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Endometriosis (en-doe-me-tree-O-sis) is an often painful disorder in which tissue that normally lines the inside of your uterus — the endometrium — grows outside your uterus. Endometriosis most commonly involves your ovaries, fallopian tubes and the tissue lining your pelvis. Rarely, endometrial tissue may spread beyond pelvic organs. With endometriosis, displaced endometrial tissue continues to act as it normally would — it thickens, breaks down and bleeds with each menstrual cycle. Because this displaced tissue has no way to exit your body, it becomes trapped. When endometriosis involves the ovaries, cysts called endometriomas may form. Surrounding tissue can become irritated, eventually developing scar tissue and adhesions — abnormal bands of fibrous tissue that can cause pelvic tissues and organs to stick to each other.
An MRCP scan is a scan that uses magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to produce pictures of the liver, bile ducts, gallbladder and pancreas. Note: the information below is a general guide only. The arrangements,and the way tests are performed, may vary between different hospitals.
An egg cannot be fertilized when there are no sperm in the semen. The testicles continue to produce sperm, but the sperm are reabsorbed by the body. (This also happens to sperm that are not ejaculated after a while, regardless of whether you have had a vasectomy.) Sperm are made in the testicles. They pass through two tubes called the vasa deferentia to other glands and mix with seminal fluids to form semen. Vasectomy blocks each vas deferens and keeps sperm out of the seminal fluid. The sperm are absorbed by the body instead of being ejaculated.
A tapeworm is a ribbon-shaped parasite that lives in human or animal intestines. They are uncommon in developed countries. There are a number of different types which all have slightly different life cycles. Tapeworm infection can come from animals such as pigs, sheep, cattle, fish, dogs and cats. Eating undercooked food contaminated with tapeworm cysts and eggs causes the infection. Tapeworm eggs are shed in stools and it is possible for infection to spread from person to person through the oral/anal route.
Expand Section. Pulmonary edema is often caused by congestive heart failure. When the heart is not able to pump efficiently, blood can back up into the veins that take blood through the lungs. As the pressure in these blood vessels increases, fluid is pushed into the air spaces (alveoli) in the lungs.
minimally invasive procedure is the new gold standard for hemorrhoidectomy, according to American and European experts in the field. The procedure, known as PPH (procedure for prolapse and hemorrhoids) stapled hemorrhoidectomy, combines hemorrhoidal devascularization and repositioning to return the veins to the anal canal. “This year, this is the revolutionary new procedure in the United States,” Gary Hoffman, MD, clinical faculty member in general and colorectal surgery, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, told General Surgery News after moderating a live PPH telesurgery at the 2003 annual meeting of the Society of American Gastrointestinal Endoscopic Surgeons.
Barrett's esophagus is a complication of chronic (long lasting) and usually severe gastrointestinal reflux disease (GERD), but occurs in only a small percentage of patients with GERD. Criteria are needed for screening patients with GERD for Barrett's esophagus. Until validated criteria are available, it seems reasonable to do screening endoscopies in GERD patients who cannot be taken off acid suppression therapy after two to three years. The diagnosis of Barrett's esophagus rests upon seeing (at endoscopy) a pink esophageal lining that extends a short distance (usually less than 2.5 inches) up the esophagus from the gastroesophageal junction and finding intestinal type cells (goblet cells) on biopsy of the lining. There is a small but definite increased risk of cancer of the esophagus (adenocarcinoma) in patients with Barrett's esophagus.
By 5 weeks' gestational age, the wolffian (ie, mesonephric) and the müllerian (ie, paramesonephric) ducts have formed from intermediate mesoderm. In the absence of testosterone and müllerian inhibitory substance, the mesonephric ducts regress and the paramesonephric ducts continue to form the female reproductive structures with fusion of the distal portions of the paramesonephric ducts to give rise to the uterine fundus, the cervix, and the upper vagina. These developmental changes are genetically controlled in large part by a series of complex transcriptional signaling pathways including Wnt signaling, Hox genes, and many others. In a female fetus, the wolffian duct disappears except for nonfunctional vestiges. The müllerian duct is lined by a columnar epithelium. This includes the entire cervix and upper vagina to the vaginal plate (ie, sinovaginal bulb). Through a process of squamous metaplasia, the vagina and a variable portion of the ectocervix become covered with squamous epithelium. This process is complete by the fifth month of pregnancy.