Chasing the dragon and stumbling upon an octopus: A case of heroin-induced leukoencephalopathy and reverse takotsubo cardiomyopathy.
Heroin
Leukoencephalopathy
Takotsubo cardiomyopathy
Journal
Annals of medicine and surgery (2012)
ISSN: 2049-0801
Titre abrégé: Ann Med Surg (Lond)
Pays: England
ID NLM: 101616869
Informations de publication
Date de publication:
Sep 2021
Sep 2021
Historique:
received:
30
07
2021
revised:
26
08
2021
accepted:
02
09
2021
entrez:
15
9
2021
pubmed:
16
9
2021
medline:
16
9
2021
Statut:
epublish
Résumé
The practice of heating heroin and inhaling its vapors, commonly referred to as "chasing the dragon" has been around for decades, but only gained popularity in the United States in the 1990s. Since then, there have been many documented cases of heroin-induced leukoencephalopathy (HIL) and takotsubo cardiomyopathy (TTC). This case highlights a patient with a history of heroin inhalation who presented with multiple neurological features, including bilateral upper and lower extremity weakness, blurry vision and slurred speech. Symptoms progressively worsened over the course of multiple weeks and brain imaging was consistent with toxic leukoencephalopathy secondary to heroin inhalation. Medical course was complicated by a rare associated feature of HIL: reverse Takotsubo cardiomyopathy (rTTC). Transesophageal echocardiogram demonstrated a classic basal hypokinesis and ballooning characteristic of rTTC. The patient's symptoms were treated as currently there is no guideline directed therapy for HIL or rTTC. This case demonstrated a rare and significant complication of heroin inhalation: HIL and rTTC and described potential therapies currently being studied.
Identifiants
pubmed: 34522378
doi: 10.1016/j.amsu.2021.102797
pii: S2049-0801(21)00747-0
pmc: PMC8427217
doi:
Types de publication
Case Reports
Langues
eng
Pagination
102797Informations de copyright
© 2021 Published by Elsevier Ltd on behalf of IJS Publishing Group Ltd.
Déclaration de conflit d'intérêts
None.
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