Mycotic abdominal aortic aneurysm: two cases caused by Salmonella enterica

A mycotic abdominal aortic aneurysm was detected on computed tomographic angiography of two male patients who were followed up after reporting symptoms of abdominal pain, malaise and fever of unknown origin. One of the patients' aneurysm was repaired with a tubular graft and the other patient had endovascular aneurysm repair due to his high co-morbidity. From pre-operative cultures and a pathological examination of the surgical specimens, it was observed that the aneurysms had developed in the abdominal aorta due to Salmonella enterica, and broad-spectrum antibiotic therapy was started. We present these two cases of mycotic aneurysm due to Salmonella. The patients were discharged after the postoperative course of antibiotic treatments were completed.

Retrospective cohort study for evaluating the INR monitoring patterns in patients with deep vein thrombosis in daily practice: Analysis of 2010-2013 database of a tertiary care center

OBJECTIVE

To evaluate the international normalized ratio (INR) monitoring patterns in patients with deep vein thrombosis.

METHODS

Of 32,012 patients with ≥1 outpatient INR measurement and 42,582 patients with confirmed deep vein thrombosis diagnosis registered to our hospital between 1 January 2010 and 31 December 2013, 6720 records were identified to have both deep vein thrombosis and international normalized ratio measurement, and 4.377 out of 6.720 single patient records were determined to be statistically analyzable.

RESULTS

Median INR measurement frequency was 6.47 times/year and patients had INR levels of 2-3 in 34.3% of follow-up time. Having ≥70% vs. <70% of follow-up time within therapeutic range was associated with lower hospital admission frequency (9.7 vs. 10.3 times/year).

CONCLUSION

Our study revealed only one-third of the follow-up time to be spent within therapeutic INR, association of INR therapeutic range with lesser number of hospital admissions and INR monitoring frequency of 6.47 times/year despite lack of stable INR control in most of the deep vein thrombosis patients.