CASE REPORTS  VASCULAR PAPERS 

The Journal of Cardiovascular Surgery 2000 August;41(4):631-2

Copyright © 2009 EDIZIONI MINERVA MEDICA

lingua: Inglese

Upper limb ischemia induced by chronic licorice ingestion

Lozano P., Flores D., Martínez S., Artigues I., Rimbau E. M., Gómez F.

From the Department of Angiology and Vascular Surgery, Son Dureta Hospital Ciutat de Mallorca, Balearic Islands, Spain

A ­young ­woman had an ­acute ­embolic epi­sode ­that ­affected her ­right ­upper ­limb. An ­axillo-bra­chial throm­boem­bo­lec­tomy was per­formed ­after ­which ­distal ­pulses ­were recov­ered. The ­patient had a ­long ­lasting his­tory, ­longer ­than ten ­years, of con­tin­uous lic­o­rice inges­tion. ­Blood sam­ples ­showed ­severe hypo­ka­liemia ­that ­caused EKG ­changes. Tran­se­soph­a­geal ech­o­car­di­o­gram dis­cov­ered ­mild ­mitral ­valve pro­lapse. The com­bi­na­tion of sur­gery and potas­sium sup­ple­ments was suc­cessful in ­treating ­this ­rare and poten­tially ­life-threat­ening dis­ease.