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If you look at someone’s back, you’ll see that the spine runs straight down the middle. When a person has scoliosis, their backbone curves to the side. The angle of the curve may be small, large or somewhere in between. But anything that measures more than 10 degrees is considered scoliosis. Doctors may use the letters “C” and “S” to describe the curve of the backbone. You probably don’t look directly at too many spines, but what you might notice about someone with scoliosis is the way they stand. They may lean a little or have shoulders or hips that look uneven. What Causes Scoliosis? In as many as 80% of cases, doctors don’t find the exact reason for a curved spine. Scoliosis without a known cause is what doctors call “idiopathic.” Some kinds of scoliosis do have clear causes. Doctors divide those curves into two types -- structural and nonstructural. In nonstructural scoliosis, the spine works normally, but looks curved. Why does this happen? There are a number of reasons, such as one leg’s being longer than the other, muscle spasms, and inflammations like appendicitis. When these problems are treated, this type of scoliosis often goes away.
Medical providers divide the spinal cord into four distinct regions. Knowing the region in which the injury is located is often the key to understanding diagnosis and treatment. The four spinal cord regions are: The cervical spinal cord: This is the topmost portion of the spinal cord, where the brain connects to the spinal cord, and the neck connects to the back. This region consists of eight vertebrae, commonly referred to as C1-C8. All spinal cord numbers are descending, so C1 is the highest vertebra, while C8 is the lowest in this region. The thoracic spinal cord: This section forms the middle of the spinal cord, containing twelve vertebrae numbered T1-T12. The lumbar spinal cord: This is a lower region of the spinal cord, where your spinal cord begins to bend. If you put your hand in your lower back, where your back bends inward, you're feeling your lumbar region. There are five lumbar vertebrae, numbered L1-L5.
All forms of heparin (including low-molecular-weight heparin such as enoxaparin) must be stopped immediately in patients with suspected heparin-induced thrombocytopenia (HIT) while awaiting diagnostic confirmation. Patients with HIT remain at high risk of thrombosis even after discontinuation of heparin. Therefore, an alternate, rapidly acting, non-heparin anticoagulant such as direct thrombin inhibitor (eg, argatroban, bivalirudin) must be started immediately.
Repairing a myelomeningocele in utero, rather than after birth, reduces the risk for fetal or neonatal death and the need for shunting by age 1 and substantially improves neurologic and motor outcomes. However, it is not without maternal and fetal risks. These are the findings, in a nutshell, of the long-awaited Management of Myelomeningocele Study (MOMS), which were published online February 9 in The New England Journal of Medicine.
Pectus excavatum repair is surgery to correct pectus excavatum. This is a congenital (present at birth) deformity of the front of the chest wall that causes a sunken breastbone (sternum) and ribs. Pectus excavatum is also called funnel or sunken chest. It may worsen during the teen years.
Throughout your life, your skin will change constantly, for better or worse. In fact, your skin will regenerate itself approximately every 27 days. Proper skin care is essential to maintaining the health and vitality of this protective organ.