Shortness of breath, syncope, and cardiac arrest caused by systemic mastocytosis.

Title

Shortness of breath, syncope, and cardiac arrest caused by systemic mastocytosis.

Creator

Rohr Susan M; Rich Michael W; Silver Kevin H

Publisher

Annals of emergency medicine

Date

2005
2005-06

Description

During a 3-month period, a 33-year-old man presented to the emergency department on 4 occasions with dyspnea, palpitations, and syncope. His initial presentation was accompanied by acute myocardial injury and ventricular fibrillation. An extensive evaluation spanned the 3 months and included echocardiography, cardiac catheterization, electrophysiology study, tilt-table evaluation, pulmonary angiography, electroencephalography, and serum and urine analysis. Diagnosis eluded clinicians until a rash was recognized to be urticaria pigmentosa, and biopsy of the rash then implicated mastocytosis. Since the initiation of pharmacotherapy nearly 5 years ago, the patient has remained asymptomatic. This case demonstrates that systemic mastocytosis can present as recurrent syncope and even as cardiac arrest. Diagnosis of this rare but potentially fatal disease is made particularly challenging by its protean manifestations.

Subject

Adult; Dyspnea/etiology; Epinephrine/therapeutic use; Heart Arrest/etiology; Humans; Hypotension/etiology; Male; Mastocytosis; Syncope/etiology; Systemic/complications/*diagnosis/drug therapy

Rights

Article information provided for research and reference use only. All rights are retained by the journal listed under publisher and/or the creator(s).

Pages

592–594

Issue

6

Volume

45

Citation

Rohr Susan M; Rich Michael W; Silver Kevin H, “Shortness of breath, syncope, and cardiac arrest caused by systemic mastocytosis.,” NEOMED Bibliography Database, accessed March 29, 2024, https://neomed.omeka.net/items/show/3461.