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Hypercalcemia is a condition in which the calcium level in your blood is above normal. Too much calcium in your blood can weaken your bones, create kidney stones, and interfere with the way your heart and brain works. Hypercalcemia most commonly results from overactive parathyroid glands. These four tiny glands are each about the size of a grain of rice and are located on or near the thyroid gland. Other causes of hypercalcemia include cancer, certain other medical disorders, some medications, and excessive use of calcium and vitamin D supplements. Signs and symptoms of hypercalcemia may range from nonexistent to severe. Treatment depends on the underlying cause.
Nasal polyps are soft, painless, noncancerous growths on the lining of your nasal passages or sinuses. They hang down like teardrops or grapes. They result from chronic inflammation due to asthma, recurring infection, allergies, drug sensitivity or certain immune disorders.
Hear what course directors Drs. T. Sloane Guy, Joseph A. Dearani, and Husam H. Balkhy have to say about the STS Workshop on Robotic Cardiac Surgery: Hands-on Team Training in Robotic Mitral Valve Repair, Coronary Bypass & More, including program highlights, who should attend, and what to expect on March 29-30, 2019. Visit http://www.sts.org/roboticcardiac to view the agenda and register.
Hemorrhoids (HEM-uh-roids), also called piles, are swollen veins in your anus and lower rectum, similar to varicose veins. Hemorrhoids have a number of causes, although often the cause is unknown. They may result from straining during bowel movements or from the increased pressure on these veins during pregnancy.
A central venous catheter, also called a central line, is a long, thin, flexible tube used to give medicines, fluids, nutrients, or blood products over a long period of time, usually several weeks or more. A catheter is often inserted in the arm or chest through the skin into a large vein.
Flexible bronchoscopy is a procedure that allows a clinician to examine the breathing passages (airways) of the lungs (figure 1). Flexible bronchoscopy can be either a diagnostic procedure (to find out more about a possible problem) or a therapeutic procedure (to try to treat an existing problem or condition).
A pneumothorax is usually caused by an injury to the chest, such as a broken rib or puncture wound. It may also occur suddenly without an injury. A pneumothorax can result from damage to the lungs caused by conditions such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), asthma, cystic fibrosis, and pneumonia.
A nerve root block is an injection of local anesthetic (numbing medicine) and steroid injected under X-ray guidance into the area where the nerve exits the spinal column. A nerve root block is usually ordered by your doctor for pain in the arm or leg that follows the path of a single nerve. A nerve root block may be diagnostic (a test to determine the source of your pain) and/or therapeutic (to relieve your pain). If you get a period of sustained pain relief from the injection, the block may be repeated. Sometimes the block is done to help identify whether or not surgery might be helpful and at what level such surgery might be most helpful.