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Hamman's Syndrome
Hamman's syndrome, also known as Macklin's syndrome, is a syndrome of spontaneous subcutaneous emphysema (air in the subcutaneous tissues of the skin) and pneumomediastinum (air in the mediastinum, the center of the chest cavity), sometimes associated with pain and, less commonly, dyspnea (difficulty breathing), dysphonia, and a low-grade fever. Hamman's syndrome can cause Hamman's sign, an unusual combination of sounds that can be heard with a stethoscope. Causes The cause of Hamman's syndrome is most commonly unknown (idiopathic). Excessive duration and/or intensity of activities that mimic valsalva manoeuvres, ''i.e.'' that increase intrathoracic pressure, can cause barotrauma, and hence pregnancy (and constipation and other causes of excessive straining) can be a precipitating cause of Hamman's syndrome. Indeed, it is estimated to occur in approximately 1 in 100,000 live births and is associated with prolonged labour times. Additionally, vomiting and coughing have also bee ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mediastinum
The mediastinum (from ) is the central compartment of the thoracic cavity. Surrounded by loose connective tissue, it is an undelineated region that contains a group of structures within the thorax, namely the heart and its vessels, the esophagus, the trachea, the phrenic nerve, phrenic and cardiac nerves, the thoracic duct, the thymus and the lymph nodes of the central chest. Anatomy The mediastinum lies within the thorax and is enclosed on the right and left by pulmonary pleurae, pleurae. It is surrounded by the chest wall in front, the lungs to the sides and the Spine (anatomy), spine at the back. It extends from the sternum in front to the vertebral column behind. It contains all the organs of the thorax except the lungs. It is continuous with the loose connective tissue of the neck. The mediastinum can be divided into an upper (or superior) and lower (or inferior) part: * The superior mediastinum starts at the superior thoracic aperture and ends at the #Thoracic plane, t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Stethoscope
The stethoscope is a medical device for auscultation, or listening to internal sounds of an animal or human body. It typically has a small disc-shaped resonator that is placed against the skin, and one or two tubes connected to two earpieces. A stethoscope can be used to listen to the sounds made by the heart, lungs or intestines, as well as blood flow in arteries and veins. In combination with a manual sphygmomanometer, it is commonly used when measuring blood pressure. Less commonly, "mechanic's stethoscopes", equipped with rod shaped chestpieces, are used to listen to internal sounds made by machines (for example, sounds and vibrations emitted by worn ball bearings), such as diagnosing a malfunctioning automobile engine by listening to the sounds of its internal parts. Stethoscopes can also be used to check scientific vacuum chambers for leaks and for various other small-scale acoustic monitoring tasks. A stethoscope that intensifies auscultatory sounds is called a phonen ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Respiratory Diseases
Respiratory diseases, or lung diseases, are pathological conditions affecting the organs and tissues that make gas exchange difficult in air-breathing animals. They include conditions of the respiratory tract including the trachea, bronchi, bronchioles, alveoli, pleurae, pleural cavity, the nerves and muscles of respiration. Respiratory diseases range from mild and self-limiting, such as the common cold, influenza, and pharyngitis to life-threatening diseases such as bacterial pneumonia, pulmonary embolism, tuberculosis, acute asthma, lung cancer, and severe acute respiratory syndromes, such as COVID-19. Respiratory diseases can be classified in many different ways, including by the organ or tissue involved, by the type and pattern of associated signs and symptoms, or by the cause of the disease. The study of respiratory disease is known as pulmonology. A physician who specializes in respiratory disease is known as a pulmonologist, a chest medicine specialist, a respiratory ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Louis Hamman
Louis Virgil Hamman (December 21, 1877 – April 28, 1946) was recognized as one of the great clinicians in his time. Early life Louis Virgil Hamman was born on December 21, 1877, in Baltimore, Maryland, to Agatha (née Haseneyer) and John A. Hamman. Hamman graduated from Calvert Hall College High School. He then graduated with a Bachelor of Science from Rock Hill College in 1895. He was graduated M.D. from Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in 1901. Career Hamman interned at New York Hospital from 1901 to 1902 and served as a resident physician until 1903. Hamman returned in 1903 to his alma mater to practice medicine. Hamman served as assistant in medicine at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine from 1903 to 1906. He then served as instructor from 1906 to 1908 and associate in medicine from 1908 to 1915. He was associate professor of clinical medicine from 1915 to 1932. In 1932, he was appointed associate professor of medicine. He become head of the new Phipps Tuberculosi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Boerhaave's Syndrome
Esophageal rupture is a rupture of the esophagus, esophageal wall. Iatrogenic causes account for approximately 56% of esophageal perforations, usually due to medical instrumentation such as an endoscopy or paraesophageal surgery. In contrast, the term Boerhaave syndrome is reserved for the 10% of esophageal perforations which occur due to vomiting. Spontaneous perforation of the esophagus most commonly results from a full-thickness tear in the esophageal wall due to a sudden increase in intraesophageal pressure combined with relatively negative intrathoracic pressure caused by straining or vomiting (effort rupture of the esophagus or Boerhaave's syndrome). Other causes of spontaneous perforation include caustic ingestion, esophagitis, pill esophagitis, Barrett's esophagus, infectious ulcers in patients with HIV/AIDS, AIDS, and following dilation of esophageal strictures. In most cases of Boerhaave's syndrome, the tear occurs at the left postero-lateral aspect of the distal esophag ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Supportive Treatment
