Stacey M. Ellender

Case 35-2004: A 68-Year-Old Man with End-Stage Renal Disease and Thickening of the Skin

From the Department of Dermatology, Lahey Clinic, Burlington, Mass. (S.L.M.); the Division of Rheumatology, Department of Medicine (J.K.), the Department of Dermatology (B.T.M.), and the Division of Dermatopathology, Department of Pathology (V.L.), Massachusetts General Hospital; and the Departments of Dermatology (S.L.M., B.T.M.), Medicine (J.K.), and Pathology (V.L.), Harvard Medical School.

Case 9-2005: A 67-Year-Old Man with Acute Respiratory Failure

A 67-year-old man was admitted to the hospital with acute respiratory failure. He had never smoked, had not traveled, but had recently been exposed to bird droppings. Cultures and serologic test results were negative. With antibiotic therapy and respiratory support, his symptoms rapidly improved over 48 hours. Three days after discharge, his symptoms returned shortly after using his hot tub, and again abated rapidly after admission to his local hospital.

Case 39-2005: A 63-Year-Old Woman with a Positive Serologic Test for Syphilis and Persistent Eosinophilia

A 63-year-old woman from Cameroon was referred to infectious-disease specialists because of a positive serologic test for syphilis and persistent peripheral-blood eosinophilia. In addition, a routine chest radiograph had shown a dilated aorta with calcification. Stool examination disclosed parasitic infections, which were treated, but eosinophilia persisted. A diagnostic test was performed.

Case 3-2005: A 14-Year-Old Boy with Recent Slowing of Growth and Delayed Puberty

A 14-year-old boy was evaluated because of slow growth and delayed puberty. His growth chart showed that about four years earlier his rate of weight gain had slowed from approximately the 50th to the 25th percentile. He was otherwise asymptomatic. Hand radiographs showed a bone age of 12 years 6 months. A diagnostic procedure was performed.

Case 8-2004: A 28-Year-Old Man with Abdominal Pain, Fever, and a Mass in the Region of the Pancreas

A 28-year-old Moroccan man was admitted to the hospital because of a 10-day history of epigastric pain and a 2-day history of right-upper-quadrant pain and fever. On examination, there was right-upper-quadrant tenderness with guarding and rebound. Imaging studies disclosed a complex, cystic mass in or adjacent to the neck of the pancreas.

Case 12-2005: A 30-Year-Old Woman with a Mediastinal Mass

A 30-year-old woman had a two-month history of increasing pain in the left side of her chest and in her arm and shoulder, followed by cough, hemoptysis, and pleuritic chest pain. Chest radiographs showed an infiltrate in the lingula of the left lung. Her symptoms improved minimally with antibiotic therapy. Radiographs of the chest disclosed a large anterior mediastinal mass. A diagnostic procedure was performed.

Case 11-2005: A 32-Year-Old Pregnant Woman with an Abnormal Fetal Karyotype

A 32-year-old pregnant woman sought genetic counseling after her fetus had been found to have an abnormal karyotype. Ultrasonography for the evaluation of an ovarian cyst at 14 weeks of gestation showed increased fetal nuchal translucency; amniocentesis showed extra material on the short arm of fetal chromosome 18. The mother recalled a family history of birth defects. Diagnostic testing was performed, and the role of preimplantation genetic testing for future pregnancies was discussed.

Case 6-2004: A 35-Year-Old Woman with Extensive, Deep Burns from a Nightclub Fire

Many of the survivors of the Rhode Island nightclub fire in February 2003 sustained severe burns. In this Case Record, the multidisciplinary care of one of these patients is discussed.

Case 9-2002: An 80-Year-Old Woman with Sudden Unilateral Blindness

An 80-year-old woman had headache and severe pain in the left eye, followed by sudden complete blindness in the eye.

Case 40-2001: An Eight-Year-Old Boy with Fever, Headache, and Vertigo Two Days after Aural Trauma

Presentation of Case An eight-year-old boy was admitted to the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary because of fever, headache, vertigo, and vomiting. The child had been well until two days before a...