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Biomedical subjects

B R Hieb

Publications and source records attributed to B R Hieb.

11 recordsLinked to original sources

A proposal for a national health care identifier.

This paper describes a proposed standard for the creation of a national health care identifier being developed under the auspices of the ASTM. The standard includes the desired properties of such an identifier and a description of existing identifier schemes. It includes a proposed identifier scheme, descriptions of how the proposed scheme would function, and an evaluation of how well the proposed scheme meets the properties outlined in the standards document. This paper provides a partial summary of the material contained in the proposed standard.

Humans

An electrophysiology report-generating system with data base capabilities.

This article describes the Electrophysiology Report-Generating system (EPREG) which produces reports of clinical cardiac electrophysiologic studies. Reports generated by EPREG are permanently stored on floppy disk media. Selected information from the reports is used to generate an on-line data base upon which selective searches may be made. Use of the system saves an estimated 2 to 3 hours per week compared to an equivalent manual approach. The system has been implemented on a programmable word processor (Wang OIS-140) which is also used for other activities within our medical division.

Computers

Influence of recording scale on determination of left ventricular end-diastolic pressure.

Left ventricular (LV) pressure waveforms for 20 beats, originally recorded at 200 scale (200 torr/10 cm) were rescaled by a computer system to represent the identical beats recorded at 40 scale (40 torr/10 cm). Both the original and the rescaled beats were independently evaluated by eight cardiologists who were unaware of the nature of the manipulated data. For each beat the average left ventricular end-diastolic pressure (LVEDP) identified by the eight cardiologists was higher when analyzed on the 200 scale, with an average difference of 2.8 torr (P Less Than 0.001). This scale-dependence of pressure analysis has implications for the development of automated pressure analysis algorithms and for physician review of computer-determined LVEDP data points.

Blood Pressure

A word processor-based pathology reporting system.

This report describes a pathology report generating system based on a programmable word processing system (Wang OIS-140). The system supports printing of preliminary and final draft reports as well as automatically producing index cards for insertion into a file of previous procedures. Completed pathology reports can be archived on floppy disks if desired. The pathology system is part of a multistation "shared logic" word processing system that serves the needs of several hospital departments. The programming capabilities included in the word processor permit it to handle anatomic pathology reporting functions without the need for an associated general-purpose computer system. Experience with the system indicates that it has produced a 60% increase in the number of reports a secretory can produce compared with the previous system based on magnetic card typewriters.

Computers

Consecutive intravenous infusions: simulation of two compartment pharmacokinetic drugs.

A program is presented to simulate the blood concentrations which result from multiple, consecutive, constant rate intravenous infusions of drugs displaying two compartment kinetics. The program utilizes the principle of superposition and was developed for a Hewlett-Packard model 97 programmable calculator. The program can handle form 1-8 consecutive infusions, each with its own infusion rate and duration. Post-infusion blood concentrations can also be readily obtained A modification of the main program is also presented which enables the stimulation of blood concentration--time data pairs without operator assistance. A desired increment of time specified, and the program will provide concentration--time data pairs between specified starting and ending times.

Computers

Postoperative investigation of left ventricular aneurysm resection.

We reviewed 35 patients undergoing resection of a chronic postinfarction left ventricular aneurysm. There was 5.7% operative mortality. Of the long-term survivors, 80% are functional class I or II. Ten patients had postoperative left ventriculograms studied by means of a computerized analysis of endocardial motion using internal orthogonal and radial grids. Postoperative end-diastolic volumes were much greater than normal and large akinetic areas were present although there was good improvement in the patient's functional capacity. Grid analysis of endocardial motion correlated better with the patient's postoperative clinical status than did measurements of end-diastolic pressure and volume, ejection fraction, or visual inspection of the postoperative left ventriculogram.

Adult

Influence of acute coronary artery occlusion on direct ventricular defibrillation in dogs.

Automatic defibrillators have been successfully tested in normal animals. However, human candidates for implantation of such devices are likely to have ischemic heart disease. This study examined the optimal site of defibrillation and the influence of acute myocardial ischemia upon the defibrillation threshold in anesthetized dogs. The defibrillation threshold was determined from a transvenous right ventricular intracavitary electrode and from right and left ventricular epicardial electrodes. Shocks were delivered before and after occlusion of the left anterior descending coronary artery. Before occlusion, the rate of successful shocks was low from the right ventricular epicardium, moderate from the right ventricular cavity, and high from the left ventricular epicardium. Furthermore, the defibrillation threshold was significantly lower at the left ventricular epicardium than at the right ventricular sites. During coronary artery occlusion, the rate of successful defibrillation remained high from the left ventricular epicardium, and there was no significant change in the defibrillation threshold. It was concluded that the left ventricular epicardium is the optimal site for defibrillation in the anesthetized dog. Acute coronary artery occlusion did not modify the success rate of defibrillation or the energy required for defibrillation.

Animals