PubMed HealthSearch

Biomedical subjects

C B Wheeler

Publications and source records attributed to C B Wheeler.

10 recordsLinked to original sources

Stevens-Johnson-type reaction with vancomycin treatment.

OBJECTIVE: To report a case of Stevens-Johnson syndrome caused by vancomycin. CASE SUMMARY: Stevens-Johnson syndrome is an acute mucocutaneous process characterized by epidermal and mucosal desquamation. Its pathogenesis is poorly understood. Mortality rates have ranged from 30 to 100 percent. We describe a case of Stevens-Johnson syndrome related to the use of vancomycin in a 71-year-old woman with rheumatoid arthritis receiving treatment for an infected cervical fusion site. Classic "target" lesions distributed throughout the trunk and extremities along with erosive lesions involving the oral and vaginal mucosae were observed in this patient. DISCUSSION: A number of agents have been implicated in the etiology of Stevens-Johnson syndrome. Serious cutaneous reactions to vancomycin, however, have been uncommon. Cessation of vancomycin treatment in our patient led to eventual resolution of her symptoms. CONCLUSIONS: Vancomycin is a potential causative agent of Stevens-Johnson syndrome.

Aged

Extinguishing the flaming burn victim.

The multipurpose dry chemical fire extinguishers are unusually efficient in extinguishing many classes of fire: A) ordinary combustible; B) flammable liquids and C) electrical equipment. This exemplary performance of multipurpose extinguishers is associated with minimal toxic effects to humans. Following contact of soft tissue with the multipurpose dry chemical, the tissue exhibits a remarkable ability to resist infection and a normal capacity to heal following injury. This negligible toxicity of the multipurpose dry chemicals makes them safe for extinguishing the flaming clothes of human burn victims.

Animals

Single treatment laser iridotomy.

A technique is described for producing an iridotomy in the treatment of closed-angle and secondary glaucoma using a single pulse from a dye laser. It was successful in 28 out of 32 eyes treated, and no significant complications were encountered.

Coumarins

Side-effects of topical proteolytic enzyme treatment.

The results of this study indicate that short term treatment of wounds with topical enzymes appears to be safe and is accompanied by no clinically significant side-effects. Topical wound treatment with this enzyme did not interfere either with healing of experimental wounds or the activity of the antibiotics. Wounds subjected to this enzyme treatment exhibited a normal capacity to resist infection, even though this enzyme interferred with leukocyte phagocytosis in vitro. The potential benefits of this treatment in experimental wounds as an adjunct to antibiotics considerably outweigh its damaging effects. Its clinical use in patients must await the results of carefully controlled clinical trials in which the efficacy of this treatment is evaluated.

Administration, Topical

Laser iridectomy.

The laser energy required to achieve an iridectomy in the human eye is calculated as a function of laser beam radius and pulse duration. Two widely different models of the stromal pigment distribution are used in order to embrace the range of coloured irides encountered in practice. The attendant hazards to the cornea, lens and retina are also considered, resulting both from self absorption and also by thermal conduction from the heated iris. These calculations are used to interpret experimental iridectomies attempted over the last ten years and to provide a theoretical foundation for the specialized techniques of iridectomy currently employed. Finally, a new single pulse technique, suggested by these calculations, is formulated and results of preliminary dye laser experiments presented. These results are very encouraging because full-thickness iridectomies were formed in both blue- and brown-eyed rabbits with only 40 mJ of incident laser energy. It was found that the threshold laser energy required for iridectomy was sensibly constant over the visible spectrum for the brown-eyed rabbit. However, for the blue-eyed rabbit the energy had a pronounced minimum in the yellow portion of the spectrum.

Animals

Calculation of retinal temperature distributions resulting from laser irradiation of the eye: I. Continuous lasers.

The paper develops a simple analytic expression for the maximum temperature rise attained in the retina as a function of laser power, exposure duration, retinal absorption parameters and image radius. It is assumed that the laser beam has a Gaussian intensity distribution and is absorbed, following Beer's law, in both the pigment epithelium and the choroid layers of the eye. The final expression is mathematically accurate to 1% and is valid for image radii ranging from 20 to 500 mum and for exposure times from 30 ms to infinity. Consequently, this analysis is ideally suited to the interpretation of laser threshold damage experiments using shuttered gas lasers operated in their uniphase mode. Finally, the problem of defining a safe exposure level to laser radiation is considered. However, the lack of available information on minimum retinal image diameter and maximum absorption coefficient permits only an estimate of this parameter to be made.

Lasers

Side-effects of high pressure irrigation.

This study was undertaken to identify side-effects of high pressure irrigation. Standardized surgical wounds made in Yorkshire pigs were subjected to high pressure syringe and pulsatile irrigation. As a result of these treatments, fluids were disseminated into the adjacent tissue of the wound, predominantly in a lateral direction. Bacteria did not accompany this disseminated fluid and apparently were filtered out by the surface tissues. This treatment results in a tissue injury which impairs its defenses, making the wound more susceptible to infection. However, the remarkable cleansing capacity of high pressure irrigation appears to outweigh this side-effect, since heavily contaminated wounds subjected to this treatment heal per primum without infection.

Animals