Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to E McGovern.
Oculo-facio-cardio-dental (OFCD) syndrome is a rare X-linked dominant syndrome characterized by canine teeth with extremely large roots (radiculomegaly), congenital cataract, dysmorphic facial features and congenital heart disease. A case of mother-daughter vertical transmission of OFCD is reported. Dental findings were important in confirming the diagnosis in the mother.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
BACKGROUND: Earlier reports have shown that the outcome of balloon angioplasty or bypass surgery in unstable angina is less favorable than in stable angina. Recent improvements in percutaneous treatment (stent implantation) and bypass surgery (arterial grafts) warrant reevaluation of the relative merits of either technique in treatment of unstable angina. Methods and Results- Seven hundred fifty-five patients with stable angina were randomly assigned to coronary stenting (374) or bypass surgery (381), and 450 patients with unstable angina were randomly assigned to coronary stenting (226) or bypass surgery (224). All patients had multivessel disease considered to be equally treatable by either technique. Freedom from major adverse events, including death, myocardial infarction, and cerebrovascular events, at 1 year was not different in unstable patients (91.2% versus 88.9%) and stable patients (90.4% versus 92.6%) treated, respectively, with coronary stenting or bypass surgery. Freedom from repeat revascularization at 1 year was similar in unstable and stable angina treated with stenting (79.2% versus 78.9%) or bypass surgery (96.3% versus 96%) but was significantly higher in both unstable and stable patients treated with stenting (16.8% versus 16.9%) compared with bypass surgery (3.6% versus 3.5%). Neither the difference in costs between stented or bypassed stable or unstable angina ($2594 versus $3627) nor the cost-effectiveness was significantly different at 1 year. CONCLUSIONS: There was no difference in rates of death, myocardial infarction, and cerebrovascular event at 1 year in patients with unstable angina and multivessel disease treated with either stented angioplasty or bypass surgery compared with patients with stable angina. The rate of repeat revascularization of both unstable and stable angina was significantly higher in patients with stents.
BACKGROUND: Recent studies indicate that loneliness is a significant risk factor for many ailments from colds to heart disease. If lonely patients are at greater risk for illness, then we might expect that they would use the emergency department (ED) more often and incur greater medical costs than those who are not lonely. Our goal was to determine the prevalence of loneliness in patients in an ED and to evaluate it as a predictor of ED use, hospital admission, and chronic illness. METHODS: We evaluated a convenience sample of 164 ED patients with the University of California-Los Angeles Loneliness Scale, Version 3 and a survey of patient characteristics. Using medical record review and patient self-report, we determined total ED visits, the presence of chronic illness, and discharge diagnoses during a 1-year retrospective period. We evaluated data with least mean square regression and a 2-tailed t test. RESULTS: We found a statistically significant correlation between loneliness score and total hospital ED visits (P <.001). The mean loneliness score (39) was equal to that of normal populations. Patients scoring higher than the mean used the ED 60% more per year than patients who scored lower (P = .008). There was no association between a patient's loneliness score and baseline chronic illness or severity of current illness (P = .56). Spanish-speaking patients had higher loneliness scores than English-speaking patients (P = .001). CONCLUSION: Loneliness is a predictor of hospital ED use independent of chronic illness and is potentially very expensive to society. We recommend further studies be done to examine if allocating resources for preventing, diagnosing, and treating loneliness would be cost effective.
AIMS: To detail the clinical and angiographic profile, and long-term outcome in consecutive patients with isolated stenosis of the left anterior descending coronary artery undergoing bypass surgery. METHODS: A retrospective study of all patients (n = 301) (January 1984-December 1990) and undergoing coronary artery bypass grafting for isolated left anterior descending disease, in the Irish Republic, was performed. Survival was compared with that of an exact age- and gender-matched cohort. RESULTS: Mean age was 53 (+/- 9.3) years. There were 238 (79%) males. In 241 (80%) patients an internal thoracic arterial bypass graft was used. Operative mortality was 1.3%. Of the 280 (93%) patients alive (16 cardiac deaths) at 7.1 (+/- 1.9) years, 105 (35%) had angina, 26 (9%) suffered an interval myocardial infarction, and repeat revascularization was required on 29 (10%). Female gender (P = 0.002), pre-operative myocardial infarction (P = 0.02), significant diagonal disease (P = 0.04) and postoperative myocardial infarction (P = 0.0001) were independently associated with survival. Females were more likely to develop congestive cardiac failure (P = 0.01) or postoperative angina (P = 0.03) than their male counterparts. CONCLUSIONS: Survivorship (97%) and event-free survival (96%) at 5 years following coronary artery bypass grafting for isolated left anterior descending coronary artery disease is excellent and equivalent to an age-matched and gender-matched cohort.
