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Biomedical subjects

M Zwecker

Publications and source records attributed to M Zwecker.

6 recordsLinked to original sources

Professor Heinrich Sebastian Frenkel: a forgotten founder of rehabilitation medicine.

Frenkel was born and later on practiced medicine in Heiden, Swizerland. This small town became, by his vigilant and innovative work, a place of pilgrimage for neurologists. He was the first to introduce the concept of exercise to restore dexterity and to improve ambulation and so pioneered the specialty of physical medicine and rehabilitation. Frenkel's method and philosophy became the foundation of treatment for many chronic neurological disabling diseases. His personality and work influenced many famous neurologists, worldwide.

History, 19th Century↗

[Camptocormia].

Explore the source record for details and available documents.

Humans↗

Slow ascending myelopathy, tetraplegia, carcinoma of the bladder and amyloidosis in a patient with ankylosing spondylitis.

OBJECTIVE: We report a case of slow ascending myelopathy in a patient with ankylosing spondylitis (AS). DESIGN: Case report of a 60-year-old patient suffering from AS, who developed over a period of 39 years a slow ascending myelopathy leading to tetraplegia, squamous cell carcinoma of the bladder and amyloidosis of the small intestine secondary to neuropathic bladder and bowel. SETTING: Department and Outpatient's Department of Neurological Rehabilitation Sheba Medical Center, Tel Hashomer, Israel. SUBJECT: Single patient case report. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE: Clinical follow-up of the patient between the years 1959 - 1998. RESULTS: Physical examination disclosed deteriorating incomplete tetraplegia with hypotonia and hyporreflexia. Neurogenic bladder and bowel complicated to squamous cell carcinoma and amyloidosis. CONCLUSION: To our knowledge, flaccid tetraplegia associated with AS, has never been reported in the literature. The possibility of vascular compression by the ankylosed spine causing the clinical picture of flaccid tetraplegia in this patient is discussed.

Amyloidosis↗

Camptocormia: a case of possible paraneoplastic aetiology.

We present a patient with gradual development of camptocormia, three years before a non-Hodgkin's lymphoma was diagnosed. Lymphomas are known to produce neuromuscular symptoms through several indirect mechanisms. Recent studies regard camptocormia as a primary disease of the paravertebral muscles. To our knowledge this is the first report associating camptocormia with malignancy. The possibility of a paraneoplastic syndrome is discussed.

Humans↗

Supraventricular tachycardia as a presenting sign of pulmonary embolism in paraplegia. Case report and review.

Pulmonary embolism is a major complication after spinal cord injury and difficult to diagnose in any patient. Supraventricular tachycardia (SVT) is an unusual presentation for pulmonary embolism (PE). This article documents the records of a 60-year-old patient who was undergoing comprehensive rehabilitation after traumatic spinal cord injury and multitrauma. His treatment programme was interrupted by a PE with SVT as the only presenting symptom. This article outlines the clinical approach to the diagnosis of pulmonary embolism. A high index of suspicion of PE should always be kept in mind when SVT occurs in a spinal cord injured patient.

Humans↗

Fundus polaroid screening for diabetic retinopathy. Is one print per patient enough?

The CR3-45 NM Canon nonmydriatic fundus camera detects relevant diabetic retinopathy with high sensitivity. To determine whether examination of one eye per patient would suffice for screening purposes, 473 pairs of standard 45 degree fundus Polaroid prints obtained with the Canon camera were assessed from 167 patients with and 306 without diabetic retinopathy. On the basis of considering only one eye per patient, absence of retinopathy would have been diagnosed in 336 patients, with 9% of the diagnoses false negative. One hundred thirty-seven of the 167 patients with retinopathy in at least one eye would have been diagnosed correctly by considering one eye per patient (sensitivity 82%, specificity 100%). Thus, a standard 45 degree fundus Polaroid print from one eye per patient may suffice for screening purposes if the picture is free from diabetic abnormalities. Otherwise, both eyes should be examined immediately, and the patient should be referred to an expert ophthalmologist who specializes in diabetic retinopathy for confirmation of the diagnosis and staging of diabetic retinopathy status.

Adult↗