Hipocalcemia como uma causa reversível de insuficiência cardíaca

Hypocalcemia as a cause of reversible heart failure: A case report and review of the literature

Introduction

In both pediatric and adult populations, hypocalcemia-induced heart failure is an extremely rare presentation. The aim of the current study is to report a case of reversible heart failure caused by severe hypocalcemia resulting from hypoparathyroidism, which was resolved by correcting the serum calcium level.

Case report

A 29-year-old female presented with orthopnea, dyspnea on mild exertion, and bilateral lower limb swelling. She had a positive Trousseau's sign. Vital signs were stable except for tachycardia. On chest auscultation, there were bilateral basal fine inspiratory crackles. She was immediately treated as a case of pulmonary edema with intravenous furosemide and oxygen therapy. Subsequent treatment for correcting the hypocalcemia was then initiated.

Discussion

Hypocalcemia has been proven to influence cardiac function, resulting in lower cardiac contractility as determined by decreased left ventricular work index, stroke index, and cardiac index. In rare circumstances, the clinical, biochemical (elevation of cardiac enzymes), electrocardiographic, and echocardiographic data may lead to an incorrect diagnosis of an acute ischemic attack.

Conclusion

Hypocalcemia as a possible factor leading to heart failure should be considered in the differential diagnosis of all individuals with congestive heart failure.

The Value of Admission Serological Indicators for Predicting 28-Day Mortality in Intensive Care Patients With Acute Heart Failure: Construction and Validation of a Nomogram

Background: Acute heart failure (AHF) is a severe clinical syndrome characterized as rapid onset or worsening of symptoms of chronic heart failure (CHF). Risk stratification for patients with AHF in the intensive care unit (ICU) may help clinicians to predict the 28-day mortality risk in this subpopulation and further raise the quality of care.

Methods: We retrospectively reviewed and analyzed the demographic characteristics and serological indicators of patients with AHF in the Medical Information Mart for Intensive Care III (MIMIC III) (version 1.4) between June 2001 and October 2012 and our medical center between January 2019 and April 2021. The chi-squared test and the Fisher's exact test were used for comparison of qualitative variables among the AHF death group and non-death group. The clinical variables were selected by using the least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO) regression. A clinical nomogram for predicting the 28-day mortality was constructed based on the multivariate Cox proportional hazard regression analysis and further validated by the internal and external cohorts.

Results: Age > 65 years [hazard ratio (HR) = 2.47], the high Sequential Organ Failure Assessment (SOFA) score (≥3 and ≤8, HR = 2.21; ≥9 and ≤20, HR = 3.29), lactic acid (Lac) (>2 mmol/l, HR = 1.40), bicarbonate (HCO3-) (>28 mmol/l, HR = 1.59), blood urea nitrogen (BUN) (>21 mg/dl, HR = 1.75), albumin (<3.5 g/dl, HR = 2.02), troponin T (TnT) (>0.04 ng/ml, HR = 4.02), and creatine kinase-MB (CK-MB) (>5 ng/ml, HR = 1.64) were the independent risk factors for predicting 28-day mortality of intensive care patients with AHF (p < 0.05). The novel nomogram was developed and validated with a promising C-index of 0.814 (95% CI: 0.754–0.882), 0.820 (95% CI: 0.721–0.897), and 0.828 (95% CI: 0.743–0.917), respectively.

Conclusion: This study provides a new insight in early predicting the risk of 28-day mortality in intensive care patients with AHF. The age, the SOFA score, and serum TnT level are the leading three predictors in evaluating the short-term outcome of intensive care patients with AHF. Based on the nomogram, clinicians could better stratify patients with AHF at high risk and make adequate treatment plans.

Hypoparathyroidism: from diagnosis to treatment

PURPOSE OF REVIEW

This review provides an update on hypoparathyroidism (HPT), focusing on the major aspects of diagnosis, clinical manifestations and management of patients with hypocalcaemia due to HPT.

RECENT FINDINGS

Recent advances in the understanding of the physiologic actions of parathormone (PTH) and vitamin D, and the application of molecular genetics, have clarified certain aspects of the pathogenesis, classification, diagnosis and management of HPT.

SUMMARY

PTH promotes bone resorption, decreases urinary calcium excretion, enhances the conversion of 25-hydroxyvitamin D to 1, 25-dihydroxyvitamin D and increases intestinal calcium absorption and phosphate renal excretion. Understanding the molecular cause of the disease in patients and their families has the potential for proper tailoring of genetic counselling, family screening and treatment. Signs and symptoms may be associated not only with the severity, chronicity and therapeutic endpoints in HPT but also with the different causes of the disease. Hypocalcaemia may be an asymptomatic laboratory finding or a life-threatening metabolic disturbance. Although the therapy of acute hypocalcaemia is usually readily accomplished, chronic hypocalcaemia remains a very difficult treatment problem. Replacement therapy with PTH could be a therapeutic option for refractory HPT.