Rupture of the Heart Wall and Mitral Valve Replacement

Chronic kidney disease includes conditions that damage your kidneys and decrease their ability to keep you healthy by doing the jobs listed. If kidney disease gets worse, wastes can build to high levels in your blood and make you feel sick. You may develop complications like high blood pressure, anemia (low blood count), weak bones, poor nutritional health and nerve damage. Also, kidney disease increases your risk of having heart and blood vessel disease. These problems may happen slowly over a long period of time. Chronic kidney disease may be caused by diabetes, high blood pressure and other disorders. Early detection and treatment can often keep chronic kidney disease from getting worse. When kidney disease progresses, it may eventually lead to kidney failure, which requires dialysis or a kidney transplant to maintain life.

Lyme disease is a bacterial infection primarily transmitted by Ixodes ticks, also known as deer ticks, and on the West Coast, black-legged ticks. These tiny arachnids are typically found in wooded and grassy areas. Although people may think of Lyme as an East Coast disease, it is found throughout the United States, as well as in more than sixty other countries. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimate that 300,000 people are diagnosed with Lyme disease in the US every year. That’s 1.5 times the number of women diagnosed with breast cancer, and six times the number of people diagnosed with HIV/AIDS each year in the US. However, because diagnosing Lyme can be difficult, many people who actually have Lyme may be misdiagnosed with other conditions. Many experts believe the true number of cases is much higher. Lyme disease affects people of all ages. The CDC notes that it is most common in children, older adults, and others such as firefighters and park rangers who spend time in outdoor activities and have higher exposure to ticks. LymeDisease.org has developed a Lyme disease symptom checklist to help you document your exposure to Lyme disease and common symptoms for your healthcare provider. You will receive a report that you can print out and take with you to your next doctor’s appointment.

Acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) occurs when fluid builds up in the tiny, elastic air sacs (alveoli) in your lungs. More fluid in your lungs means less oxygen can reach your bloodstream. This deprives your organs of the oxygen they need to function. ARDS typically occurs in people who are already critically ill or who have significant injuries. Severe shortness of breath — the main symptom of ARDS — usually develops within a few hours to a few days after the original disease or trauma. Many people who develop ARDS don't survive. The risk of death increases with age and severity of illness. Of the people who do survive ARDS, some recover completely while others experience lasting damage to their lungs.

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HPV is a different virus than HIV and HSV (herpes). HPV is so common that nearly all sexually active men and women get it at some point in their lives. There are many different types of HPV. Some types can cause health problems including genital warts and cancers.

If a patient comes to you with a painful, throbbing, swollen, red face (a ''fat face'), perhaps with fever, trismus and lymphadenitis, he is probably suffering from an acute dental or oral infection, most probably an alveolar abscess. He may have: (1) An alveolar abscess begins as an infection in the bone around a non-vital infected tooth. He has severe pain, which becomes less as pus is released into more superficial tissues and his face starts to swell. After 36 hours of cellulitis he usually has a fluctuant abscess which needs draining. If drainage is delayed, the pus in his abscess discharges spontaneously through a sinus (26-8) in his gum or face, which may become chronic. First, control infection with antibiotics, and then drain the abscess, either by incising it where it is pointing, or by removing the infected tooth, which acts as a cork to prevent the pus escaping, or by doing both these things. If you remove a tooth before you have controlled the infection with antibiotics, and while his face is still severely swollen, you may spread the infection; your task will also be more difficult. (2) A periodontal abscess at the side of a tooth, caused by spread from an infected gum. (3) A pericoronal abscess caused by infection of the gum over the crown of an unerupted and impacted tooth, usually a lower third molar (''an infected wisdom tooth'). Often, an abscess does not form, and the gum round the tooth is merely inflamed.

The temporomandibular joint (TMJ), located just in front of the lower part of the ear, allows the lower jaw to move. The TMJ is a ball-and-socket joint, just like the hip or shoulder. When the mouth opens wide, the ball (called the condyle) comes out of the socket and moves forward, going back into place when the mouth closes. TMJ becomes dislocated when the condyle moves too far and gets stuck in front of a bony prominence called the articular eminence. The condyle can't move back into place. This happens most often when the ligaments that normally keep the condyle in place are somewhat loose, allowing the condyle to move beyond the articular eminence. The surrounding muscles often go into spasm and hold the condyle in the dislocated position.

