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Biomedical subjects

D H Knight

Publications and source records attributed to D H Knight.

28 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

Pancreatitis following intestinal bypass for obesity.

Three out of 24 patients undergoing intestinal bypass in the treatment of morbid obesity have developed acute pancreatitis in the postoperative period. All three had undergone end-to-end jejunoileal bypass. This serious postoperative complication has been infrequently recorded. Its significance and possible aetiological factors are discussed.

Acute Disease↗

Incessant atrial tachycardias in a dog with tricuspid dysplasia. Clinical management and electrophysiology.

In a dog, tricuspid regurgitation due to congenital tricuspid dysplasia resulted in extreme right heart enlargement and right heart failure. Incessant supraventricular tachycardias were present, requiring the intravenous administration of verapamil to reduce the ventricular rate. Oral therapy using a combination of verapamil and quinidine was partially effective in controlling the ventricular rate during the following week. At that time, electrophysiologic studies were performed. They revealed that a succession of several atrial tachycardias with different cycle lengths, including one episode of atrial flutter, was present. Atrial activity was spanning the majority of the cycle length in all these arrhythmias. Epicardial mapping was performed during the atrial flutter. This enabled the detection of a depolarization wave-front traveling counterclockwise from the dorsolateral right atrium toward the right appendage, following the tricuspid valve annulus. No areas of abnormal conduction were detected. Because programmed electric stimulation maneuvers could not be performed, definitive conclusions about the mechanism of the arrhythmia could not be drawn. The two most likely possibilities were circus movement using part of the dilated tricuspid valve annulus as an anatomic barrier or a leading circle type of re-entry.

Animals↗

Plasma taurine concentrations and M-mode echocardiographic measures in healthy cats and in cats with dilated cardiomyopathy.

M-mode echocardiography was completed and plasma taurine concentrations were determined in 79 healthy cats and 77 cats with dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM). In healthy cats, a relationship was not observed between plasma taurine concentrations and any M-mode echocardiographic measurement. End-systolic and end-diastolic cardiac chamber dimensions were larger; wall thickness measures were smaller; and calculations of fractional shortening were less in cats with DCM than in healthy cats. Plasma taurine concentrations less than 30 nmol/mL were detected in 7/79 healthy cats and in 52/77 cats with DCM. Of the 52 cats with DCM and an initial plasma taurine concentration less than 30 nmol/mL, 23 died or were euthanized during the first post-treatment week, 7 were lost to further study, and 22 improved after taurine supplementation. Of the 25 cats with DCM and an initial plasma taurine concentration greater than or equal to 30 nmol/mL, 9 died or were euthanatized during the first post-treatment week, and 9 were lost to further study. Two cats did not improve, of which one died and one was euthanatized 4 to 8 weeks after initiation of taurine supplementation. Five cats with a plasma taurine concentration greater than or equal to 30 nmol/mL improved after taurine supplementation. Myocardial function subsequently deteriorated in three of these cats. Two of the three cats had signs of congestive heart failure redevelop.

Animals↗