The clinical case of a 9-year-old patient derived from Orthopedics to the Institute of Genetics at Universidad Nacional de Colombia due to a longstanding medical history of multiple bony outgrowths that required surgical management without etiologic diagnosis is presented in this paper. A possible diagnosis of metachondromatosis is suggested based on the clinical course, the family history, and the findings of the biopsy and regular growth parameters. On the other hand, differential diagnoses were compared taking into account the most common enchondromatosis type, based on data obtained during physical examination, radiological signs and other variables. This comparison was grounded on the review of existing literature on this type of entities.

A case of extremely rare puerperal sepsis is presented in this paper. Postpartum infection is an entity given in between 0.1% and 10% of postpartum patients and has a mortality rate ranging from 2% to 11%. In this case report, a primigravida patient, age 19, presented hypogastric pain, emesis and fever five days after delivery. Postpartum endometritis and retained products of conception were diagnosed; uterine curettage was performed and antibiotic treatment was formulated with satisfactory outcome. The patient was discharged on the fourth day. The patient was readmitted 27 days after delivery with hypogastric persistent pain and fever, vomiting, hypotension and pulmonary dysfunction; gynecological examination showed findings consistent with salpingitis and a laparotomy was performed to confirm the diagnosis, finding salpingitis along with pelvic peritonitis. An intravenous antibiotic treatment, laparotomy and peritoneal washings were provided with satisfactory evolution. The literature on puerperal sepsis, myometritis and postpartum salpingitis is reviewed because, in order to improve morbidity and mortality, timely diagnosis and treatment are determining.

MELAS syndrome (mitochondrial encephalomyopathy, lactic acidosis, and stroke-like episodes) and MIDD syndrome (maternally inherited diabetes and deafness) are mitochondrial diseases caused in most cases by the same mutation m.3243A> G, which affects the gene MT-TL1. The cases of two families with MELAS are presented here. In the first case, the m.3243A>G mutation was detected and the heteroplasmy level in blood, urine and oral mucosa were determined, finding a great phenotypic variability: the patient had higher heteroplasmy in the three tissues compared against oligosymptomatic relatives, and the mother had high blood sugar levels and hearing loss, suggesting a phenotype near to MIDD. In the second family, the m.3271T>C mutation was detected, which constitutes the first case reported in Colombia. These findings suggest that MIDD and MELAS, often described as distinct entities, are part of the same entity with variable expressivity partially depending on heteroplasmy.

Temporal bone involvement in Langerhans Cell Histiocytosis (LCH) is the second most common site of involvement in the head and neck area, with the mastoid and squamous portion of the bone as the most frequent site where LCH manifests. Since there are not many cases reported in the literature, it is possible to state that primary manifestation of histiocytosis affecting the inner ear structures is uncommon. This article reports the case of a patient with involvement of the petrous apex of the temporal bone that was referred to the Fundación Hospital de la Misericordia, and carries out a literature review in order to discuss the manifestation, treatment and outcome of this disease.

Introduction: Health inequalities, among other factors, reflect the wellbeing level of a population. Interventions aimed at eliminating or preventing such inequalities require an understanding of their origins. Objective: To perform a systematic review to identify case studies reporting health inequalities worldwide. Methodology: Case reports, case studies and case series written in English, Spanish and Portuguese reporting health inequalities were included. Databases like Medline and EMBASE, and grey literature sources such as LILACS, OpenGrey, Google, and others were included. Results: Initially, the search produced 1272 articles. 139 articles were selected by their title, while, based on their abstract, 28 articles were chosen for full text reading. Finally, 23 articles were included. Gender difference was the most frequent factor in terms of health inequalities (23.2%), followed by socio economic condition (20%), belonging to a migrant population (13.3%), ethnic origin (13.3%), age (10%), geographic origin (3.3%), and others (16.6%). Discussion: This approach, which is based on reviewing case reports to study health inequalities, contrasts with the majority of the studies carried out in this field. This research proposes to study inequalities specific to population groups that suffer such inequalities within communities in a particular geographic area and are not able to access to optimal health services.

This paper reports the case of a patient about to undergo a tubal ligation; after inducing anesthesia, the surgical table where the patient lay in a state of deep sedation and analgesia fractured, exposing her to a fall. The patient did not suffer any injury and it was determined that the cause of the fracture was the wear of a support piece of the surgical table, which is considered material fatigue.

This paper reports the case of a patient about to undergo a tubal ligation; after inducing anesthesia, the surgical table where the patient lay in a state of deep sedation and analgesia fractured, exposing her to a fall. The patient did not suffer any injury and it was determined that the cause of the fracture was the wear of a support piece of the surgical table, which is considered material fatigue.