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clinical cases

Oncologic Emergencies Part II: Pearls and Pitfalls

Case 1: A 55 year-old male with a history of hypertension and hyperlipidemia complains of fatigue, headache, shortness of breath, and blurry vision for the past four days. His exam is normal, but laboratory results show a WBC of 155,000, with differential showing elevated blasts. Chest Xray shows the following:

clinical cases

Oncologic Emergencies Part I: Pearls and Pitfalls

Case 1: A 73 year-old male presents with several weeks of cough, facial swelling, and shortness of breath. He has a history of lung cancer, actively being treated with radiation and chemotherapy. On exam, his vital signs are normal, but he has swelling of the face with a violaceous hue and elevated JVD. Case 2: A 22 year-old female with a history of B cell lymphoma presents with nausea, vomiting, fatigue, decreased urine output, and palpitations. She has not been attending her normally scheduled cancer treatments. She is tachycardic in the 110s, and the rest of the exam is normal. Laboratory results reveal elevated phosphorus, potassium, and uric acid, with decreased calcium. These two patients present with an emergency related to malignancy. How should you manage these patients, and what are your next steps?