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What Is Sleep Apnea? When you have this condition, your breath can become very shallow or you may even stop breathing -- briefly -- while you sleep. It can happen many times a night in some people. Obstructive sleep apnea happens when something partly or completely blocks your upper airway during shut-eye. That makes your diaphragm and chest muscles work harder to open the obstructed airway and pull air into the lungs. Breathing usually resumes with a loud gasp, snort, or body jerk. You may not sleep well, but you probably won't be aware that this is happening.
Psoriatic arthritis is a chronic arthritis. In some people, it is mild, with just occasional flare ups. In other people, it is continuous and can cause joint damage if it is not treated. Early diagnosis is important to avoid damage to joints. Psoriatic arthritis typically occurs in people with skin psoriasis, but it can occur in people without skin psoriasis, particularly in those who have relatives with psoriasis. Psoriatic arthritis typically affects the large joints, especially those of the lower extremities, distal joints of the fingers and toes, and also can affect the back and sacroiliac joints of the pelvis. For most people, appropriate treatments will relieve pain, protect the joints, and maintain mobility. Physical activity helps maintain joint movement. Psoriatic arthritis is sometimes misdiagnosed as gout, rheumatoid arthritis or osteoarthritis. - See more at: http://www.rheumatology.org/I-Am-A/Patient-Caregiver/Diseases-Conditions/Psoriatic-Arthritis#sthash.VsBTUw76.dpuf
A torn meniscus is one of the most common knee injuries. Any activity that causes you to forcefully twist or rotate your knee, especially when putting your full weight on it, can lead to a torn meniscus. Each of your knees has two menisci — C-shaped pieces of cartilage that act like a cushion between your shinbone and your thighbone. A torn meniscus causes pain, swelling and stiffness. You also might feel a block to knee motion and have trouble extending your knee fully. Conservative treatment — such as rest, ice and medication — is sometimes enough to relieve the pain of a torn meniscus and give the injury time to heal on its own. In other cases, however, a torn meniscus requires surgical repair.
Thoracentesis (THOR-ah-sen-TE-sis) is a procedure to remove excess fluid in the space between the lungs and the chest wall. This space is called the pleural space. Normally, the pleural space is filled with a small amount of fluid—about 4 teaspoons full.
The management of acute ischemic stroke has advanced greatly over the past 2 decades. New interventions, including intravenous and endovascular treatment strategies, have evolved to recanalize arteries and salvage the ischemic brain. The evolution of interventional approaches to the treatment of acute stroke has been prompted by the limitations of intravenous therapy and intended to extend the treatment window, improve recanalization rates, and subsequently long-term clinical outcomes. The major techniques that have defined the current field of interventional acute stroke management and the relevant past and current data, and ongoing clinical trials on interventional stroke therapy will be reviewed. New issues, such as futile recanalization, and time to microcatheter, will also be discussed.
Cirrhosis is a late stage of scarring (fibrosis) of the liver caused by many forms of liver diseases and conditions, such as hepatitis and chronic alcoholism. The liver carries out several necessary functions, including detoxifying harmful substances in your body, cleaning your blood and making vital nutrients. Cirrhosis occurs in response to damage to your liver. Each time your liver is injured, it tries to repair itself. In the process, scar tissue forms. As cirrhosis progresses, more and more scar tissue forms, making it difficult for the liver to function. Decompensated cirrhosis is the term used to describe the development of specific complications resulting from the changes brought on by cirrhosis. Decompensated cirrhosis is life-threatening. The liver damage done by cirrhosis generally can't be undone. But if liver cirrhosis is diagnosed early and the cause is treated, further damage can be limited and, rarely, reversed.
How do you know if you have pneumonia? They may include: Cough. You will likely cough up mucus (sputum) from your lungs. ... Fever. Fast breathing and feeling short of breath. Shaking and "teeth-chattering" chills. Chest pain that often feels worse when you cough or breathe in. Fast heartbeat. Feeling very tired or very weak. Nausea and vomiting.
Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) is very common and can affect people of any age. It affects men and women equally. It is a common cause of sudden cardiac arrest in young people, including young athletes. Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy occurs if heart muscle cells enlarge and cause the walls of the ventricles (usually the left ventricle) to thicken. The ventricle size often remains normal, but the thickening may block blood flow out of the ventricle. If this happens, the condition is called obstructive hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. Sometimes the septum, the wall that divides the left and right sides of the heart, thickens and bulges into the left ventricle. This can block blood flow out of the left ventricle. Then the ventricle must work hard to pump blood. Symptoms can include chest pain, dizziness, shortness of breath, or fainting. Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy also can affect the heart's mitral valve, causing blood to leak backward through the valve. Sometimes, the thickened heart muscle doesn't block blood flow out of the left ventricle. This is referred to as non-obstructive hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. The entire ventricle may thicken, or the thickening may happen only at the bottom of the heart. The right ventricle also may be affected. In both obstructive and non-obstructive HCM, the thickened muscle makes the inside of the left ventricle smaller, so it holds less blood. The walls of the ventricle may stiffen, and as a result, the ventricle is less able to relax and fill with blood.
Restrictive cardiomyopathy (RCM) is a rare form of heart muscle disease that is characterized by restrictive filling of the ventricles. In this disease the contractile function (squeeze) of the heart and wall thicknesses are usually normal, but the relaxation or filling phase of the heart is very abnormal.
A prostate gland biopsy is a test to remove small samples of prostate tissue to be looked at under a microscope. ... For a prostate biopsy, a thin needle is inserted through the rectum (transrectal biopsy), through the urethra, or through the area between the anus and scrotum (perineum).
Thyroiditis is a general term that refers to “inflammation of the thyroid gland”. Thyroiditis includes a group of individual disorders causing thyroidal inflammation but presenting in different ways. For example, Hashimoto’s thyroiditis is the most common cause of hypothyroidism in the United States. Postpartum thyroiditis, which causes temporary thyrotoxicosis (high thyroid hormone levels in the blood) followed by temporary hypothyroidism, is a common cause of thyroid problems after the delivery of a baby. Subacute thyroiditis is the major cause of pain in the thyroid. Thyroiditis can also be seen in patients taking the drugs interferon and amiodarone.
The two biggest considerations when choosing a suture are the location and tension of the wound. Other important considerations are tensile strength, knot strength, handling, and tissue reactivity. Sutures are divided into two major groups: Absorbable – lose the majority of their tensile strength in less than 60 days. They are generally used for buried sutures and do not require removal. Non-absorbable – maintain the majority of their tensile strength for more than 60 days. They are generally used for skin surface sutures and do require removal postoperatively. Suture needles also come in a variety of shapes and sizes. Curved needles are almost exclusively used in dermatological surgery. Cutting needles move through the tissue more easily and may have their primary cutting edge on the inside of the curve (conventional cutting) or outside of the curve (reverse cutting). The benefit of reverse cutting is that the tapered puncture left by the suture is directed away from the wound edge and therefore tissue tearing is less common. Non-cutting round needles cause even less tissue tearing and may be especially useful in delicate areas and fascia.