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Biomedical subjects

R J Hall

Publications and source records attributed to R J Hall.

At least 235 records · Page 13Linked to original sources
PubMed1975

Runaway pacemaker in seven patients: a persisting problem.

Runaway pacemaker has been encountered in 7 patients during the past 7 years at the Texas Heart Institute. In this series, 4 patients with fixed-rate pacemakers experienced pacemaker arrhythmias because of battery depletion, and 3 had arrhythmias because of component failure. Battery deterioration was heralded by an increase in cardiac rate. Ventricular tachycardia, rapidly followed by ventricular fibrillation, occurred in 2 patients. Prompt surgical exteriorization of the failing pulse generator and connection to an external pacemaker resulted in prompt recovery in all patients. Elective generator change should be performed routinely after 24 to 30 months unless reliable serial observations of ventricular rates can be attained. This at least will reduce the lethal complications attributed to battery exhaustion. Increasing developments in the design of generators and sources of power, as well as data from pacemaker clinic follow-up and telephone pulse transmittal, are expected to decrease the frequency of this complication.

Adult↗
PubMed1974

Hyperphagia in intestinal disease.

Six patients with hyperphagia (ingestion of 5-11 000 Kcals/day) associated with severe malabsorption and steatorrhoea are described. The cause of the malabsorption was coeliac disease in three patients, Crohn's disease with ileal resection in two, and carcinoma of the pancreas in one patient. There was no evidence of neurological or endocrine disease (apart from mild diabetes mellitus in the patient with carcinoma of the pancreas) but three patients suffered from severe depression. This association may be commoner than previously realized and be revealed in patients with steatorrhoea of unexplained severity by careful dietary assessment. Its detection has therapeutic implications since restriction of caloric and fat intake decreased steatorrhoea without weight loss in several of the patients described.

Adult↗