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Biomedical subjects

J L Tomarken

Publications and source records attributed to J L Tomarken.

4 recordsLinked to original sources

Spinal subdural hematoma: a case report and literature review.

Spinal subdural hematoma (SSH) is an uncommon entity. There is a higher incidence among patients with a bleeding diathesis and among those with a bleeding diathesis having a lumbar puncture. The case reported here is of a 65-year-old woman on oral anticoagulants presenting with atypical symptoms who developed SSH over a six-hour period. Emergency investigation and treatment are required because recovery is inversely related to the length of time of spinal cord compression. A review of the literature revealed 37 previously reported cases of nonmajor traumatic SSH.

Back Pain

Malignant hyperthermia.

Malignant hyperthermia is a hereditary trait characterized by hypercatabolic reactions induced by anesthetic drugs, or physical or emotional stress. Patients must be treated quickly and efficiently in order to prevent irreversible organ damage and death.

Body Temperature

Spinal subdural hematoma.

Although spinal subdural hematoma is a rare condition, it has a higher incidence in persons with a bleeding diathesis and in those with a bleeding diathesis who have had a lumbar puncture. We report a case of a 65-year-old woman on oral anticoagulants presenting with atypical symptoms who developed a spinal subdural hematoma over a six-hour period. This resulted in complete paraplegia of her lower extremities with no improvement after surgical spinal cord decompression.

Female

Pulsus paradoxus in asthmatic children.

Pulsus paradoxus is a useful physical sign in the assessment of the severity of asthma in adults. Whether this is also true for asthmatic children was determined by measuring respiratory fluctuations in systolic blood pressure during attacks of asthma in 24 children. A decrease in systolic pressure during inspiration exceeding 15 mm Hg was found only when the 1-second forced expiratory volume was less tha 60 percent of the predicted value. There was a highly significant (P smaller than 0.001) correlation between the degree of pulsus paradoxus and the severity of airway obstruction. In nonasthmatic children the systolic pressure was found to fluctuate by as much as 7 mm Hg during the respiratory cycle. It is concluded that, as in adults, the presence of pulsus paradoxus (larger than or equal to 15 mm Hg) in children indicates that their asthma is very severe.

Adolescent