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Biomedical subjects

B M Beaver

Publications and source records attributed to B M Beaver.

7 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1992

Pathophysiology of lung cancer.

Cigarette smoking is responsible for approximately 30% of all cancer deaths. Smoking accounts for 85% of lung cancer cases in men and 75% in women. There are about 38 million former cigarette smokers and about 50 million smokers in the United States today. Smoking rates are higher among blacks, blue collar workers, and less educated people. More than 140,000 lives will be lost to cancer each year because of tobacco smoking. All cancers caused by cigarette smoking could be prevented. It is hoped that public education, smoking cessation programs, and efforts to eliminate carcinogens in the work environment will impact the future incidence of new lung cancer cases. As preventive measures continue, refinement in the diagnosis and treatment of cancer must continue to advance. The recognition of any one of cancer's seven warning signals and prompt subsequent action could lead to earlier detection and a chance for 3- and 5-year survival rates to improve. With medical and research progress, clinical concerns have grown beyond addressing only the patient's physical needs to include important issues such as employment and insurance needs and the psychosocial needs of both the patient and the family as they learn to live with cancer.

Disease Susceptibility↗
PubMed1990

Care of the multiple trauma victim. The first hour.

Trauma is a devastating event that affects all ages. Trauma can be fatal, disabling, or disfiguring. Public awareness, education, and legislation can affect the trauma statistics of the future. Health professionals such as nurses are working toward these goals, but government and community support is also needed. If 24 per cent of trauma deaths can be prevented when appropriate medical and nursing care is provided within the first hour after injury, then health professionals and hospitals, as well as communities, are obligated to provide a system that makes "appropriate" care available. Appropriate care involves a team approach including prehospital personnel, nurses, physicians, and ancillary services, all trained in performing primary and secondary assessments. Appropriate care also includes immediate treatment of life-threatening injuries and shock during the first hour. Nurses are key members in this team approach. By utilizing assessment skills, nursing diagnosis, interventions, and constant evaluation, the trauma nurse will contribute to the decrease in preventable deaths during the first hour.

Burns↗
PubMed1986

Health education and the patient with peripheral vascular disease.

PVD is a frightening and disabling disease, but health education can make a difference. Changing behavior through health education offers the client some control over the direction in which PVD progresses. This article provides the educator with suggestions for decreasing barriers to change and methods for promoting patient understanding of PVD.

Adult↗
PubMed1979

Calcification of the mitral annulus: etiology, clinical associations, complications and therapy.

This report reviews the clinical features of 80 patients with roentgenographically proved mitral annular calcification. The mean age of the group was 73 years, and there was a 2.5 to 1 female to male ratio. Evaluation for underlying cardiovascular disease revealed six patients with severe calcific valvular aortic stenosis; five patients with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, 11 with mitral prolapse and 33 with significant arterial hypertension (blood pressure greater or equal to 150/96 mm Hg). Eighty-five per cent of the group (68 of 80 patients) had an underlying cardiac disorder associated with either chronically increased left ventricular systolic pressure or abnormal leaflet motion. Other cardiovascular abnormalities occurring as complications secondary to the mitral ring calcification included subacute bacterial endocarditis (three cases), arterial emboli (five episodes) and high grade atrioventricular block (16 cases). Twelve patients had severe mitral regurgitation; successful mitral valve replacement was carried out in four patients (all with myxomatous mitral tissue). Evidence of diffuse conduction system disease, not limited to the area of the cardiac fibrous skeleton, was found frequently (44 patients). Nine patients had sinus node dysfunction and 35 patients had electrocardiographic evidence of distal intraventricular (fascicular) block. Twenty-one patients eventually required pacemakers for management of symptomatic bradyarrhythmias. Atrial fibrillation was present in 23 patients. In this review it was found that calcification of the mitral annulus is frequently associated with or induces serious cardiovascular disease. Since some of these disorders may be modified by appropriate therapy, calcification of the mitral annulus should no longer be ignored as a benign marker of the elderly heart.

Adult↗
PubMed1976

Left ventricular function and adrenergic hyperactivity before and after saphenous vein bypass.

Forty patients with severe angina pectoris were studied before and two weeks after saphenous vein bypass surgery (SVG) in order to assess the effect of this operation on left ventricular performance as judged by systolic time intervals (STI). The patients were divided into two groups: group I included 29 patients in whom no postoperative infarction occurred and group II was composed of 11 patients with postoperative infarction. For group I the PEP/LVET was 0.39 +/- 0.01 preop and slightly but significantly increased at 0.42 +/- 0.004 (P less than 0.025) two weeks postop. The mean preop PEP/LVET was 0.33 +/- 0.01 for group II and dramatically increased to 0.54 +/- 0.02 (P less than 0.001) after surgery. Another striking abnormally was a marked shortening of electromechanical systole (QS2I), which was uniformly present in the postoperative studies. Follow-up studies in 16 patients and urinary catecholamine determination in five patients suggested excessive adrenergic activity was responsible for the abbreviated QS2I. This phenomenon must be considered when interpreting the results of SVG on left ventricular function.

Adult↗