 |
| Medical students present their case reports at the annual symposium. |
“I just want to say thank you to all the students and the judges who participated in the event,” said medical student Jordan Ingram, who organized the symposium. “It is such an incredible opportunity for third-year students to learn about how to write a case report and subsequently present one in a poster format. We had such an amazing breadth of cases, and everyone did a great job.”
Saad Awan won first place for his poster presentation, “Cardioembolic Stroke from Left Atrial Cardiac Sarcoma.” Cardioembolic stroke, or stroke due to a clot originating from the heart, is most often encountered in the setting of an arrhythmia. However, it can occur in association with heart tumors, most of which are typically benign. One of the most common cardiac tumors is a cardiac myxoma.
In this case, a 53-year-old female presented with a right middle cerebral artery stroke caused by a left atrial cardiac tumor, which was presumed to be an atrial myxoma. Following a successful operation, the tumor pathology was most consistent with Ewing’s sarcoma, a rare type of cancer that occurs in bones or in the soft tissue around the bones.
“This is very interesting because 87% of Ewing's sarcoma occurs in the long bones of pediatric and adolescent patients. Less than 5% of Ewing's sarcoma cases occur above the age of 40. Primary cardiac Ewing's sarcoma is even more rare,” Awan said. “All in all, this is a rare and interesting case given the type and location of the tumor, the age of the patient, and the diagnosis of cardioembolic stroke.”
Isabelle Hudson took second place for her presentation on an uncommon vascular anomaly of the placenta, “The Peculiar Placenta: A Case of Placental Mesenchymal Dysplasia.”
Andrew Washington and Jelani Bender received third place for their case report on sarcoidosis, “Spotty Skin, Spotty Spleen: What Does It Mean?”
