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Biomedical subjects

A Elton

Publications and source records attributed to A Elton.

8 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1995

Withholding consent to lifesaving treatment: three cases.

The refusal of children or their parents to consent to treatment that professionals regard as essential always results in a dilemma. Responding to such refusals demands careful and sensitive clinical and thicolegal intervention and close cooperation among professionals, in particular doctors and social workers. Since the introduction of the Children Act 1989 the number of cases in which children have withheld consent to lifesaving treatment has risen, and it is now increasingly recognised that children have a right to have their views legally represented if a local authority or health authority seeks a court's leave to carry out treatment. Professionals have to consider which legal route, under either the Children Act or the Mental Health Act, is likely to be best for the individual child.

Abdominal Pain↗
PubMed1987

Trabecular and cortical bone in the radii of women with parathyroid adenomata: a greater trabecular deficit, with a preliminary assessment of recovery after parathyroidectomy.

Radial bone mineral content (BMC) has been reported to be lower than normal in patients with hyperparathyroidism, but those measurements have been made with techniques which do not discriminate between trabecular and cortical bone. We have used a low radiation dose computed tomography technique to make differential measurements of trabecular and cortical bone in the radii of 18 out of 27 eligible female patients with surgically proven adenomata. Prior to parathyroidectomy there was a mean deficit of 40% (P less than 0.001) in trabecular bone density in the distal radius, and a deficit of 16% in cortical bone in the radius mid-shaft compared to normal values. Seventeen months after parathyroidectomy there was a small but significant increase in trabecular bone density in the distal radius in 13 of these patients, and no significant change in cortical bone. If these results represented the situation throughout the skeleton, it is possible that parathyroidectomy may provide some reduction in future risk of fracture in women with primary hyperparathyroidism.

Adult↗
PubMed1976

Cephazolin treatment of pneumonia in the elderly.

Cephazolin, a semi-synthetic cephalosporin for parenteral use, was evaluated in 39 elderly hospital patients. Thirty-three of these patients were seriously ill at the start of treatment, suffering from pulmonary infections. In the other six patients, the drug was used post-operatively as a prophylactic, and it was effective in all cases in preventing any subsequent infection. Cephazolin was very effective in the treatment of 27 of the severely ill patients; the primary pathogen was eradicated and there was good clinical improvement. In two patients the primary pathogens were resistant to cephazolin, and the antibiotic therapy was changed after sensitivities were known. Of four patients with Haemophilus influenzae infection, clinical cure was obtained in two. Cephazolin therapy was discontinued in one woman because she developed a rash. However, there were no major toxic effects of therapy in terms of hepatic, renal or haematological function. No patient complained of pain when the intramuscular therapy was given. A dose of 1 g IM twice daily was shown to produce consistently high serum concentrations. Thus, in the elderly, the advantages of cephazolin are its lack of nephrotoxicity even when diuretic therapy is being administered concurrently, its lack of pain on intramuscular injection, and its sustained concentrations in the blood and urine so that it only requires to be given twice daily. In vitro studies showed that cephazolin is more active than cephaloridine against hospital pathogens.

Aged↗
PubMed1974

Use of intravenous urography.

Studies on 1,476 intravenous urographic examinations done in a 15-month period showed that the proportion of abnormal results varied widely-from 20% in patients with abdominal pain other than renal colic to 92% of those in prostatism. Patients with the strongest clinical evidence of haematuria were the most likely to have abnormal urograms, and to undergo cystoscopy with abnormal findings on this examination. All six patients with renal hypertension showed abnormalities other than on the urogram. Prior use of other tests may increase the effectiveness of urography.

Abdomen, Acute↗