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Aim of the work
This prospective study was conducted to evaluate the clinical reliability of N-terminal fragment of proB-type natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP) in identifying patients with cardiotoxicity in the early hours following scorpion sting.
Subjects and methods
This study involved 483 children aging between 2–17 years who were admitted to Mi...
Citations
... Nouira et al. [56] have found that just like LV, RV function gets impaired in scorpion myocarditis. Echocardiography findings in the studies included regional or global hypokinesia [13,26,34,[36][37][38]45,48,51,52,54,57,59,61,62,67,71,72,[75][76][77]79,81,[83][84][85][86][87]90,91], chamber dilation [45,53,59,68,69,73,76,80], decreased left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) [13,14,18,26,34,[36][37][38][39][40][41]45,46,48,49,[51][52][53][54][55][57][58][59][60][61][62][63][64][65][66][67][68][69][70][71][72][73][74][75][77][78][79][80][81][82][83][84][85][86][87][88][89][90][91][92][93], decreased fractional shortening (FS) [37,38,41,48,49,51,53,55,62,73,80,92], right ventricular (RV) dysfunction [56, 60,90], and mitral or tricuspid regurgitation [13,26,34,36,37,45,48,51,57,73,[75][76][77]79,80,82,83,87,89]. ...
... Nouira et al. [56] have found that just like LV, RV function gets impaired in scorpion myocarditis. Echocardiography findings in the studies included regional or global hypokinesia [13,26,34,[36][37][38]45,48,51,52,54,57,59,61,62,67,71,72,[75][76][77]79,81,[83][84][85][86][87]90,91], chamber dilation [45,53,59,68,69,73,76,80], decreased left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) [13,14,18,26,34,[36][37][38][39][40][41]45,46,48,49,[51][52][53][54][55][57][58][59][60][61][62][63][64][65][66][67][68][69][70][71][72][73][74][75][77][78][79][80][81][82][83][84][85][86][87][88][89][90][91][92][93], decreased fractional shortening (FS) [37,38,41,48,49,51,53,55,62,73,80,92], right ventricular (RV) dysfunction [56, 60,90], and mitral or tricuspid regurgitation [13,26,34,36,37,45,48,51,57,73,[75][76][77]79,80,82,83,87,89]. ...
... Some studies focused on the diagnostic significance of cardiac biomarkers in scorpion stings [49,52,55,58,60,61,97,104,105]. While high troponin is a diagnostic criterion for myocarditis, it may not always indicate myocardial dysfunction [104]. ...
Background
Scorpion envenomation is associated with several complications. One of the most serious complications is the cardiac involvement in the form of myocarditis that remains the main reason for mortalities associated with scorpion envenomation. The present review aims to elucidate clinical and paraclinical findings associated with scorpion-related myocarditis, and to explore different management strategies and subsequent outcomes.Methods
We searched PubMed, Web of Science, Scopus, and Google Scholar for articles related to keywords of myocarditis associated with scorpion envenomation up to May 1, 2022. Each article was carefully reviewed by two independent researchers. In case of disagreement for inclusion, we sought a third researcher opinion.ResultsA total of 703 cases from 30 case reports and 34 case series were included in our review. Myocarditis associated with scorpion envenomation was usually reported in children presenting with cardiopulmonary symptoms including pulmonary edema (60.7%) and shock or hypotension (45.8%). The most common ECG findings are sinus tachycardia (82%) followed by ST-T changes (64.6%). The management typically included inotropes (especially dobutamine), prazosin, diuretics, nitroglycerine and digoxin, when indicated. Mechanical ventilation was required in 36.7% of the patients. Mortality in confirmed scorpion-related myocarditis cases is estimated at 7.3%. Almost all survived cases showed rapid recovery and improvement in the left ventricular function.Conclusion
Even though myocarditis associated with scorpion envenomation is rare, it remains a serious and in some of cases a fatal consequence of scorpion sting. In case of relative presentations, particularly in envenomed children, diagnosis of myocarditis should be considered. Early screening using serial cardiac markers and echocardiography can guide the treatment. Prompt treatment that focuses on cardiogenic shock and pulmonary edema usually results in a favorable outcome.
Objective:
The aim: To establish patterns of structural and functional changes in internal organs, including kidneys, under the conditions of exposure to scorpion venom toxins.
Patients and methods:
Materials and methods: A thorough literature analysis was conducted on the basis of PubMed, Google Scholar, Web of Science, and Scopus databases. When processing the search results, we chose the newest publications up to 5 years old or the most thorough publications that vividly described the essence of our topic.
Conclusion:
Conclusions: The venom of various species of scorpions exhibits a wide range of biological activity. Acting on the structures of the central and peripheral nervous system, the toxins of scorpion venom cause the development of paralysis, convulsions, brain inflammation, hemorrhagic and ischemic strokes. Under conditions of influence on the cardiovascular system, damage to the endothelial lining of the vascular wall, disturbances in heart rhythm, conduction, and the development of destructive changes in the myocardium are characteristic. Data on kidney damage due to scorpion bites require a more detailed study, as information on microscopic and submicroscopic changes in the structure of the organ is too limited. However, cases of the development of tubular necrosis, interstitial nephritis, and kidney infarction are currently known.
