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Biomedical subjects

H N Hultgren

Publications and source records attributed to H N Hultgren.

At least 55 records · Page 3Linked to original sources
PubMed1979

Evaluation of therapeutic methods in high altitude pulmonary edema.

The effect of treatment with bed rest alone was evaluated in 16 patients with high altitude pulmonary edema of mild to moderate severity at an altitude of 3,750 meters in the central Peruvian Andes. The results were compared with those in 20 patients who received conventional therapy including the continuous administration of oxygen and bed rest. A system of grading the severity of high altitude pulmonary edema based on clinical symptoms and signs, radiologic findings and heart rate and respiratory rate was developed. The severity of pulmonary edema as evaluated with the grading system was similar in the two groups of patients. Treatment with bed rest alone resulted in complete recovery in all patients over a mean period of 60 hours. No treatment failure occurred. Similar results were obtained with oxygen therapy combined with bed rest, except that the relief of symptoms was more rapid, the decrease in heart rate and respiratory rate was greater and the recovery period was slightly shorter. High altitude pulmonary edema of mild to moderate severity can be treated successfully with bed rest alone without the administration of oxygen and without moving the patient to a lower altitude. Oxygen therapy is more effective and when available should be used in all cases of high altitude pulmonary edema.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1979

High altitude medical problems.

Increased travel to high altitude areas by mountaineers and nonclimbing tourists has emphasized the clinical problems associated with rapid ascent. Acute mountain sickness affects most sojourners at elevations above 10,000 feet. Symptoms are usually worse on the second or third day after arrival. Gradual ascent, spending one to three days at an intermediate altitude, and the use of acetazolamide (Diamox) will prevent or ameliorate symptoms in most instances. Serious and potentially fatal problems, such as high altitude pulmonary edema or cerebral edema, occur in approximately 0.5 percent to 1.0 percent of visitors to elevations above 10,000 feet-especially with heavy physical exertion on arrival, such as climbing or skiing. Early recognition, high flow oxygen therapy and prompt descent are crucially important in management. Our knowledge of the causes of these and other high altitude problems, such as retinal hemorrhage, systemic edema and pulmonary hypertension, is still incomplete. Even less is known of the effect of high altitudes on medical conditions common at sea level or on the action of commonly used drugs.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1978

High altitude pulmonary edema. Epidemiologic observations in Peru.

The incidence of high altitude pulmonary edema was examined by a survey (via questionnaire) of residents living at 3,750 meters (12,303 feet) in the mining community of La Oroya, Peru. Ninety-seven subjects made a total of 1,157 ascents to high altitude after a stay at sea level of longer than 14 days. Sixty-four subjects experienced at least one episode of high-altitude pulmonary edema. The incidence was higher in subjects aged 13 to 20 years, where 17 percent (15) of 90 ascents resulted in episodes of high-altitude pulmonary edema, than in subjects 21 years or older (3 percent; 18/686 ascents). Young subjects (2 to 12 years old) had more severe episodes of high-altitude pulmonary edema (81 percent; 30/37 episodes) than adults (22 percent; 4/18 episodes). No episodes were observed in children under two years old. Five subjects under 21 years of age experienced recurrent episodes. Our estimated incidence of severe episodes of high altitude pulmonary edema per ascent in adults (0.6 percent; 4/686) is similar to that reported by other workers (incidence of 0.15 to 0.57 percent) in various parts of the world.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1978

Survival of men treated for chronic stable angina pectoris. A cooperative randomized study.

During 1972 to 1974, 686 men aged 27 to 67 years, admitted to thirteen Veterans Administration Hospitals with stable angina, resting or exercise electrocardiographic abnormalities, "graftable" arteries, and abnormal left ventricular function (80 percent) were randomly assigned to surgery (332) or medical (354) treatment. There was no significant difference in clinical, angiographic, and ventriculographic characteristics. The over-all operative mortality rate (30 days) was 5.8 percent, 5 percent in the 95 percent who had saphenous vein aorta-coronary bypass alone. Eighty-nine percent of the 79 percent recatheterized at 1 year had at least one patent graft. Longevity for patients with one, two, and three vessel disease who were treated surgically was comparable to that previously described, but did not differ from that of the medically treated groups. Survival in the over-all surgical group was 86 percent at 4 years as compared to 83 percent in the medical group, which in these "operative candidates" is better than usually cited. This difference was eliminated when the 90 patients (13 percent) with left main disease, whose longevity was significantly improved (p = 0.005) by the operation, were excluded. Despite this exclusion, a slight trend in favor of surgery was still discernible in the largest subgroup, those having triple vessel disease with an abnormal left ventricle.

Adult↗
PubMed1977

Treatment of chronic stable angina. A preliminary report of survival data of the randomized Veterans Administration cooperative study.

