SMJ // July 1987, Volume 80 - Issue 7
Editorial
ON EQUAL ACCESS
Commentary
VITAMIN THERAPY FOR CARPAL TUNNEL SYNDROME
Primary Article
Eye Injury Registry of Alabama (Preliminary Report): Demographics and Prognosis of Severe Eye Injury
ABSTRACT: Each year an estimated 1.3 million Americans suffer eye injuries. There is little information in the literature regarding the prevalence, demographic characteristics, and prognosis of these patients. The Eye Injury Registry of Alabama (EIRA) serves as the first and only statewide system of its kind for the collection of…
Primary Article
Ritual Mourning for Unresolved Grief After Abortion
ABSTRACT: There is a popular consensus in the medical profession and the laity that spontaneous and induced abortions have few psychologic sequelae. A review of the literature reveals that this is not true; the incidence of symptoms ranges from 7% to 41%. Even when symptoms occur, they are said to…
Primary Article
Toward a Profile of Medically Ill Psychiatric Patients
ABSTRACT: We reviewed 564 consecutive psychiatric inpatient admissions. In support of previous studies, we found 51.9% to have significant medical disorders, nearly half of them “new” or previously unsuspected. Women, the elderly, substance abusers, and patients with nonschizophrenic functional psychoses had a higher prevalence of medical disorders. Using this information…
Primary Article
Clinical Use of Methacholine Bronchial Challenge Testing
ABSTRACT: Whereas the research applications have been well established, the clinical utility of bronchial challenge testing is still being defined. In 19 of 22 patients referred for testing (86%), the results of a methacholine challenge test helped to confirm a clinical suspicion of asthma or to suggest that alternative diagnoses…
Primary Article
Severe Hypophosphatemia in a General Hospital Population
ABSTRACT: We reviewed 16,621 blood chemistry samples taken over a 12-week period; 34 patients with severe hypophosphatemia (serum phosphate level ≤ 1.0 mg/ dl) were identified, for an incidence of 0.24%. The most common causes of severe hypophosphatemia (SH) in this population were infusion of dextrose solutions (73%), nutritional recovery…
Primary Article
Tobramycin and Ticarcillin as Empiric Therapy for Febrile Patients With Granulocytopenia: A Reevaluation
ABSTRACT: The combination of tobramycin and ticarcillin is an established regimen used to empirically treat patients with granulocytopenia and fever. However, the clinician now has a plethora of newer alternative antibiotic combinations from which to choose. In this retrospective study of 25 granulocytopenic patients recently treated with tobramycin and ticarcillin,…
Announcement
Awards of the Southern Medical Association
Primary Article
Acute Lymphocytic Leukemia in Childhood Immunologic Marker, Cytogenetic, and Molecular Studies
ABSTRACT: Remarkable progress has been achieved in our understanding of the biology of acute lymphoblastic leukemias (ALL) occurring in childhood. Morphologic, immunologic, and cytogenetic studies of ALL have resulted in more accurate classification and risk assessment, permitting tailoring of therapy in this heterogeneous group of diseases. Studies of tumor cell…
Primary Article
Cutaneous Leukocytoclastic Vasculitis: Clinical Experience in 44 Patients
ABSTRACT: Chronic or recurrent cutaneous leukocytoclastic vasculitis is one of the more difficult therapeutic challenges to the practicing dermatologist. We have used a variety of therapeutic agents to treat 44 patients with leukocytoclastic vasculitis who had chronic or recurrent disease of more than three months duration. Sixteen cases were classified…
Primary Article
Granular Cell Tumor of the Esophagus: A Study of Seven Cases Diagnosed by Histologic Examination of Endoscopic Biopsies
ABSTRACT: Among the benign tumors of the esophagus, the discovery of a granular cell tumor is exceptional. Although endoscopy permits recognition of this tumor and supports its benign nature, only histologic examination of the endoscopic biopsy specimen permits one to determine its precise nature. The endoscopic appearance of esophageal granular…
Primary Article
Diagnosis of Diseases of the Lumbar Spine Correlation of Computerized Tomography With Myelography and Clinical Findings
ABSTRACT: Data from 339 patients referred for evaluation of suspected lumbar disease were studied retrospectively to correlate findings in the routine clinical evaluation with results of computed tomography and myelography. Clinical features from the patients history that correlated with an abnormal CT and myelogram included age ≥40, a history of…
Primary Article
Bariatric Surgery Should Be More Widely Accepted
ABSTRACT: Bariatric surgery is not widely accepted by the general medical profession because of several misconceptions. Many physicians believe that morbidly obese persons could lose weight if they used their willpower, that bariatric surgery is a major operation in a high-risk population, and that weight loss is unpredictable, follow-up is…
Current Concepts
Diabetic Ketoacidosis: Effective Low-Cost Treatment in a Community Hospital
ABSTRACT: Diabetic ketoacidosis can be effectively and economically treated by using low-dose intravenous insulin and 2 to 3 liters of isotonic saline at 500 ml/hr to replace extracellular fluids, followed by 2 to 4 L of 5% glucose in 0.45% saline with potassium chloride and/or potassium phosphate to replace intracellular…
Current Concepts
Treatment of Carpal Tunnel Syndrome With Vitamin B6
ABSTRACT: In my practice, vitamin B6 (pyridoxine) therapy (100 to 200 mg daily for 12 weeks) has proved curative for a large percentage of patients having carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS). Laboratory determination of the vitamin B6 status has been useful in diagnosing deficiency and in making decisions relative to surgery….
Article
Rootwork: Description of an Ethnomedical System in the American South
ABSTRACT: The traditional medicine of black Americans, often labeled “rootwork,” has its origins in slave culture of the antebellum South. Its continued influence on the health behavior of black Americans is reported for rural areas of the South and for poor urban areas throughout the United States. The rootwork system…
Article
Torts: What Are They?
Medical Education
Clinical Experience During Family Medicine Residency Training
ABSTRACT: We report the total clinical experience for one family medicine resident who documented every patient encounter during his three years of residency training, and compare experience with model practice patients with that in other training sites. There were 7,671 encounters with 4,449 patients, for 17,660 problem contacts and 679…
