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Biomedical subjects

J E Edwards

Publications and source records attributed to J E Edwards.

At least 271 records · Page 15Linked to original sources
PubMed1979

Irradiation-induced pericarditis.

Three patients with pericarditis following therapeutic irradiation for malignant tumors were studied at autopsy. In one subject, death occurred five days after the last dose of radiation. The pericardial involvement was characterized by fibrinous exudation. This was more marked in degree over the right side of the heart than the left and corresponded with the field of irradiation. In the remaining two patients, two and four courses of radiation had been applied, the interval between the last dose and death being seven weeks in one patiet and 1 1/2 years in the other. The lesions were those of organizing pericarditis.

Adult↗
PubMed1978

Sudden death in patients with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy: characterization of 26 patients with functional limitation.

Sudden death is a recognized complication in symptomatic patients with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. However, its occurrence in patients with no or transient previous cardiac symptoms presents a particularly challenging diagnostic and therapeutic dilemma. Therefore, 26 patients with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy whose death was the first definitive manifestation of cardiac disease were evaluated. Their ages ranged from 8 to 49 years (mean 18) and 23 were less than 25 years of age; 19 were male and 7 female. Of the 26 patients, 13 died during or immediately after moderate or severe physical exertion. Of 12 patients with previous cardiac catheterization, 6 had no or a small left ventricular outflow tract gradient under basal conditions and 6 had an outflow gradient of 50 mm Hg or greater. Left ventricular end-diastolic pressure was elevated in nine patients, and the ventricular septum was moderately to severely thickened (17 mm or more) in all patients. The electrocardiogram was abnormal in all 19 patients studied before death. Thus, sudden death may be the first definitive manifestation of cardiac disease in some patients with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. Although the effects of patient selection in this study group cannot be excluded, sudden death was common in children and young adults and was often related to physical exertion; each patient showed a distinctly abnormal electrocardiogram and moderate to severe ventricular septal thickening.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1978

Hypertensive pulmonary vascular disease in alpha-transposition of the great arteries.

In subjects with classic complete transposition (d-transposition) of the great arteries, the pulmonary arterial plexiform lesion, characteristic of chronic high levels of pulmonary arterial pressure, was observed in those with an intact ventricular septum as well as in those with a ventricular septal defect. The lesion was not observed before age 12 months. Among 16 patients aged 12 to 30 months, the plexiform lesion was observed in 6 of 12 patients (50 percent) with an intact ventricular septum and a closed ductus arteriosus and in 1 of 4 patinets with an associated ventricular septal defect. The basis of the plexiform lesion, which is considered a sign of chronic severe pulmonary hypertension, occurring in subjects with an intact ventricular septum and a closed ductus arteriosus is not explained. The phenomenon observed in this study confirms the earlier observations of others.

Arteritis↗
PubMed1978

Correlation of electrocardiographic and pathologic findings in healed myocardial infarction.

A correlative study in 50 cases of healed myocardial infarction compared the 12 lead electrocardiogram with pathologic observations. The electrocardiogram was interpreted according to established Minnesota codes with some modifications. The following conclusions were reached: (1) The electrocardiogram underestimates the extent of myocardial infarction. (2) When a healed myocardial infarct at a specific location is recognized with electrocardiographic criteria, it is likely that there are unrecognized infarcts involving other areas of the left ventricle. (3) Infarctions involving the lateral and inferobasal areas are frequently unrecognized. (4) The electrocardiogram is more likely to miss myocardial infarcts in patients with multiple, than in those with single, electrocardiographically diagnosed infarcts. (5) Apical myocardial infarction does not appear to have specific electrocardiographic findings, other than those related to general infarct localization by electrocardiogram, particularly in patients with anteroseptal or anterolateral infarction. (6) Abnormal Q waves, generally thought to indicate transmural myocardial infarction, are frequently found in subendocardial infarction. (7) The simplified electrocardiographic classification of myocardial infarct site (anteroseptal, inferior, anterolateral) used in this study is preferable to more detailed classifications previously suggested by others.

Adult↗
PubMed1978

Association of infection due to Candida albicans with intravenous hyperalimentation.

