Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to H M Adelman.
A 40-year-old woman who had experienced recurring episodes of dyspnea for 28 years presented to the emergency department with increasing shortness of breath, wheezing, and dry cough of three days' duration. She had been seen at another hospital shortly after symptoms began but left against medical advice. She did not have fever, chills, or other symptoms of upper respiratory infection.
A 49-year-old man presented with a five-week history of worsening confusion, agitation, and bizarre behavior. According to his mother and sister, who live with him, he had inexplicably jumped out of bed one day and complained of injuring his back. The pain apparently resolved within several days. Two weeks later, again just after awakening, he had experienced a period of confusion, lasting about 15 min. The latest episode occurred three days previously and included vivid hallucinations--at various times, he seemed to believe that he was talking to his brother on the telephone, drinking a glass of water, emptying the refrigerator, jumping into a foxhole, and stomping on rattlesnakes. He was disoriented to time as well as environment.
MEDICAL HISTORY: Type 2 diabetes mellitus for five years; unexplained 35-lb weight loss three years ago; Bell's palsy on right side many years ago. MEDICATIONS: Glipizide, 10 mg/day. FAMILY HISTORY: Father died of leukemia at age 65; mother has kidney stones; no diabetes or neuromuscular disease. SOCIAL HISTORY: Insurance salesman; heterosexual, promiscuous, uses condoms; smokes (25 pack years); does not drink. PHYSICAL EXAMINATION: Well-nourished, well developed, not in acute distress; had difficulty rising from a sitting position because of right lower extremity weakness. Blood pressure, 154/74; pulse, 88; temperature, 36.6 degrees C; respiratory rate, 16. Head, eyes, ears, nose, and throat: normal. Neck: normal. Heart: S4. Lungs: clear. Abdomen: mildly obese. Extremities: no cyanosis, clubbing, or edema; atrophy and weakness of right thigh and both calves; wide-based gait; able to walk on toes but not heels. Neurologic responses: cranial nerves intact; deep tendon reflexes, 1 + symmetrically; plantar reflexes, flexor bilaterally. Skin: macular rash in sun-exposed areas. LABORATORY FINDINGS: Hemoglobin, 13.2 gm/dL; mean corpuscular volume, 80 micron 3; white blood cell count, 7,200/mm3 (normal differential); platelet count, 137,000/mm3. Serum: electrolytes, normal; blood urea nitrogen, 18 mg/dL; creatinine, 0.8 mg/dL; glucose, 308 mg/dL; total protein, albumin, liver enzymes, and creatine kinase, normal. Urine: 1 + glucose. Venereal disease test: nonreactive; HIV test: negative. DIFFERENTIAL DIAGNOSIS: Dermatomyositis; heavy-metal poisoning; diabetic amyotrophy. HOSPITAL COURSE: The patient was given 50 mg/day of oral amitriptyline to alleviate the painful paresthesias and was switched to 20 U/day of subcutaneously injected neutral protamine Hagedorn (NPH) insulin to normalize the blood glucose level. Histologic studies of skin and muscle showed sun damage and neuropathic changes, respectively. There was no evidence of vasculitis. Screening for heavy-metal toxins produced negative results.
A 23-year-old man presented with fever, dyspnea, nonproductive cough, left eye redness, reduced vision, and bilateral ear pain and tenderness. The symptoms had begun two days earlier, eight days after he was discharged from the hospital with a presumptive diagnosis of Still's disease. He was first seen a month before the current admission for complaints of fever (as high as 39.4 degrees C), nonproductive cough, and asymmetric arthritis. The workup at that time included arthrocentesis of the right knee. Analysis of the joint fluid showed 7,500 white blood cells/mm3 and no crystals. A gram stain and culture of the fluid were negative. HIV and hepatitis tests, bone marrow biopsy and culture, transesophageal echocardiography, abdominal computed tomography, radionuclide bone scanning, and rheumatologic tests failed to identify the problem. The development of an evanescent macular pink rash on day 15 suggested the possibility of Still's disease. Treatment with prednisone (40 mg po qd) was initiated, and the patient was discharged on day 19.
A 72-year-old man presented with a two-week history of exertional dyspnea and nonclaudicatory pain and swelling in the right lower leg. Elevating the leg for short periods had not helped. The symptoms had begun soon after he took a nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug for right shoulder pain but persisted after he stopped taking the drug. His history included two-pillow orthopnea, but that had not worsened in the last year. He had not experienced chest discomfort.
