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Biomedical subjects

J H Adams

Publications and source records attributed to J H Adams.

At least 163 records · Page 9Linked to original sources

Fatal brain damage associated with cardiomyopathy of pregnancy, with notes on Caesarean section in a hyperbaric chamber.

Three weeks after admission to a maternity hospital for observation following minor antepartum haemorrhage, a primiparous patient aged 22 suffered a sudden left hemiplegia and became comatose. Congestive cardiac failure ensued and because of the subsequent severe hypoxaemia she was transferred to the hyperbaric oxygen unit at the Western Infirmary, Glasgow, where it was found possible to improve her condition by means of oxygen at increased pressure. A caesarean section was w successfully performed in the hyperbaric chamber, and a normal live female infant was delivered. Though the patient's general condition improved she never regained consciousness and died almost three months later. Necropsy confirmed the clinical diagnosis of cardiomyopathy of pregnancy with severe ischaemic changes in the brain.

Adult↗

Importance of cardiomyopathy and cerebral ischaemia in the diagnosis of fatal coma in pregnancy.

A case of cardiomyopathy of pregnancy where death was due to profound cerebral ischaemia is reported. Two other similar cases are mentioned. Awareness of this syndrome may help the pathologist to establish the cause of coma and death in pregnancy when clinical studies have failed to indicate the cause. It is suggested that electrocardiography should be carried out in all cases of apparent cerebrovascular accidents that occur during pregnancy or the puerperium as there may be an underlying cardiomyopathy. The nature and the possible aetiology of cardiomyopathy of pregnancy are briefly discussed.

Adult↗

Neuropathology of the vegetative state after head injury.

A detailed neuropathological study of patients identified clinically after head injury as either severely disabled (SD, n = 30) or vegetative (VS, n = 35) has been carried out to determine the nature and frequency of the various pathologies that form the basis of these clinical states. Patients who were SD were older (SD median 49.5 yrs vs. VS median 38 yrs, p = .04), more likely to have a lucid interval (SD 31% vs. VS 9%, p = .03), and to have had an acute intracranial haematoma (SD 70% vs. VS 26%, p < .001). SD patients less often had severe, Grades (2 or 3) of traumatic diffuse axonal injury (SD 30% vs. VS 71%, p = .001) and less often had thalamic damage (SD 37% vs. VS 80%, p < .001). Similar features of both focal and diffuse damage were present in some SD and VS cases with both groups having considerable damage to white matter and to the thalamus. It is concluded that the principal structural basis of both SD and VS is diffuse traumatic axonal injury (DAI) with widespread damage to white matter and changes in the thalami. However, both ischaemic brain damage and the vascular complications of raised intracranial pressure contributed to the clinical signs and symptoms.

Adolescent↗

The contusion index: a reappraisal in human and experimental non-missile head injury.

A previously described method of quantifying cerebral contusions in man (the contusion index) caused by non-missile head injury has been modified and applied to a larger series of cases, and used to assess contusions in experimental head injuries. The initial findings in man have been confirmed, viz. that contusions are most severe in the frontal and temporal lobes; that contusions may be entirely absent in a patient dying as a result of a head injury; that there is no correlation between the severity of contusions and the nature of the injury; that the concept of contrecoup must continue to be questioned; that contusions are more severe in patients who have a fracture of the skull in comparison to those who do not; that contusions are more severe in patients who do not experience a lucid interval than in those who do; and that contusions are less severe in patients with diffuse axonal injury than in those who do not have diffuse axonal injury. The distribution of contusions in subhuman primates is similar to that seen in man, and they occur more frequently with short duration than with long duration acceleration.

Adolescent↗