BACKGROUND: The content of discharge prescriptions/summaries to improve communication about medication provided at discharge has been the subject of recent studies. To date, the authors are not aware of any literature that assesses the need for primary care health professionals to receive information on reasons for drug therapy changes incurred during hospital admission. Owing to increased emphasis on seamless care, patient education, and increased accountability for drug costs, general practitioners (GPs) and community pharmacists may consider the receipt of information on the reasons for drug therapy changes incurred during hospital admission to be an essential requirement. AIM: To determine whether GPs and community pharmacists want, and receive, information on the reasons for drug therapy changes implemented by secondary care. The preferred method of acquiring this information is also investigated. METHOD: A questionnaire was posted to all GPs and community pharmacists within the catchment area of Glasgow Royal Infirmary University NHS Trust. Data were collected between June 1995 and July 1995. RESULTS: Replies were received from 71 (64%) GPs and 33 (80%) community pharmacists. Of the respondents, 96% of GPs and 94% of community pharmacists would like information on one or more reason types for drug therapy changes, but the majority do not receive the desired information. Ninety per cent of GPs and 85% of community pharmacists seek this information of facilitate continuity of patient care. The preferred method of receiving the information is by postal delivery via a modified hospital discharge prescription. CONCLUSION: The existing hospital discharge prescription requires modification to facilitate the completion of the reasons for drug therapy changes. The issue of patient-held cards requires consideration. These factors may facilitate continuity of patient care on hospital discharge.
BACKGROUND: Use of folic acid supplements preconception, and during the first trimester, is associated with a reduced incidence of first and subsequent neural tube defects. The Department of Health guidelines recommend the use of folic acid supplements by all women planning a pregnancy. AIM: To ascertain the proportion using folic acid supplements and the factors affecting their use. METHOD: Questionnaires were distributed postpartum to the 515 women who delivered normal babies in three maternity units in Glasgow over a four-week period. RESULTS: Forms were completed by 487 (95%) women. Only 57% took supplements at some point during their pregnancy, and only 21% took them before conception. Failure to take supplements was significantly associated with unplanned pregnancy, younger age, and previous pregnancies. Lack of awareness of the potential benefits associated with folic acid use was the commonest reason cited by women for not taking supplements. CONCLUSIONS: Increased health education through health care professionals and mass media campaigns can improve awareness and thereby increase the use of supplements in planned pregnancies. However, 42% of women in our study had unplanned pregnancies. Intake of folic acid supplements in this group can only be increased by improvements in dietary intake within the population as a whole, and by fortification of commonly ingested foods.
Twenty-three low risk coronary artery bypass graft patients underwent a controlled study of the effects of prophylactic perioperative dopexamine hydrochloride on haemodynamic indices and peripheral perfusion. The infusion commenced following induction of anaesthesia and continued for 24 h postoperatively. The study demonstrated that dopexamine significantly increased cardiac index compared with the control group (P < 0.05) and that this effect was mediated through an increase in both left ventricular stroke volume index and heart rate (P < 0.05). This was associated with a significantly lower systemic vascular resistance (P < 0.05), without an increase in left ventricular stroke work index in the dopexamine group. Despite normal pre-operative left ventricular function, both groups exhibited a fall in pH (P < 0.05) relative to baseline levels. This fall in pH began prior to cardiopulmonary bypass and persisted in the early postoperative period in both groups, suggestive of tissue hypoperfusion and oxygen deficiency. These indices normalized more rapidly in the dopexamine group, suggesting a more rapid reversal of an intra-operative oxygen debt in this group. The study demonstrates the mechanism of action of dopexamine on cardiac function and peripheral perfusion during cardiac surgery and shows that the inodilator properties during cardiac surgery are useful haemodynamically and facilitate early reversal of tissue hypoperfusion and oxygen debt in this environment.