A 61-year-old woman presented to the emergency department after experiencing palpitations, shortness of breath, and syncope while taking a shower. Her husband revived her with mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. She had had a similar episode three days earlier while making her bed and had lost consciousness for about 10 sec. She did not appear to have had a seizure. Five months earlier, while taking a walk, she had experienced dizziness, dyspnea, and chest pressure lasting about an hour. A workup at that time included cardiac catheterization, lung scanning, and esophagogastroduodenoscopy, but no abnormality was found. Lower extremity edema was noted.
A 58-year-old man presented with profuse diarrhea, abdominal distention, flatulence, weakness, and a 15-lb weight loss. The initial symptoms of nausea and vomiting had begun a week earlier, within hours of eating chicken that had not been well wrapped when purchased. Two days after symptom onset, he received intravenous rehydration therapy at another hospital. With resolution of the nausea and vomiting, he felt slightly better and went home against medical advice. He had not had fever, chills, hematochezia, melena, hematemesis, or dysuria.
A 40-year-old man presented with a three-week history of malaise, nausea, night sweats, decreased appetite, and a 15-lb weight loss. He reported having had diarrhea, occasionally with bright red blood, for the first two weeks and a temperature as high as 39.4 degrees C for the last two weeks. He had not had cough, shortness of breath, wheezing, chest pain, arthralgias, rash, or conjunctivitis. He had not eaten raw oysters or raspberries.
A 57-year-old man experienced sudden onset of pleuritic chest pain and respiratory distress 10 days after undergoing four-vessel coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG). The surgery was performed after cardiac catheterization had shown right coronary artery dominance and the presence of lesions occluding 40% of the mid right coronary artery, 20% of the left main coronary artery, and 99% of the lower left anterior descending artery and its first diagonal branch. The patient had initially presented with acute dyspnea following an episode of crushing, nonradiating pain in the left chest and was diagnosed as having a non-Q-wave myocardial infarction after cardiac enzyme testing. His hospital course before and immediately after CABG was uneventful. The first sign of difficulty was detected one week after surgery, on day 17. An echocardiogram showed a small pericardial effusion, moderate to severe concentric thickening of the left ventricle, a left ventricular ejection fraction of 0.60 (normal, 0.67 +/- 0.08), normal valves, and normal segmental wall motion. The pleural chest pains began two days later, on day 19.
A 52-year-old man presented with a four-month history of malaise, low-grade fever, decreased appetite, and a 20-pound weight loss. He complained of joint pain and swelling, proximal muscle weakness, exertional dyspnea, and a dry cough. He also noted that his fingers had turned white and then blue when chilled and red when rewarmed. He had not had pleuritic chest pain, dysphagia, dry eyes or mouth, rash, or skin photosensitivity.
A 25-year-old Hispanic woman presented with painful oral ulcers, a sore throat, and dysphagia of two weeks' duration. She was treated empirically with acyclovir for presumed herpes simplex stomatitis and esophagitis and sent home. A week later, she returned with complaints of worsening sore throat, fever (as high as 38.9 degrees C), and cough producing yellow-green sputum. She had not had chills, shortness of breath, burning on urination, or a change in bowel habits.
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A 63-year-old man presented with fever and a painfully swollen right elbow and forearm. He had been stung by a yellow jacket two weeks earlier and had since found it increasingly difficult to bend his arm.
A 36-year-old woman presented to the emergency department with right hip pain of one week's duration. An x-ray of the hip was unremarkable. She was diagnosed with trochanteric bursitis, given ibuprofen (800 mg tid) and crutches, and sent home. The next day, continual pain and progressive functional impairment prompted her to see an orthopedist. He concurred with the initial diagnosis and administered a corticosteroid injection into the right trochanteric bursa. Propoxyphene (65 mg q4h prn) was added to her medical regimen, and she was again sent home. Pain developed in the right sacroiliac area the next day. Within 24 hours, the right shoulder and right sternoclavicular joint were also involved, and the patient began having subjective fever and chilliness. She returned to the orthopedist and was immediately referred to a rheumatologist who ordered blood cultures and admitted her to the hospital.
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Explore the source record for details and available documents.
A 71-year-old man presented with incoherent, slurred speech, auditory hallucinations, and tachypnea. According to the neighbor who called for emergency medical service, the man had appeared to be in good health the day before. On admission, his blood pressure was normal.
A 37-year-old Hispanic woman complained of having awakened with a tingling sensation, followed by sudden weakness, in both legs. A month earlier, she had experienced heart palpitations but had not had chest pain or dyspnea. She had lost 10 lb in the last two months despite an increased appetite and no polyuria, polydipsia, vomiting, or diarrhea.