Ankylosing spondylitis is an inflammatory disease that, over time, can cause some of the vertebrae in your spine to fuse. This fusing makes the spine less flexible and can result in a hunched-forward posture. If ribs are affected, it can be difficult to breathe deeply. Ankylosing spondylitis affects men more often than women. Signs and symptoms typically begin in early adulthood. Inflammation also can occur in other parts of your body — most commonly, your eyes. There is no cure for ankylosing spondylitis, but treatments can lessen your symptoms and possibly slow progression of the disease.

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Rotator cuff repair is surgery to repair a torn tendon in the shoulder. The procedure can be done with a large (open) incision or with shoulder arthroscopy, which uses small buttonhole-sized incisions.

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Tension pneumothorax describes the progressive accumulation of air in the pleural cavity (normally a potential space) through a defect in the visceral pleura. This leads to positive pressure being maintained and increasing throughout the respiratory cycle causing vessels within the mediastinum to be compressed with catastrophic consequences if left untreated. Clinical signs include hypoxia, hypotension, tachycardia, reduced breath sounds and hyper resonance ipsilaterally, with tracheal deviation (away from the affected side) and distended neck veins being late clinical signs.

Cirrhosis is a late stage of scarring (fibrosis) of the liver caused by many forms of liver diseases and conditions, such as hepatitis and chronic alcoholism. The liver carries out several necessary functions, including detoxifying harmful substances in your body, cleaning your blood and making vital nutrients. Cirrhosis occurs in response to damage to your liver. Each time your liver is injured, it tries to repair itself. In the process, scar tissue forms. As cirrhosis progresses, more and more scar tissue forms, making it difficult for the liver to function. Decompensated cirrhosis is the term used to describe the development of specific complications resulting from the changes brought on by cirrhosis. Decompensated cirrhosis is life-threatening. The liver damage done by cirrhosis generally can't be undone. But if liver cirrhosis is diagnosed early and the cause is treated, further damage can be limited and, rarely, reversed.

The best way to prevent hepatitis A is through vaccination with the hepatitis A vaccine. Vaccination is recommended for all children age 12 months or older, for travelers to certain countries, and for people at high risk for infection with the virus. The hepatitis A vaccine is given as two shots, six months apart.

The occurrence and extent of cerebral infarction is determined by three basic factors: i) site of arterial occlusion, ii) the rapidity of arterial occlusion, and iii) the presence or absence of collateral circulation. Grossly, infarcts are usually divided into pale (non-hemorrhagic) and hemorrhagic types. Infarcts evolve over time, thus their gross appearance gives a clue to when they occurred. The temporal evolution of an infarct occurs in three stages: i) acute (1 day – 1 week) – the involved area is soft and edematous and there is a blurring of anatomic detail; ii) subacute (1 week – 1 month) – there is obvious tissue destruction and liquefactive necrosis of the involved brain; iii) chronic (>1 month) – the damaged tissue has been phagocytized and there is cavition with surrounding gliosis. Microscopically there is also a temporal evolution of cerebral infarcts. During the earliest phase of infarction (0-48 hours) chromatolysis and swollen eosinophilic neurons are seen. Neuronal cell necrosis and an acute inflammatory response are usually seen from 24-72 hours. This response is typically followed by an influx of mononuclear cells which begin to phagocytize necrotic debris (3-5 days). From 1-2 weeks after the infarct there is vascular proliferation and reactive astrocytosis. Over time (>1 month) the necrotic tissue will be completely removed and a cystic cavity surrounded by a glial scar will be formed.

Hearing loss can affect anyone at any age, due to heredity, medical conditions or loud noise exposure. However, as we get older, we naturally become more susceptible to hearing loss because of changes to the delicate mechanics of our ears.

Tendons are thick cords that join your muscles to your bones. When these tendons become irritated or inflamed, it is called tendinitis. This condition causes acute pain and tenderness, making it difficult to move the affected joint. Read more

Golfer's elbow causes pain that starts on the inside bump of the elbow, the medial epicondyle. Wrist flexors are the muscles of the forearm that pull the hand forward. The wrist flexors are on the palm side of the forearm. Most of the wrist flexors attach to one main tendon on the medial epicondyle.

A broken bone requires emergency medical care. Your child might have a broken (fractured) bone if he or she heard or felt a bone snap, has difficulty moving the injured part, or if the injured part moves in an unnatural way or is very painful to the touch. A sprain occurs when the ligaments, which hold bones together, are overstretched and partially torn. A strain is when a muscle or tendon is overstretched or torn. Sprains and strains generally cause swelling and pain, and there may be bruises around the injured area. Most sprains and strains, after proper medical evaluation, can be treated at home.