Systemic candidiasis is frequently unrecognized before death of the patient because of lack of specific clinical signs, insensitive laboratory tests, and difficulties in culturing Candida albicans from the blood. Recent attention has been focused on the use of serologic testing and ocular signs to increase the rate of diagnosis of candidiasis. Because of the association between hyperalimentation fluids and disseminated candidiasis, a preliminary prospective study was carried out to determine more accurately the incidence in patients receiving hyperalimentation fluids of inapparent candida infection, candida endophthalmitis, or positive candida precipitins. Five of 23 patients developed small, white eye lesions consistent with candida endophthalmitis. Three of the five patients with eye lesions had blood cultures positive for C. albicans, and no patients without eye lesions had positive blood cultures. Candida precipitins were positive in three of the five patients with eye lesions. The results of this study suggest that unrecognized systemic candida infection may be more frequent in patients receiving hyperalimentation than previously suspected.

Adult↗
PubMed1978

Active valvulitis associated with chronic rheumatic valvular disease and active myocarditis.

From ten patients aged 15 to 40 years with chronic rheumatic valvular disease and histologically proved Aschoff bodies of active rheumatic myocarditis, the valves were evaluated for incidence, distribution and degree of severity of active inflammation. Prior to death, there had been clinical evidence of active rheumatic fever. In each case, active rheumatic valvulitis was present in at least one valve. Of the individual valves studied, 83% were involved by active inflammation of the leaflets or the anulus or both. The aortic valves was involved in 100% of cases, the mitral valve in 86%, the tricuspid valve in 78% and the pulmonary valve in 70%. The mitral and aortic valves were most frequently involved, but the mitral and tricuspid valves were most severely involved when affected. In every case, active rheumatic lesions of the left atrial appendage were present, but these tended to be less widely distributed than the myocardial Aschoff bodies. The high incidence of active valvulitis supports the concept that chronic fibrosing rheumatic valvular disease results from recurrent active inflammation. Such inflammation may occur without clinical suspicion of active rheumatic fever.

Adult↗
PubMed1978

Prevalence and characteristics of disproportionate ventricular septal thickening in patients with coronary artery disease.

Echocardiographic or necropsy studies were performed in 151 patients with coronary artery disease. Prevalence of disproportionate septal thickening (septal to free wall ratio greater than or equal to 1.3) was 11%. An abnormally increased septal-free wall ratio in these patients had two principal etiologies. First, it was a manifestation of genetically transmitted hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, as evidenced by disproportionate septal thickening in first degree relatives. Second, it was due to disproportionate septal thickening which did not appear to be a manifestation of genetically transmitted hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. This latter conclusion was suggested by negative echocardiographic studies in some families of patients with both coronary artery disease and disproportionate septal thickening. In addition, numerous disorganized cardiac muscle cells, characteristically present in patients with genetically transmitted hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, were absent from the septum of all patients with disproportionate septal thickening studied at necropsy. Although the mechanism responsible for this secondary type of disproportionate septal thickening is unknown, our results indicate that the presence of disproportionate septal thickening in a patient with coronary artery disease does not, per se, indicate the coexistence of genetically transmitted hypertrophic cardiomyopathy.

Coronary Disease↗
PubMed1978

Dissecting aortic aneurysm associated with congenital bicuspid aortic valve.

Among 119 cases of fatal dissecting aneurysm of the aorta, exclusive of those iatrogenically caused or associated with arachnodactyly or aortic stenosis, there were observed 11 cases of congenital bicuspid aortic valve (9%). The ages ranged from 17 to 69 years, five of the patients being 29 years old or younger. Among the latter, three had coarctation of the aorta and one had Turner's syndrome without coarctation. In one of the older patients, aortic insufficiency was present. Hypertension was either established or inferred from cardiac weight in 73% of the cases. In each case, cystic medial necrosis of the aorta was present. Prolapse of valves other than the aortic was observed in 45% of the cases with bicuspid aortic valve. Compared to an estimated incidence of bicuspid aortic valve of about 1 to 2% in the population, the high incidence among subjects with dissecting aneurysm suggests a causative relationship between bicuspid aortic valve and aortic dissecting aneurysm.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1978

Disproportionate ventricular thickening in patients with systemic hypertension.

