Medical Blog

Near Drowning: Follow-up

Follow-up
Further Inpatient Care
The primary goal in the management of a submersion injury is preservation of CNS perfusion and function. Cerebral edema and intracranial hypertension secondary to hypoxic neuronal injury are frequently observed, but studies have shown that invasive monitoring of intracranial pressure is neither useful nor necessary in near-drowning incidents. Read more…

Pediatrics, Foreign Body Ingestion: Treatment & Medication

Treatment
Prehospital Care
Most children who have swallowed a foreign body do not require specialized care.
Patients with drooling may require suction.
Children benefit by being allowed to remain with their parents and being allowed to assume a position of comfort. Read more…

Speech Impairments in Children - Speech Disorders in Children

Speech is defined as the use of the voice to express ideas. It is the same as talking or speaking. Some infants are born with disabilities that interfere with normal speech development. Other children acquire speech disorders after birth.
What is going on in the body?

Speech is not the same as language, though the two are often related. Language is any method of expression or communication, which may or may not be vocal. For example, a child may be unable to talk but still able to use sign language. There are many causes of speech disorders in children.
What are the causes and risks of the condition? Read more…

Pyloroplasty

Pyloroplasty is a surgical procedure performed to widen the opening between the stomach and the small intestine. The opening between the stomach and small intestine is called the pylorus. The pylorus, or pyloric canal, is a short canal primarily made of muscle. The canal can become too narrow, in some conditions. When the canal becomes too narrow, food and liquids may not be able to pass. This can result in symptoms such as nausea and vomiting.
Who is a candidate for the procedure?

This procedure is performed on a person with symptoms due to narrowing of the pyloric canal. The canal most commonly gets too narrow from one of two conditions:
pyloric stenosis, a condition that affects infants for unknown reasons. In this condition, the pylorus muscle gets too thick. This blocks food from leaving the stomach. Infants with this condition usually have severe vomiting in the first few months of life. Read more…

PDD - Autism

Autism is a condition that affects development of the brain. Autism severely affects a person’s social, mental, emotional, and communications skills.
What is going on in the body?

Autism is the most severe form of the pervasive developmental disorders, which affect a person’s ability to interact with others. The hallmark signs of autism are extreme difficulty in responding to social interactions and communicating with others. Autism is most often noticed before the age of 3. It occurs four times more often in boys than in girls. It seems to appear equally among all parts of society. It affects about 5 out of 10,000 people.  Read more…

Medullary Cystic Renal Disease - Medullary Cystic Disease

Medullary cystic disease (MCD) is an inherited condition that affects the kidneys. In this condition, multiple small fluid-filled sacs, called cysts, form inside the kidneys.
What is going on in the body?

In medullary cystic disease, small cysts form in a part of the kidney called the medulla. Though MCD is inherited, the exact cause is not known. A problem of the tissue deep inside the kidneys is suspected. The end results of MCD include:
inflammation in the kidney, eventually leading to scarring
impairment in the ability of the kidneys to secrete and absorb salts
impaired ability of the kidneys to concentrate and dilute urine Read more…

IPH – Hemosiderosis

Hemosiderosis is a rare, often fatal, condition in which iron builds up in the lungs. The iron is in the form of hemosiderin, a pigment in blood. Hemosiderosis results from bleeding into the lungs, also known as pulmonary hemorrhage.

Pulmonary hemosiderosis is often broken down into four categories:
idiopathic, which means it occurs by itself
occurs along with pancreatic or heart disease
occurs along with a milk sensitivity
occurs along with a kidney disease called glomerulonephritis

What is going on in the body? Read more…

Idiopathic Pulmonary Hemosiderosis - Hemosiderosis

Hemosiderosis is a rare, often fatal, condition in which iron builds up in the lungs. The iron is in the form of hemosiderin, a pigment in blood. Hemosiderosis results from bleeding into the lungs, also known as pulmonary hemorrhage.

Pulmonary hemosiderosis is often broken down into four categories:
idiopathic, which means it occurs by itself
occurs along with pancreatic or heart disease
occurs along with a milk sensitivity
occurs along with a kidney disease called glomerulonephritis  Read more…

Dyslexia

Dyslexia is an impairment of the ability to read caused by a difference in brain function.
What is going on in the body?

Dyslexia, also known as developmental reading disorder, is a learning disability. Its effects may not be obvious until a child is well into his or her school years. The impact of this learning disability, however, can grow as a child advances in school and can cause significant difficulty.

The ability to decode and understand a new word is dependent on the person’s ability to break it down into phonemes, the basic units of sound. Dyslexia is the result of a deficiency in this phonemic processing. Approximately 20% of the population has some degree of dyslexia.
What are the causes and risks of the condition? Read more…

Autism

Autism is a condition that affects development of the brain. Autism severely affects a person’s social, mental, emotional, and communications skills.
What is going on in the body?

Autism is the most severe form of the pervasive developmental disorders, which affect a person’s ability to interact with others. The hallmark signs of autism are extreme difficulty in responding to social interactions and communicating with others. Autism is most often noticed before the age of 3. It occurs four times more often in boys than in girls. It seems to appear equally among all parts of society. It affects about 5 out of 10,000 people.  Read more…