Symptomatic treatment, supportive care, supportive therapy, or palliative treatment is any medical therapy of a disease that only affects its symptoms, not the underlying cause. It is usually aimed at reducing the signs and symptoms for the comfort and well-being of the patient, but it also may be useful in reducing organic consequences and sequelae of these signs and symptoms of the disease. In many diseases, even in those whose etiologies are known (e.g., most viral diseases, such as influenza and Rift Valley fever), symptomatic treatment is the only treatment available so far. For more detail, see supportive therapy. For conditions like cancer, arthritis, neuropathy, tendinopathy, and injury, it can be useful to distinguish treatments that are supportive/palliative and cannot alter the natural history of the disease (disease modifying treatments). Examples Examples of symptomatic treatments: * Analgesics, to reduce pain * Anti-inflammatory agents, for inflammation caused by ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Barotrauma
Barotrauma is physical damage to body tissues caused by a difference in pressure between a gas space inside, or contact with, the body and the surrounding gas or liquid. The initial damage is usually due to over-stretching the tissues in tension or shear, either directly by an expansion of the gas in the closed space or by pressure difference hydrostatically transmitted through the tissue. Tissue rupture may be complicated by the introduction of gas into the local tissue or circulation through the initial trauma site, which can cause blockage of circulation at distant sites or interfere with the normal function of an organ by its presence. Barotrauma generally manifests as sinus or middle ear effects, lung overpressure injuries and injuries resulting from external squeezes. Decompression sickness is indirectly caused by ambient pressure reduction, and tissue damage is caused directly and indirectly by gas bubbles. However, these bubbles form out of supersaturated solution from ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Valsalva Manoeuvres
The Valsalva maneuver is performed by a forceful attempt of exhalation against a closed airway, usually done by closing one's mouth and pinching one's nose shut while expelling air out as if blowing up a balloon. Variations of the maneuver can be used either in medical examination as a test of cardiac function and autonomic nervous control of the heart, or to clear the ears and sinuses (that is, to equalize pressure between them) when ambient pressure changes, as in scuba diving, hyperbaric oxygen therapy, or air travel. A modified version is done by expiring against a closed glottis. This will elicit the cardiovascular responses described below but will not force air into the Eustachian tubes. History The technique is named after Antonio Maria Valsalva, a 17th-century physician and anatomist from Bologna whose principal scientific interest was the human ear. He described the Eustachian tube and the maneuver to test its patency (openness). He also described the use of this m ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hamman's Sign
Hamman's sign (rarely, Hammond's sign or Hammond's crunch) is a crunching, rasping sound, synchronous with the heartbeat, heard over the precordium in spontaneous mediastinal emphysema. It is felt to result from the heart beating against air-filled tissues. It is named after Johns Hopkins clinician Louis Hamman, M.D. This sound is heard best over the left lateral position. It has been described as a series of precordial crackles that correlate with the heart beat rather than respiration. Causes Hamman's crunch is caused by pneumomediastinum or pneumopericardium, and is associated with tracheobronchial injury. due to trauma, medical procedures (e.g., bronchoscopy) or rupture of a proximal pulmonary bleb. It can be seen with Boerhaave syndrome Esophageal rupture is a rupture of the esophageal wall. Iatrogenic causes account for approximately 56% of esophageal perforations, usually due to medical instrumentation such as an endoscopy or paraesophageal surgery. In contrast, th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Syndrome
A syndrome is a set of medical signs and symptoms which are correlated with each other and often associated with a particular disease or disorder. The word derives from the Greek σύνδρομον, meaning "concurrence". When a syndrome is paired with a definite cause this becomes a disease. In some instances, a syndrome is so closely linked with a pathogenesis or cause that the words ''syndrome'', ''disease'', and ''disorder'' end up being used interchangeably for them. This substitution of terminology often confuses the reality and meaning of medical diagnoses. This is especially true of inherited syndromes. About one third of all phenotypes that are listed in OMIM are described as dysmorphic, which usually refers to the facial gestalt. For example, Down syndrome, Wolf–Hirschhorn syndrome, and Andersen–Tawil syndrome are disorders with known pathogeneses, so each is more than just a set of signs and symptoms, despite the ''syndrome'' nomenclature. In other instances, a synd ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fever
Fever, also referred to as pyrexia, is defined as having a body temperature, temperature above the human body temperature, normal range due to an increase in the body's temperature Human body temperature#Fever, set point. There is not a single agreed-upon upper limit for normal temperature with sources using values between in humans. The increase in set point triggers increased muscle tone, muscle contractions and causes a feeling of cold or chills. This results in greater heat production and efforts to conserve heat. When the set point temperature returns to normal, a person feels hot, becomes Flushing (physiology), flushed, and may begin to Perspiration, sweat. Rarely a fever may trigger a febrile seizure, with this being more common in young children. Fevers do not typically go higher than . A fever can be caused by many medical conditions ranging from non-serious to life-threatening. This includes viral infection, viral, bacterial infection, bacterial, and parasitic infect ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dysphonia
A hoarse voice, also known as dysphonia or hoarseness, is when the voice involuntarily sounds breathy, raspy, or strained, or is softer in volume or lower in pitch. A hoarse voice, can be associated with a feeling of unease or scratchiness in the throat. Hoarseness is often a symptom of problems in the vocal folds of the larynx. It may be caused by laryngitis, which in turn may be caused by an upper respiratory infection, a cold, or allergies. Cheering at sporting events, speaking loudly in noisy situations, talking for too long without resting one's voice, singing loudly, or speaking with a voice that's too high or too low can also cause temporary hoarseness. A number of other causes for losing one's voice exist, and treatment is generally by resting the voice and treating the underlying cause. If the cause is misuse or overuse of the voice, drinking plenty of water may alleviate the problems. It appears to occur more commonly in females and the elderly. Furthermore, certain occup ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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