To determine the prevalence and characteristics of disproportionate ventricular septal thickening (septal-free wall ratio of greater than or equal to 1.3) in a population of patients with severe chronic hypertension, which was unassociated with coronary arterial disease, 33 patients were studied at necropsy. The overall prevalence of disproportionate septal thickening was relatively low, ie, two (6 percent) of the 33 patients. The septal-free wall ratio in both of these patients was 1.3. Disproportionate septal thickening appeared to be secondary to the left ventricular pressure overload, rather than to coexistent genetically transmitted hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. This conclusion was based on the following facts: (1) numerous disorganized cardiac muscle cells, characteristic of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, were not present in the ventricular septum of either patient with disproportionate septal thickening; and (2) echocardiographic studies performed in first-degree relatives of one of the two patients did not disclose disproportionate septal thickening. Hence, disproportionate septal thickening may occur as a secondary manifestation of left ventricular pressure overload that is present in patients with systemic hypertension, but this association appears to be relatively uncommon.

Adult↗
PubMed1978

Severe candidal infections: clinical perspective, immune defense mechanisms, and current concepts of therapy.

Disseminated candidiasis has become an important infection, particularly in immunocompromised and postoperative patients. Although serologic tests may, in some settings, facilitate a premortem diagnosis, the disease is usually diagnosed by comprehensive clinical evaluation. Detection of the relatively newly recognized peripheral manifestations of candidemia may be vital to early diagnosis: endophthalmitis, osteomyelitis, arthritis, myocarditis, meningitis, and macronodular skin lesions. Studies in patients with chronic mucocutaneous candidiasis and in-vitro manipulations have begun to elucidate normal immune defense mechanisms against Candida, including serum factors, phagocytosis, intracellular killing mechanisms, and lymphocyte function (particularly T cell). The primary drugs for the treatment of disseminated candidiasis are still amphotericin B or amphotericin B plus 5-fluorocytosine; the mainstay of therapy for chronic mucocutaneous candidiasis is amphotericin B. Other antifungals and immune system-stimulating modalities (transfer factor, thymosin, thymus epithelial cell transplantation, and levamisol) may be useful for chronic mucocutaneous candidiasis in some settings and deserve further evaluation.

Amphotericin B↗
PubMed1978

Pathology of the sinus node in d-transposition following the Mustard operation.

In a pathological study of 32 necropsy specimens from patients with d-transposition who had undergone the Mustard operation, lesions were commonly present in the sinus nodal artery, the sinus node, and the paranodal tissues. These had resulted from surgical injury during placement of the atrial baffle and/or closure of the atriotomy incision. Our findings confirm the pathological findings of others. The pathological observations correlate well with reported electrophysiological studies that show frequent occurrence of postoperative supraventricular arrhythmias due to sinus nodal dysfunction. Twenty-six of the patients died in the early postoperative period, and the sinus nodal artery had been compressed by sutures in 46 percent of these cases. The sinus node either showed acute necrosis or compression by sutures in 77 percent of cases, and the paranodal areas were involved by acute hemorrhage and/or necrosis in 100 percent of cases. Six patients died in the late postoperative period. The sinus nodal artery was replaced by fibrous tissue in three and was compressed or thrombosed in two additional instances. The sinus node was extensively fibrosed in each of the six cases. In every instance, the paranodal areas were involved by fibrosis and disruption by sutures.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1978

Double-outlet right ventricle. Anatomic and angiocardiographic correlations.

A series of 72 patients with proved double-outlet right ventricle was studied with reference to the ability of angiocardiography to determine the location of a ventricular septal defect when it was associated with various great-artery relationships. Only 2 of the 72 patients had an intact ventricular septum. The other 70 patients had 16 possible anatomic variations based on four positions of the ventricular septal defect (subaortic, subpulmonary, subaortic and subpulmonary, and remote type) and four great-artery relationships (normal, side by side, dextromalposition, and levomalposition). Using the hemodynamic information regarding systemic and pulmonary arterial saturations, combined with biplane angiocardiographic data from the right ventricle (and if possible with left ventriculography), one can predict the location of ventricular septal defect. Because the different types of double-outlet right ventricle have different surgical approaches, this information can be important to the surgeon.

Angiocardiography↗