Psychosis due to non-bacterial thrombotic endocarditis

Lung Cancer as a Leading Cause among Paraneoplastic Non-Bacterial Thrombotic Endocarditis: A Meta-Analysis of Individual Patients' Data

Hypercoagulability is strongly associated with cancer and may result in non-bacterial thrombotic endocarditis (NBTE). The aim of our meta-analysis was to explore the demographics and characteristics of this condition in cancer. Databases were systematically searched. The outcomes were to identify the annual trend in premortem diagnosis among the entire cohort and different subgroups and to identify differences in characteristics and survival in the considered population. A total of 121 studies with 144 patients were included. The proportion of marantic endocarditis associated with lung cancer was 0.29 (95% CI, 0.21-0.37; p < 0.001), that associated with pancreatic cancer was 0.19 (95% CI, 0.13-0.27; p < 0.001), that associated with advanced cancer stage (metastasis) was 0.69 (95% CI, 0.61-0.76; p < 0.001), and that associated with adenocarcinoma was 0.65 (95% CI, 0.56-0.72; p < 0.001). Median and 6-month overall survival (OS) were 1.3 months and 32.3%, respectively, with 6-month OS of 20.8% vs. 37.0% in lung vs. other cancers, respectively (p = 0.06) and 42.9% vs. 31.1% among those who underwent intervention vs. those who did not (p = 0.07). Cases discovered in recent years had better survival (HR = 0.98 (95% CI, 0.96-0.99; p = 0.003). While cancer-associated NBTE is a rare entity, lung cancers were the most common tumor site and are frequently associated with more advanced and metastatic cancer stages. The prognosis is dismal, especially among lung cancers.

Psychiatric presentations/manifestations of medical illnesses

Psychiatry is clearly an integral part of medicine. With a history and physical exam (called the mental status exam in psychiatry), appropriate laboratory or imaging studies, a differential diagnosis is made. If a specific DSM-IV-TR diagnosis is made, then the treatment will naturally follow. The diagnoses are scientifically established with good validity, specificity, sensitivity and inter-rater reliability. Similarly the treatments are established through scientific research. However, sometimes medical illnesses may present with symptoms seemingly pointing to a psychiatric origin. Making a misdiagnosis can be quite problematic and dangerous for the patient. The opposite is also true, that psychiatric illnesses may present with symptoms implying a medical diagnostic origin. Finally, psychiatric patients may have more than one psychiatric diagnosis and in addition, a medical diagnosis too. A high degree of suspicion should always be entertained by the diagnosing physician, psychiatric or non-psychiatric. This paper reviews the literature regarding these situations and then presents several clinical cases where this conundrum was present. Making the correct diagnosis was critical in the successful treatment outcome of each of the clinical cases. When asked to consult on a patient by non-psychiatric physicians, the psychiatrist must be careful to also look for non-psychiatric origins for the referring symptoms. It is important for psychiatrists to build on their medical knowledge from medical school and internship and continue to be kept abreast of confounding symptomatology.