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Biomedical subjects

P Crone

Publications and source records attributed to P Crone.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

Quality assurance in Guy's Hospital accident and emergency department.

This paper describes the development of a comprehensive, practical audit by the medical staff at the Accident and Emergency Department at Guy's Hospital. The audit has enabled a comprehensive systematic review of clinical care and its documentation. The results shows that audit of Accident Emergency medicine is possible when channelled by proforma. Junior doctors in this specialty exercise great autonomy, and the audit highlights their need for proper training and guidance from senior medical staff in the review of major and minor cases.

Emergency Service, Hospital↗

[Vascular surgery in Denmark].

This report presents vascular surgical operations performed in Denmark 1983-1987, the first five years after the establishment of the speciality. The number of vascular surgical operations increased by 18 per cent during the five years to nearly 2,000 operations in 1987. Approximately 50 per cent of all vascular procedures were intraabdominal operations, while 30 per cent were peripheral reconstructions. In 1987 40 operations/100,000 inhabitants were made, a level considerably below the activity performed in the other Scandinavian countries. We conclude that vascular surgical activity will increase in Denmark in the years to come.

Denmark↗

Subcutaneous and muscle blood flow during dopamine infusion in man.

Subcutaneous fat tissue and skeletal-muscle blood flow was measured in six male volunteers using the local 133Xe-washout method. Measurements were obtained before and during intravenous dopamine infusion in non-pressor (1 microgram kg-1 min-1) and pressor infusion rates (3-6 micrograms kg-1 min-1). During non-pressor infusion rate the systolic and diastolic arterial pressure and heart rate remained unchanged. When pressor dose dopamine was infused the systolic and mean arterial pressures increased significantly, whereas the diastolic pressure and the heart rate were left unchanged. The blood flow increased progressively from control values in both subcutis (control: 2.9 +/- 0.2, non-pressor: 5.0 +/- 1.6, pressor: 9.1 +/- 0.4 ml min-1 100 g-1, mean +/- SEM) and in skeletal muscle (control: 1.2 +/- 0.2, non-pressor: 1.5 +/- 0.2, pressor: 1.9 +/- 0.4 ml min-1 100 g-1, mean +/- SEM) and was significantly different from baseline values at any dopamine infusion rate. Side-effects were observed only at pressor dose infusion. It is concluded that dopamine in humans seems to possess vasodilatoric properties in subcutaneous fat tissue, and in skeletal muscles.

Adult↗

Are preadmission general practitioner telephone calls of value? A study in communication.

During a 34-day study period, general practitioners spoke to the medical registrar in 115 out of 196 acute adult medical referrals made to the A & E department, Wellington Hospital. One hundred and fifty-eight of these cases were admitted along with 131 self-referred acute adult medical patients. Verbal communication was preferred by the majority of general practitioners and medical registrars concerning acute referral and was considered to be useful in assessing the patient. Preliminary telephone referral to the medical registrar by general practitioners made no difference to the time which these patients spent in A & E awaiting admission when compared to self-referred patients.

Admitting Department, Hospital↗

Spontaneous clostridial myonecrosis. A collective review and report of a case.

A collected series from the English literature up to 1984 of spontaneous clostridial myonecrosis (SCM) is presented in order to reveal possible common denominators. SCM was associated with malignancy (colonic cancer and leukaemia), diabetes, and injections in descending order. C. perfringens was isolated in more than 70% of the cases followed by C. septicum in 27 and C. novyi in 7%. The pathogenesis is still speculative but is thought to be due to bacteraemia especially from the gastrointestinal tract, due to growth of dormant spores in tissue following antecedent trauma or as an infection descending along the ilio-psoas sheath from a gastrointestinal focus. The symptoms are pain in an oedematous, discoloured, crepitant area with haemorhagic bullae and often shock. The diagnosis is based on the clinical findings and Gram-positive rods in the exudate. Treatment instituted promptly constitutes of surgical debridement, antibiotics and hyperbaric oxygen. The prognosis of SCM is worse than for other cases of clostridial myonecrosis and survival was in this collected series only 19%.

Anti-Bacterial Agents↗

The predictive value of three diagnostic procedures in the evaluation of palpable breast tumours.

In a prospective study of 200 palpable breast tumours of 200 women, the diagnostic specificity and sensitivity of clinical examination, mammography, and fine needle aspiration were compared, alone and in combinations. All tumours were excised and examined histologically, and 38 were malignant. The diagnostic sensitivity of clinical examination was high, 98% (91-99), whereas the specificity was rather low, 48% (36-60). No statistically significant differences were found between the sensitivities or the specificities of the three examinations. When the methods were combined the sensitivity was 100% (96-100) and the specificity was 37% (27-46). Statistically, no improvement of the diagnostic value could be shown. It is concluded that the possibility of distinguishing between malignant and benign palpable breast tumours is not increased by adding mammography and/or fine needle aspiration, but the discovery of two non-palpable malignant tumours by mammography underscores the importance of this method in disclosing subclinical malignant lesions. The study disclosed a statistical possibility of overlooking a few malignant tumours when using these three procedures. Therefore, we advise that all palpable breast tumours should be excised.

Biopsy, Needle↗

Reduced blood flow in fibromyotic muscles during ultrasound therapy.

The muscle blood flow (MBF) in m. trapezius was studied in 7 subjects with fibromyotic pain syndrome before and during treatment with ultrasound (1 Watt/cm2) and during placebo treatment, using the local 133Xe-washout technique. MBF in the fibromyotic muscles was significantly reduced during ultrasound treatment (p less than 0.05) compared to the blood flow before the treatment and during placebo treatment 1.57 +/- SEM 0.52 and 2.51 +/- SEM 0.43 ml/100 g/min, respectively. In 6 normal trapezius muscles the mean MBF was 2.30 +/- SEM 0.44 ml/100 g/min before ultrasound treatment and 2.31 +/- SEM 0.41 ml/100 g/min during ultrasound therapy. MBF decreased in a lidocaine blocked fibromyotic muscle during ultrasound treatment while no effect on MBF was detectable during ultrasonic treatment a normal lidocaine pretreated muscle. It is concluded that ultrasound treatment decreases MBF in fibromyotic muscles and that this is paradoxical effect of ultrasound might be due to a direct effect on the vessels or a local release of vasoactive substances in the fibromyotic muscles.

Humans↗

Blood flow in fibromyotic muscles.

Muscle blood flow (MBF) in m. trapezius was examined in 12 subjects with chronic fibromyotic pain syndrome of the m. trapezius and in 12 healthy volunteers with no symptoms from m. trapezius or other muscles of the shoulder or neck, using the local 133xenon clearance method. The MBF was slightly higher in the fibromyotic group than in the normal group, but the difference was statistically insignificant, 3.04+/-SEM 0.56 and 2.37+/-SEM 0.37 ml/100 g/min, respectively.

Adult↗