The use of titanium cages for posterior lumbar interbody fusion (PLIF) has gained popularity because it offers the advantages of anterior column support and stabilization. However, cage migration into the spinal canal may have severe or disastrous consequences. Here, the authors report an unexpected case of posterior migration of fusion cages after screw removal in a patient that underwent PLIF...

Intravitreal fluocinolone acetonide implant (Retisert) has a high potency, a low solubility, and a very short duration of action in the systemic circulation, enabling the steroid pellet to be small and reducing the risk of systemic side effects. Scleral melt has not been reported as a possible complication of Retisert implant. The authors describe the occurrence of scleral melt 18 months after ...

Severe rhabdomyolysis is a rare complication of exposure to the recreational drug khat. Adverse reactions to khat that have been reported in the literature include myocardial infarction and reversible vasoconstriction syndrome. The active ingredient, cathinone, is a naturally occurring beta-ketone amphetamine that may be responsible for this severe catecholaminergic response. Here we report a c...

DYSKINESIAS are the most common motor complication of drug therapy for Parkinson disease (PD). Propofol may induce dyskinesias and choreoathetoid movements in patients with PD and without PD. We describe a patient with PD who developed propofol-induced dyskinesias during bilateral subthalamic nucleus deep brain stimulator (DBS) placement for PD. Dyskinesias were effectively controlled with dexm...

A severe episode of dystonia refractory to standard drug therapy has been labeled as status dystonicus or dystonic storm. We report the development of this complication in a 10-year old boy with idiopathic torsion dystonia, the probable precipitating factor being either an infection or introduction of clonazepam.

Percutaneous coronary intervention with intracoronary stenting is the most widely performed procedure for the treatment of symptomatic coronary disease (1). Although drug-eluting stents (DES) have minimized the major limitation of bare-metal stents (BMS), i.e., restenosis, stent thrombosis has emerged as an important late complication of this technology. The primary pathologic substrate underly...

Upper gastrointestinal tract mucosa is prone to injury. Drugs may disturb gastric mucosa protective mechanisms and cause damage. Injury by NSAIDs is a well described complication. Nifedipine, a widely used drug, was not described before as having a potential to damage gastrointestinal mucosa. We describe here, two patients, who developed esophageal and gastric mucosal damage, probably related t...

We describe a case of pericardial tamponade as an initial manifestation of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). Although pericarditis or pericardial effusion is the common cardiac complication of SLE, tamponade is unusual. Treatment consists of pericardiocentesis, administration of high dose glucocorticoid an antimalarial drug.

Headache is a potential complication of epidural injection. We report a patient who developed headache 5 days after a lumbar epidural steroid injection, which was not related to the epidural procedure, but caused by Duloxetine induced hyponatremia. Antidepressant drug induced headache should be considered in the differential diagnosis of post dural puncture headache.

Amiodarone is a drug which frequently causes elevated transaminases. However, acute liver failure has been rarely reported. Here, we present a case of fatal acute liver failure following the administration of intravenous amiodarone. It is important to be aware of this rare but potentially fatal complication of intravenous amiodarone so that it can be withdrawn immediately at the first sign of h...