We report a case of rupture of an acquired sinus of Valsalva aneurysm secondary to Aspergillus endocarditis in a patient with chronic lymphocytic leukaemia and idiopathic thrombocytopaenia purpura. Despite adequate repair and haemodynamic correction, with an apparent excellent initial result, the patient died of overwhelming sepsis at twelve days postoperatively. This case demonstrates an unusual cause of rupture of a sinus of Valsalva aneurysm and the morbidity associated with immunological dysfunction in the post-operative period.
Despite being the most common benign intracardiac tumour with an excellent prognosis after surgical excision the incidence of atrial myxoma (except at autopsy) is unknown. We reviewed all patients admitted to the National Cardiac Surgery Unit (n = 26) with an atrial myxoma over a fifteen year period (1977-1991) to compile national incidence data and assess pre-operative diagnosis, management, surgical technique, and outcome. Preoperative symptoms were: congestive cardiac failure (12 patients), embolism (8 patients), constitutional (3 patients), asymptomatic (2 patients) and tachyarrhythmia (1 patient). The diagnosis was confirmed by 2D echocardiography alone in thirteen patients and by a combination of echocardiography and angiography in thirteen patients. At operation the site of the tumour was left atrial in 24 patients and bi-atrial in two patients. All cases were confirmed by histology. All patients made a good post-operative recovery, although one patient survived a pulmonary embolus and one patient developed a deep venous thrombosis. There has been one late death (five months after surgery) from a cerebrovascular accident. Serial echocardiography has revealed one recurrence to date (8 years after surgery). The surgical incidence of these tumours in the Republic of Ireland over the study period was 0.5 atrial myxomas/million population/year. Although rare atrial myxomas are the most important cardiac tumours to diagnose as the results from surgery are excellent.
A case of end stage pulmonary destruction secondary to adult onset broncho-oesophageal fistula of infectious aetiology is presented. Advanced bronchiectatic damage to the pulmonary parenchyma may be avoided by the maintenance of a high index of suspicion and a systematic approach to the diagnosis of recurrent lower respiratory tract infections.
Between 1965 and 1972, 250 patients (186 men and 64 women; median age, 48 years) underwent aortic valve replacement with homografts preserved with beta-propiolactone (98 patients) or irradiation (152 patients); operative mortality was 6% (15 patients). Follow-up to death, reoperation, or recent evaluation was completed in 95% of patients, and median follow-up time was 11.4 years. Thromboembolic events occurred in two patients (0.21 events/100 patients/yr). Risk of reoperation was 22% at 5 years, 62% at 10 years, 85% at 15 years, and 95% at 20 years. Factors associated with increased risk of reoperation were young age, male sex, native aortic valve insufficiency, previous aortic valve surgery, history of endocarditis, and larger homograft size. Survival at 5, 10, 15, and 20 years was 85%, 66%, 53%, and 38%, respectively. Late survival was diminished in older patients and those with native aortic valve insufficiency and coronary artery disease. Aortic valve replacement with nonviable homografts has a high risk of late tissue degeneration and need for reoperation. However, the incidence of thromboemboli is minimal, and grafts can be replaced with low risk (4.5%) so that overall patient survival is similar to that observed with other bioprosthetic or mechanical heart valves.
We report a case of combined severe subglottic and lower tracheobronchial stenoses after an inhalation burn injury. The patient was successfully treated by the insertion of a bifurcated silicone rubber stent. The proximal limb of the silicone tube was used to stent the subglottic stenosis after it had been resected, a treatment option not previously reported. It is speculated that the diffuse airway damage resulted from a combination of thermal injury, mechanical trauma and infection. The relatively late symptomatic presentation of the lower tracheal stricture is stressed and the treatment options discussed.
Cardiopulmonary bypass can be expected to cause problems in a patient with sickle cell anaemia (SCA) as such surgery is associated with various factors which may induce sickling and subsequent sickle cell crisis. This patient is only the second with SCA to have valve replacement performed, and is the seventh case reported in the English literature to have cardiopulmonary bypass surgery.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.