Background: Acute kidney injury (AKI) is a common complication of renal cell carcinoma or its treatment. It is unclear whether AKI, compared to inpatients with similar clinical and hospital-level characteristics without AKI, is associated with worse clinical outcomes and higher costs. To address this void, our study aimed to evaluate how an AKI diagnosis affects […]

Background: Rhabdomyolysis is a condition of rapid muscle breakdown resulting in myalgia, enzyme elevations, electrolyte imbalance. Released heme pigment may lead to tubular obstruction, vasoconstriction, and tubular epithelial cell injury, causing acute kidney injury (AKI) as a severe complication. Especially with predisposing conditions such as volume depletion. Early and aggressive fluid resuscitation is an essential […]

Background: Traumatic brain injuries (TBIs) pose a unique problem because prognosis is difficult to predict; therefore, treatment decisions are complex with uncertain outcomes. According to the American College of Surgeons 2018 Trauma Quality Improvement Project (TQIP), identified patients should receive a palliative care assessment within 24 hours, a family conversation should be held within 72 […]

Background: Acute kidney injury (AKI) is common in adult hospitalized patients, with the incidence being reported as high as 7.2%. While evaluation of the cause of AKI is often necessary, in hospitalized patients the causes of AKI are more likely to be pre-renal or intrinsic. Previous studies have found that decreased renal perfusion, medications, radiographic […]

Case Presentation: A 37-year-old male auto-mechanic, with a history of tobacco use, presented with acute right-sided pleuritic chest pain. He was diagnosed with musculoskeletal pain and discharged from the ED. Several days later he returned with dyspnea, dry cough, fever and diaphoresis. He revealed that he recently tried vaping marijuana (THC) oil. Vital signs were […]

Case Presentation: A previously healthy 38-year-old man presented with 8 days of intermittent colicky RUQ pain and jaundice. He denied any OTC or illicit drug use but did report daily alcohol use. On admission HAV, HBV, HCV, and HIV 1 & 2 screening, urine drug screen, and autoimmune workup were negative. Ceruloplasmin, serum copper, serum […]

Case Presentation: A 52-year-old male presented with one week of abdominal pain, myalgia, and diarrhea. The patient was referred to our Emergency Department after outpatient testing revealed an increase in serum creatinine to 11 mg/dL from 0.7 mg/dL six months prior.The patient had medical history of hypertension, gastroesophageal reflux disease, and former alcohol use disorder. […]

Case Presentation: A 70-year-old female with a history of lobular carcinoma of the breast, status-post mastectomy followed by adjuvant radio-chemotherapy in remission for 4 years admitted with a complaint of right upper quadrant pain and jaundice. Examination was positive for icteric sclera and ascites. Her hemoglobin was 8.8 gm/dL; mean corpuscular volume of 90.5 fL; […]

Case Presentation: A 25-year-old female with no significant past medical history presented to the emergency room with chest pain and shortness of breath. She was febrile to 40 degrees Celsius and tachypneic. Physical exam was notable for bilateral crackles in her lower bases. Her social history indicated former marijuana use and current e-cigarette use (Juule, […]

Case Presentation: 47-year-old male with past medical history of fibromyalgia, hypertension, and mild asthma presented with shortness of breath during a double red cell donation (DRCD). DRCD is a procedure where two packs of whole blood are taken from a donor, and plasma is separated from them, this plasma is then transfused back to the […]