The role of inflammation in stress cardiomyopathy

Stress cardiomyopathy (SC) is an increasingly recognized form of acute heart failure, which has been linked to a wide variety of emotional and physical triggers. The pathophysiological mechanisms of the disease remain incompletely understood, however, inflammation has been recently shown to play a pivotal role. This review summarizes the most notable findings of myocardial inflammation, demonstrated from biopsies and cardiac magnetic resonance imaging in humans. In the acute stage macrophage infiltration appears to represent the substrate for myocardial edema, together defining the local myocardial inflammation. This appears to evolve into a low grade systemic chronic inflammation which could explain the protracted clinical course of these patients and raises hope for finding a specific SC cardiac biomarker as well as a therapeutic breakthrough. As a parallel to the human findings the review covers some of the emerging mechanistic insights from experimental models, which, albeit not proven in the human condition, highlight the possible importance in pursuing distinct paths of investigation such as the beta-receptor signaling, aberrations of nitric oxide generation and signaling and the contribution of the vascular endothelium/permeability to edema and inflammation during the acute stage.

Lesson of the month: Acute pancreatitis due to hypertriglyceridaemia in a transgender woman: a complication of high-dose oral oestrogen therapy?

Acute pancreatitis (AP) is a medical emergency associated with significant morbidity and mortality. Hypertriglyceridaemia is a well-established but often neglected cause of AP, associated with delayed diagnosis and worse outcome than other more common causes of AP. Although oestrogen-induced hypertriglyceridaemia is known to be a rare cause of AP in females, it is much less well-recognised in biological males. We report the case of a 52-year-old transgender woman receiving high-dose oral oestrogen therapy who was admitted with abdominal pain and found to have AP caused by severe hypertriglyceridaemia. We describe the features underlying the management of AP caused by hypertriglyceridaemia and review the link between oral oestrogen, hypertriglyceridaemia and AP.Given the growth in transgender medicine leading to increasing use of therapeutic high-dose oestrogens in biological males for gender reassignment, it is important that clinicians are alert to the phenomenon of oestrogen-induced-hypertriglyceridaemia and its associated risk of AP.

Lipohypertrophy contributing to severe diabetic ketoacidosis in type 1 diabetes: An increasing problem in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic?

A 57-year-old man with type 1 diabetes was admitted with diabetic ketoacidosis during the COVID-19 pandemic. On examination, there was evidence of severe lipohypertrophy on his abdomen. Repeated injection of subcutaneous insulin into areas of lipohypertrophy was thought to have contributed to the development of ketoacidosis.

Sex-related differences in heart failure patients: physiological mechanisms of cardiovascular ageing and evidence-based sex-specific medical therapies

This review aims to describe the sex differences in heart failure (HF) patients, with a particular emphasis on the effect of cardiovascular ageing. Additionally, it takes into consideration the sex-related variation in cardiovascular health and physiology and the role ageing plays in HF and its implications in drug therapy. The pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of the common HF medications, classified according to the established sub-types, are summarised with respect to sex-specific documented findings. Despite numerous studies confirming significant differences in HF outcomes according to sex, there are no current guidelines that consider patients' sex in medical therapy of HF. Moreover, females are significantly under-represented in research trials, as well as under-treated in clinical practice, which hinders our understanding of HF in this demographic. Most of the current knowledge on sex-specific HF therapies is driven by secondary analyses of studies not primarily undertaking sex-specific analyses. Therefore, we propose a multi-faceted approach, including increased awareness among healthcare providers and more inclusive research to create a personalised care plan accounting for sex differences in HF management. Given the highlighted knowledge gaps, it is paramount for new research efforts to account for the different sex phenotypes in HF.

Hypertonic saline versus fluid restriction: The pitfalls in managing acute hyponatremia in a patient with long-standing spinal cord injury

Spinal cord injury-induced hyponatremia is an under-recognized entity, without a mention in the European hyponatremia guidelines. We present a case of a 56-year-old female quadraplegic patient with cervical cord injury, presenting with severe hyponatremia and tonic-clonic seizures. This case highlights the challenges in medical management; action mechanisms are further discussed.