SMJ // August 1984, Volume 77 - Issue 8
Original Article
Symposium on Upper Gastrointestinal Motility Disorders Gastric Motor Disorders: An Overview
ABSTRACT: Disturbances of gastric emptying are being increasingly recognized as causes of clinical problems such as chronic nausea, vomiting, and abdominal pain. Although much remains to be learned, enough information is available to enable the practicing physician to develop an approach to diagnosis and management of these often difficult problems….
Original Article
Diagnosing Motility Disorders of the Upper Gastrointestinal Tract
ABSTRACT: The past decade has witnessed an exponential growth of knowledge about upper gastrointestinal motility. The elucidation of the clinical problems is based on remarkable morphophysiologic, clinical, diagnostic, and pharmacotherapeutic advances. New approaches rely on a more sensitive application of manometric evaluation which has allowed identification of more subtle abnormalities…
Original Article
Motor Disorders of the Esophagus: Diagnosis and Treatment
ABSTRACT: Esophageal motor disorders may be clearly primary, as in achalasia or diffuse esophageal spasm (DES), or clearly secondary, as in scleroderma or intrathoracic malignancy. In patients with gastroesophageal reflux, abnormal motility of the esophageal body and stomach, and lower esophageal spasm (LES) appear to predispose patients to reflux. It…
Original Article
Role of Gas in Functional Abdominal Pain
Original Article
Blood Components in Neonatal Medicine
ABSTRACT: During a six-month period, 552 infants were admitted to a level III Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) and four level II units. Of the 953 cross matches of blood components requested from the blood bank, 83% were administered. Forty-four percent of the infants received multiple blood transfusions from multiple…
Original Article
Extracranial Cribside Sonography in Infants
ABSTRACT: In 29 real-time ultrasonic studies of infants in the intensive care nursery, the technique either accurately diagnosed or led directly to the correct diagnosis in 27 (93%). Twenty-four of these infants had suspected abnormality in the abdomen or pelvis, three had congestive heart failure and bruits, one had respiratory…
Original Article
Human Infections With La Crosse Virus in Georgia, 1982
ABSTRACT: Eight cases of central nervous system infection due to La Crosse (California serogroup) virus were detected in Georgia children in 1982. The patients were residents of the state, without histories of travel away from the vicinities of their homes during the 30 days before the onset of their illnesses….
Educational Opportunities
Educational Opportunities
Primary Article
Analysis of Morbidity and Outcome of Infants Weighing Less Than 800 Grams at Birth
ABSTRACT: To ascertain the morbidity, outcome, and prediction of survival of infants weighing <800 gm at birth, we reviewed all newborn and follow-up records for this group who were treated at The Medical Center between 1978 and 1981. Of the 71 infants in this category, 12 survived and underwent comprehensive…
Primary Article
Cervical Disk Degeneration and Herniation: Diagnosis by Computerized Tomography
ABSTRACT: Computerized tomography (CT), which has revolutionized the diagnosis of intracranial disease in less than a decade, has made substantial progress in spinal diagnosis in the last few years. It is rapidly becoming the preferred technique for the diagnosis of lumbar disk herniation and is applicable to cervical disk diagnosis,…
Primary Article
Prognostic Factors for Splenectomy Response in Adult Idiopathic Thrombocytopenic Purpura
ABSTRACT: The prognostic factors for splenectomy response were evaluated in 40 adult patients with idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura (ITP). We defined the corticosteroid response on the basis of the platelet count after seven to ten days of therapy, rather than at some time after discontinuing corticosteroid agents, as previously reported in…
Primary Article
Relationship of Mammographic Intra-arterial Calcifications and Diabetes
ABSTRACT: Mammary intra-arterial calcification (MIAC) as a predictor of occult diabetes has been suggested in the medical literature. However, the incidence of arteriosclerosis and atherosclerosis increases with age, as well as with hypertension and diabetes. The mammograms of 169 known diabetic women were reviewed for MIAC. Of the 27 (16%)…
Primary Article
Segmental Analysis of Thallium 201 Myocardial Perfusion Scintigraphy: Its Value in a Community Hospital
ABSTRACT: In a community hospital, we correlated results of thallium 201 myocardial scintigraphy with coronary arteriographic data in 79 patients. Scintigraphy was 92% sensitive and 85% specific in detecting coronary artery disease. There were no false-negative scintigrams in patients with double or triple vessel disease. The most important factors determining…
Primary Article
Specific Health Problems of Southeast Asian Refugees in Middle Tennessee
ABSTRACT: Three diseases representative of specific health conditions affecting the Southeast Asian refugees living in middle Tennessee are leprosy (chronic bacterial infections), liver fluke infection (parasitic diseases), and hemoglobin E-β-thalassemia (hematologic disorders). In this paper we discuss incidence, causative agent, mode of transmission, metabolic abnormalities, and management of these conditions.
Primary Article
Carcinoma of the Hand: A 20-Year Experience
ABSTRACT: We reviewed our 20-year experience with cutaneous carcinoma of the hand and identified 70 cases (basal cell 23%, squamous cell 77%). The documented risk factors included solar radiation, trauma, and irradiation. Lesions were treated surgically with amputation, excision, skin graft, or flap closure, and nonsurgically with cryosurgery, curettage, 5-fluorouracil,…
Primary Article
Computer-Controlled Anesthetic Delivery System
ABSTRACT: We designed and tested a computer-controlled syringe pump for the administration of volatile anesthetics into a closed breathing circuit. The system consists of a small computer, a flipflop circuit, and an automatic syringe pump. The computer was programmed to administer liquid anesthetics according to the square root of time…
Review Article
Pulmonary Defense Mechanisms: Friend and Foe
Article
Primary Care Management of Mental Illness: Medication as a Tool
ABSTRACT: The central position of the primary care physician in providing mental health services in the United States is emphasized by two amply supported research conclusions: (1) more patients with diagnosable mental disorders are treated by primary care physicians than by all of the classically defined mental health disciplines combined;…
Current Concepts
Computerized Tomography in Evaluation of Hepatic Neoplasms
ABSTRACT: We reviewed our experience with computerized tomography (CT) of the abdomen in 212 patients with histologically documented liver neoplasms seen during a 30-month period. The CT findings in cavernous hemangioma and focal nodular hyperplasia were specific, and permitted accurate diagnosis of this lesion before biopsy. The CT appearance of…
Medical Education
Interns Choice
Our Medical Heritage
Some Important Epochs in Medicine
ABSTRACT: One of the problems in attempting to chronicle briefly the great moments in the history of medicine is that, like the healing process itself, turning points are difficult to pinpoint. There have been surprisingly few “eurekas.” In addition, unlike the history of corporate bodies or institutions (such as the…
