[What role does the National Board of Health and Welfare play for the quality and security in health care?].
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Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to O Edhag.
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Carbamazepine is a first line drug in the treatment of epilepsy and trigeminal neuralgia, but may exert negative chronotropic and dromotropic effects on the cardiac conduction system. Bradyarrhythmias of different types and severity have been described, especially in the elderly, but the prevalence of arrhythmias in a larger group of carbamazepine treated patients is unknown. Forty-eight patients, 40 years of older, on continuous carbamazepine treatment because of various neurologic disorders were investigated by interview, physical examination, 12-lead surface electrocardiogram, and 24-h long-term electrocardiogram recording. The prevalence of bradyarrhythmias was compared with that in an age-stratified reference group. There was no differences between the two groups, either in the number or the duration of pauses or in the type of pauses. In conclusion, carbamazepine does not increase the risk of bradyarrhythmias in the vast majority of patients.
OBJECTIVE: To assess platelet activation after thrombolysis in patients with acute myocardial infarction. DESIGN: Platelet function was assessed by measurement of the in vivo synthesis of thromboxane by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry of thromboxane's major urinary metabolite, 2,3-dinor-thromboxane-B2. SETTING: Coronary care unit of Huddinge University Hospital. SUBJECTS: 30 patients with acute myocardial infarction given either streptokinase 1.5 million units intravenously over one hour + 500 mg aspirin (n = 10), 500 mg aspirin (n = 10), or neither thrombolysis nor aspirin (n = 10). RESULTS: Patients treated by thrombolysis had a 20-fold increase in thromboxane formation during thrombolysis compared with control patients not treated by thrombolysis (p = 0.0001). Until two days after thrombolysis thromboxane production in patients treated with streptokinase did not decrease to a value comparable with patients treated with aspirin but not given thrombolysis. CONCLUSION: Thromboxane production increased considerably during thrombolysis, possibly reflecting greatly enhanced platelet activation. The slow decrease in thromboxane formation after treatment with aspirin suggests that the efficacy of thrombolysis might be improved by more efficient antiplatelet treatment.
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Epicardial electrodes implanted in 20 patients between 1959 and 1962 had a short-term effectiveness. A change to endocardial stimulation was later necessary in 15 of these patients. Endocardial electrodes inserted between 1962 and 1967 in 306 patients were included in this study; 121 (40%) of these patients survived for 10 years or more. Seventy-five (62%) of the long-term survivors had no problems with their electrodes. In 39 of these patients the stimulation thresholds were measured after both 5 and 10 years and found to be 2.3 +/- 0.6 volts and 2.2 +/- 0.8 volts, respectively. Hence, long-term complication-free endocardial pacing can be accomplished.
Heart rhythm was analysed with regard to spontaneous or pacemaker-induced heart activity, in a consecutive series of 282 patients paced for at least 1 year. The mean duration of pacing was 59 (13 to 180) months. The mean age of the patients was 76 (39 to 93) years. Spontaneous heart activity at all routine examinations was found in 33 (12%) of the patients. Pacemaker-induced rhythm only was recorded in 42 per cent of the patients whereas the remaining 46 per cent had varying electrocardiographic patterns. Of the patients with spontaneous rhythm at each visit, 10 had had complete heart block before pacing. Regular sinus activity was recorded at every routine examination in 74 per cent of the patients paced for reasons other than the sick sinus syndrome. This indicated that a substantial number of paced patients might be candidates for atrial triggered pacing. Patients treated with digitalis more often had asystole at the time of replacement of the pacemaker (32%) than those not so treated (19). This suggests an increased risk of sudden death in paced patients on digitalis if the pacemaker fails.
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Ultralow frequency ballistocardiography (UFB) and digital pulse plethysmography (DPP) were performed in six patients with an external artificial pacemaker system. UFB was used mainly to evaluate the force of contraction of the left ventricle (IJ amplitude) and DPP for evaluating relative changes in the peripheral pulse volume. Four patients were studied at 40, 50, 60, 70, 80, 90 and 100 beats/min. There was a significant decrease (p less than 0.001) in LJ and pulse amplitudes when the heart rate increased from 40 to 100 beats/min. A positive correlation between relative IJ and pulse amplitude was observed in all cases studied. In beat-to-beat analysis it was found that the importance of the PR interval for the IJ and pulse amplitudes varied between patients. It is concluded that both UFB and DPP may be of value in clinical practice for evaluating hemodynamics in patients with slow spontaneous heart rate. The methods may be of help in selecting the most effective type of pacemaker for the individual patient.
Three different types of unipolar endocardial electrodes--47 in all--were compared in regard to power consumption at stimulation threshold with six different output capacitors and seven pulse widths. Fifteen were conventional large surface electrodes (area 47 mm2); 18 were conventional small surface electrodes (area 6 mm2), and 14 had a specially designed tip with a large area but small active surface of 8 mm2. Pulse widths ranged from 0.15 to 2.0 msec and output capacitors from 1.0 to 22.0 microFarads. All in all about 2,000 measurements were performed. The average current drain to the pacemaker output stage was measured and power consumption was calculated for each electrode--pulse width--output capacitor combination. In all combinations, the two small surface electrodes consumed approximately the same amount of power and, in both cases, significantly less than the larger one. With regard to power economy at stimulation threshold, the pulse width of choice was about 0.5 msec and, furthermore, power consumption decreased with increasing capacitor size. The optimal combination was a small surface electrode, an output capacitor of 22 microF and a pulse width of 0.5 msec.
3 patients with chronic complete AV block were found at autopsy to have granulomatous giant cell myocarditis (GGCM). In 1 patient an unusual clinical course led to more extensive investigation including echocardiography which revealed ventricular septal abnormalities. A review of the literature is presented. Although GGCM is a rare disease echocardiography may be a useful screening procedure in patient with AV block especially in the presence of immunological disorders.
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A man, aged 42 years, presented as an emergency with a history of stabbing upper abdominal pain, nausea and diarrhoea of two weeks' duration. Apart from abnormal transaminase and alkaline phosphatase values, the routine clinical and laboratory examinations did not reveal any abnormality. As the abdominal pain increased in severity, particularly in association with eating, and projectile vomiting supervened, aortography was carried out and showed severe stenosis of the coeliac axis, involving about 1 cm of the artery. At operation a thick fibrous band, which originated from the median arcuate diaphragm, was seen to constrict the point of origin of the artery and to compress the vessel against the aorta. The band was divided, whereupon the coeliac artery immediately showed strong pulsations and adequate filling. Microscopic examination of the fibrous band revealed, among other structures, those characteristic of a ganglion. The symptoms disappeared after operation.
A 70-year-old, artificially paced women with dizziness and extremely low physical capacity exhibited a systolic BP varying from one moment to another; in standing position it was not measurable. With the aid of a strain gauge technique, the amplitude of the pulse wave of her left thumb was recorded and shown to vary widely. The variations were correlated to synchrony or asynchrony between atrial and ventricular activity. Pronounced decreases in stroke volume and peripheral pulse volume were recorded with pacemaker-induced beats compared with idioventricular beats. With artifical stimulation at a rate of 45/min, thus avoiding competition but still protecting her from syncopes, she was free from symptoms.
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