We evaluated the effect of saphenous-vein-bypass grafting on survival in patients with chronic stable angina by comparing medical and surgical treatment in a large-scale, prospective randomized study. Excluding patients with left-main-coronary-artery disease who have already been reported, a total of 596 patients were entered into this study; when randomized into a medical group (310 patients) and a surgical group (286 patients), entry clinical and angiographic base lines were comparable. Operative mortality at 30 days was 5.6 per cent. At an average of one year after operation, 69 per cent of all grafts were patent, and 88 per cent of the surgical patients had atleast one patent graft. There was no statistically significant difference in survival, at a minimal follow-up interval of 21 months, between patients treated medically and those treated with saphenous-vein-bypass grafting. At 36 months, 87 per cent of the medical group and 88 per cent of the surgical group were alive.

Adult↗
PubMed1977

Unstable angina: comparison of medical and surgical management.

Medical versus surgical treatment of unstable angina was compared in a prospective nonrandomized study of 118 patients. Acute transient ST-T wave changes were present during chest pain in all patients. Acute infarction was excluded by serial electrocardiograms and enzyme studies. All patients admitted to the coronary care unit from 1970 to 1975 who fulfilled the entry criteria were included in the study. The starting point for data evaluation was 5 days after hospital admission. Characteristics at entry were similar in 66 medically treated patients and 52 patients who had coronary bypass vein graft surgery. During a mean follow-up period of 23 months in 66 medically treated patients with unstable angina the incidence rate of nonfatal myocardial infarction was 17% and the total mortality rate 21 percent compared with respective rates of 19% and 5.8% in 52 surgically treated patients. In the surgical group 8 patients (15%) had a perioperative infarction and only 2 (4%) had a late infarction; one patient (2%) died at operation. Symptomatic improvement was observed more frequently in the surgically treated group. Sixty percent of surgically treated patients were free of angina compared with 21% of medically treated patients. Eight medically treated patients (12%) required late surgical treatment for persistent severe angina despite optimal medical management.

Angina Pectoris↗
PubMed1977

Acute myocardial infarction and ischemic injury during surgery for coronary artery disease.

The incidence of myocardial infarction, acute ischemic injury, and associated serum enzyme abnormalities has been evaluated in four operations involving the coronary circulation. The highest incidence of infarction was associated with internal mammary implantation (Vineberg procedure). There was no significant difference in the incidence of infarction, ischemic injury, or abnormal enzyme levels between patients with stable angina and those with unstable angina who had vein bypass surgery. In operations involving combined vein bypass grafting and valve replacement surgery, the incidence of abnormal serum enzyme elevations was higher than in any other procedure. The incidence of infarction and acute ischemic injury in combined operations was similar to that in other procedures but this may have been due to the difficulty in the ECG diagnosis of infarction in this group of patients, most of whom had abnormal preoperative ECGs.

Acute Disease↗
PubMed1976

Effects of coronary artery bypass grafting on resting and exercise hemodynamics in patients with stable angina pectoris: a prospective, randomized study.

In this prospective randomized study, resting and exercise hemodynamics were determined in the nonmedicated state before ("entry") and 1 year after coronary bypass surgery in 38 patients, and at entry and 1 year in 40 patients treated medically. The surgical group showed a significant decrease in mean pulmonary arterial wedge pressure during exercise (entry 23.5 +/- 6.1 [standard error of the mean] mm Hg, 1 year 18.9 +/- 1.0, P less than 0.02); an increase in cardiac index during exercise (entry 4.3 +/- 0.1 liter/min per m2, 1 year 4.6 +/- 0.1, P less than 0.05); an increase in resting mean arterial pressure (entry 94.5 +/- 2.2 mm Hg, 1 year 100.2 +/- 2.2, P less than 0.02); and an increase in resting heart rate (entry 68.5 +/- 1.9 beats/min, 1 year: 76.0 +/- 2.0, P less than 0.01). Maximal treadmill exercise performance also improved significantly in the surgical group of patients (entry 285 +/- 24 seconds, 1 year 382 +/- 24, P less than 0.002). There were no significant changes in these variables in the medically treated "control" group. The improvement in pulmonary arterial wedge pressure during exercise and in maximal treadmill exercise time in the surgical group as a whole was due to striking improvement in these variables in a subgroup of 16 surgical patients who had a more than 10 mm Hg increase in pulmonary arterial wedge pressure during exercise in their entry study. In this subgoup, considered to contain those patients with marked "ischemicdysfunction," pulmonary arterial wedge pressure during exercise fell from 31.4 +/- 1.5 mm Hg (entry) to 19.l +/- 1.8 (1 year) (P less than 0.0001) and treadmill time increased from 217 +/- 24 seconds (entry) to 357 +/- 37 (1 year) (P less than 0.001). Thus, hemodynamic evidence of ischemic left ventricular dysfunction during stress may identify those patients who will show objective improvement in ventricular performance after bypass graft surgery.

Angina Pectoris↗