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Biomedical subjects

M Erkinjuntti

Publications and source records attributed to M Erkinjuntti.

26 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

Heart rate response related to body movements in healthy and neurologically damaged infants during sleep.

Sixteen infants were studied with the static charge sensitive bed (SCSB) method. This method is newly developed for neonatal recordings and it allows recording of body movements, respiration and of the ballistocardiographic signal. Eight healthy newborn infants and eight infants with clear neurological dysfunction were recorded and the heart rate acceleration-deceleration responses to body movements during sleep were studied. Healthy infants had a constant heart rate response to body movements but infants with neurological symptoms had either too weak or hyperactive reactions. This finding can be explained by abnormal function of the autonomic nervous system in infants with disturbance of the central nervous system.

Cerebral Hemorrhage↗

Use of the SCSB method for monitoring of respiration, body movements and ballistocardiogram in infants.

A new method for long-term monitoring of respiration, the ballistocardiogram (BCG), heart rate and body movements in newborn infants and children is presented. The design of the static charge-sensitive bed (SCSB) method for the monitoring of newborn infants and children is described. The method is simple and inexpensive. No electrodes or cables need to be connected to the subject. The SCSB method allows continuous long-term monitoring of body movements, respiratory movement, the BCG and heart rate. The results of about 40 neonatal recordings made in our clinic with the SCSB method demonstrate that recording body movements and respiration is possible in ordinary hospital wards. The infra-acoustic noise due to air-conditioning which is usually present in ordinary wards disturbs the BCG recordings in neonates. To obtain adequate BCG recordings this noise must be eliminated from recording rooms. Low-frequency noise is low enough to allow good BCG recordings in private dwellings. The SCSB method opens up new approaches to long-term studies of the regulation of respiration, body movements and the ballistocardiogram in newborn infants and children. Possible clinical applications of the SCSB method are discussed.

Ballistocardiography↗

Foreign body in the airways of children.

During the years 1969-1981 57 children with inhaled foreign bodies in the tracheobronchial tree were treated at Turku University Hospital. Of the patients 91% had a history of foreign body inhalation and 25% had a radiopaque foreign body which was seen in the X-ray of the chest. In 9% of 57 patients a foreign body was found unexpectedly at bronchoscopy. The foreign body was removed by bronchoscopy from all the patients but one, who required a segmentectomy due to a fragment of a spike in the lung parenchyma. The patients presented no major complications, and they were all discharged from the hospital in good condition.

Adolescent↗

Anastomotic leakage in oesophageal atresia. Diagnostic and therapeutic considerations.

Oesophageal anastomotic leakage complicates 5-38% of operations performed for congenital atresia, and continues with prematurity and concomitant anomalies to be a cause of a fatal outcome. After a short review of the diagnostic and therapeutic possibilities of this complication the authors present their own series of 37 consecutive oesophageal atresia and/or oesophagotracheal fistula. Seven of these had anastomotic leakage within 2 to 8 days after operation. Three of them had been primarily operated on through a retropleural approach. The remaining four had had a transpleural approach and were all treated with an immediate rethoracotomy and resuture of the disruption with good primary results. A few cases reported earlier and the authors' present experience support the view that rethoracotomy and resuture of the disruption in transpleurally operated patients provides a method which allows early debridement of the pleural cavity and pulmonary reexpansion, accelerates secondary anastomotic healing and shortens the period needed for pleural drainage and intravenous nutrition.

Esophageal Atresia↗