight not only that cutaneous eruptions occur on ponatinib therapy, but that the dermatologic manifestations are characteristic and unique, and benefit from retinoid therapy, without requiring interruption of vital chemotherapy.

In this report we address an unusual adverse effect of finasteride (Propecia 1 mg tablets) that was associated with painless hematuria and hematospermia in a 38-year-old healthy male during treatment of androgenic alopecia at a dose of 1 mg/day. It was found that the bleeding was linked to finasteride use as it occurred 2–3 days after use and stopped upon discontinuation of the drug. The patient was subjected to urological examination, laboratory investigations, and radiological imaging to identify the probable cause of bleeding. It appeared the bleeding was most probably of prostatic origin in the absence of obvious underlying pathology. The frequency of such unusual bleeding remains to be investigated in large clinical trials to address its exact mechanism, predisposing factors, clinical significance, and potential long-term consequences.