To chew or not to chew: that's the question

A 25-year-old Somalian man was referred to the department of internal medicine because of nausea, vomiting and jaundice of recent onset. On physical examination, he was frankly icteric without clinical signs of chronic liver disease. Laboratory data showed evidence of acute hepatitis. Viral serologic tests for hepatitis A, B, C and E were negative. Antinuclear antibodies (ANA) were positive (titre 1 : 1280; speckled pattern, NV < 1 : 40) as well anti-actin antibodies (titre 75 UA, NV < 20). A liver biopsy was performed and showed a feature compatible with toxic hepatitis. On further questioning, the patient admitted to daily chew Khat when he was living in Somalia. We concluded to Khat-induced toxic hepatitis together with high-titre anti-nuclear antibody mimicking serologic patterns of auto-immune hepatitis.

[Cardiac arrest in newborn of mother treated with labetalol]

The use of beta-adrenergic antagonists for the control of high blood pressure associated to pregnancy is frequent. Their use is related with the appearance of undesirable effects of the fetus. The case of neonatal cardiac arrest attributed, to the administration of labetalol to the mother is presented. The high transplacentary passage, the different pharmacokinetics of the drug in the newborn and the clinical evolution of the patient suggests its involvement. It is concluded that labetalol may cause severe undesirable effects in newborns and fetal heart rate of the mother and neonate should be monitored upon use of this drug.

[Thrombosis of intrathoracic veins. A complication of venous catheterization for temporary hemodialysis]

Venous thrombosis of large vessels is a common complication, generally asymptomatic, that may occur during central venous catheterization for temporal hemodialysis. We report 2 cases of intrathoracic venous thrombosis which were suspected because of the difficulties occurring during catheterization of a new venous approach during dialysis. Both cases were diagnosed by angiography.