Assis José Guilherme, Santos Anabela
Department of Medicine, Centro Hospitalar de Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro, Vila Real, PRT.
Intensive Care Unit, Centro Hospitalar de Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro, Vila Real, PRT.
Cureus. 2024 Aug 3;16(8):e66053. doi: 10.7759/cureus.66053. eCollection 2024 Aug.
An 82-year-old patient with multiple comorbidities presented to the emergency department with progressive dyspnea, orthopnea, and anorexia. Despite initial treatment for community-acquired pneumonia and decompensated heart failure, her condition deteriorated, manifesting as severe hypotension, bradycardia, and refractory hypothermia. A detailed medical history and extensive systematic investigation led to the documentation of hypothyroidism complicated by myxedema coma, in the context of chronic amiodarone use and precipitated by sepsis. Treatment with intravenous levothyroxine and glucocorticoids resulted in significant clinical improvement, leading to eventual hospital discharge. This case highlights the complexity and diagnostic challenges of myxedema coma, emphasizing the importance of early recognition, appropriate application of diagnostic scoring systems, and describing key aspects of the proper management of this rare endocrine emergency, whose symptoms and clinical signs are nonspecific.
一名患有多种合并症的82岁患者因进行性呼吸困难、端坐呼吸和厌食症就诊于急诊科。尽管最初接受了社区获得性肺炎和失代偿性心力衰竭的治疗,但其病情仍恶化,表现为严重低血压、心动过缓和顽固性体温过低。详细的病史和广泛的系统检查发现,在长期使用胺碘酮并由败血症诱发的情况下,患者患有甲状腺功能减退症并并发黏液性水肿昏迷。静脉注射左甲状腺素和糖皮质激素治疗后临床症状显著改善,最终出院。该病例突出了黏液性水肿昏迷的复杂性和诊断挑战,强调了早期识别、适当应用诊断评分系统的重要性,并描述了这种罕见内分泌急症正确管理的关键方面,其症状和体征不具有特异性。