Biomedical subjects

R C Doekel

Publications and source records attributed to R C Doekel.

4 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed1990

Prognostic significance of age and tonsillectomy in uvulopalatopharyngoplasty.

The objective of this study was to analyze the results of uvulopalatopharyngoplasty on 133 adult patients with sleep apnea. This group of patients was subjected to computer analysis by a statistician. Two previously unreported observations were revealed: There was a straight line decline in measurable improvement with advancing age so, by age 60, there were no patients with improvement; and patients who had tonsillectomy as a part of the uvulopalatopharyngoplasty had a markedly increased success rate compared to those who did not have tonsils. These two previously unreported observations might have significance and value in establishing guidelines for preoperative prognostic predictions of success.

Adult↗

PubMed1978

Herpes simplex virus encephalitis: an atypical presentation.

Herpes simplex virus (HSV) encephalitis is an acute febrile encephalopathy usually characterized by disordered mentation, fever, headache, and focal seizures. We have described a patient with HSV encephalitis whose initial illness was manifested solely as a seizure disorder. Consequently, the diagnosis was not made until late in the hospital course. This atypical presentation of HSV encephalitis is emphasized to facilitate recognition of this disorder and to prompt early diagnostic brain biopsy so that appropriate antiviral therapy can be instituted.

Diagnosis, Differential↗

PubMed1978

Potentiation of hypoxic pulmonary vasoconstriction by ethyl alcohol in dogs.

Pulmonary and systemic hemodynamics and arterial blood gases were measured in anesthetized and mechanically ventilated dogs before and after oral or intravenous administration of ethanol. Increases in mean pulmonary artery pressure and pulmonary vascular resistance occurred. Platelet antiserum-induced thrombocytopenia inhibition of prostaglandin synthesis with meclofenamate, or alpha-adrenergic blockade did not alter the pulmonary pressor response to ethanol. However, the increase in resistance following ethanol was abolished by hyperoxia and potentiated by hypoxia. Thus, it appears that the effect of ethanol is to augment hypoxic pulmonary vasoconstriction, whereas ethanol per se has no independent pulmonary pressor activity.

Administration, Oral↗

PubMed1976

Clinical semi-starvation: depression of hypoxic ventilatory response.

A decreased metabolic rate has been associated with decreased ventilatory response to hypoxia and hypercapnia, and also with starvation. We fed a 500-calorie carbohydrate diet with supplemental electrolytes, designed to simulate alimentation by usual intravenous fluids, to seven normal subjects for 10 days to determine the effect of semi-starvation on metabolic rate and ventilatory responses. By the 10th day metabolic rate was significantly decreased, and hypoxic ventilatory response decreased to 42% of control (P less than 0.05). In two subjects, hypoxic ventilatory response was virtually abolished at day 10. These changes reversed toward normal with refeeding. The decrease in hypoxic ventilatory response response was significantly (P less than 0.01) related to the decrease in metabolic rate. Hypercapnic ventilatory response, measured as the slope of the ventilatory response to hypercapnia, decreased slightly but not significantly. The decrease in hypoxic ventilatory response seen during semi-starvation may contribute to the hypoxemia and respiratory failure subsequent to caloric restriction.

Adult↗