Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to R W Thompson.
This communication reviews one institution's experience in developing a reliable and accurate radiation therapy record form. The design of a daily record is highly subjective. With the subjectivity of this process in mind, the purpose of this presentation is to describe the advantages of our form and to acquaint the reader with the literature useful in preparing a therapy record that fulfills their facility's requirements.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
A simple technique has been designed which identifies the gantry isocenter and aligns the laser beams to the isocenter of the gantry within 3-5 min with an error of less than 0.75 mm, depending upon the accuracy of gantry rotation.
A stereotactic radiosurgery technique is described which allows stereotactic radiation therapy to be easily fractionated on a daily or weekly basis. This permits adequate and safe radiation therapy to lesions larger than 2.5 cm, such as large arteriovenous malformations, and possibly safer radiation to smaller lesions near crucial intracranial structures. The technique utilizes external scalp landmarks and avoids the need for standard stereotactic head devices.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
Use of recently developed instrumentation for venous valvotomy allows rapid construction of a branched, nonreversed saphenous vein graft. This technique was applied in a patient with renovascular hypertension and branch renal artery occlusive disease.
"Births in Greene County, Alabama for the years 1980-1984 were examined and an overall seasonal trend was found with a peak from August through November. This trend was found to be most pronounced among women greater than 24 years old, and among multiparous women, and to be negatively correlated with seasonal variations in temperature and daylight. The phenomenon is likely multifactorial in origin, with sociocultural factors playing a considerable role. The influence of increasing maternal age and parity in the expression of the seasonal trend may be a function of age-related changes in families, with nuclear families acting as the most powerful potentiators of seasonality."
Improved instrumentation for venous valve extirpation has allowed rapid development of the in situ technique for femoral-tibial arterial reconstruction. Extension of this valvulotomy technique permits the expeditious construction of branched, nonreversed saphenous vein grafts for multiple vessel revascularization, and allows use of veins otherwise unsuitable in length for certain arterial bypass procedures. The nonreversed vein graft also appears to offer advantages over the reversed graft with regard to the size of the proximal and distal anastomoses when used as an aortorenal or iliorenal graft as well as in other anatomic locations. Over the past 30 months these techniques were used to implant 10 vein grafts at diverse sites in nine patients with initial success in all instances and one late graft failure.
A double-blind, placebo-controlled, multicenter trial of oral L-lysine monohydrochloride for the prevention and treatment of recurrent herpes simplex (HSV) infection was conducted. The treatment group was given L-Lysine monohydrochloride tablets (1,000 mg L-lysine per dose) 3 times a day for 6 months. A total of 27 (6 male and 21 female) subjects on L-lysine and 25 (6 male and 19 female) subjects on placebo completed the trial. The L-lysine treatment group had an average of 2.4 (p less than 0.05) less HSV infections, symptoms were significantly (p less than 0.05) diminished in severity and healing time was significantly reduced (p less than 0.05). L-Lysine appears to be an effective agent for reduction of occurrence, severity and healing time for recurrent HSV infection.
Disseminated intravascular coagulation (DIC) has been described as an occasional complication of abdominal aortic aneurysm. This is usually a perioperative coagulopathy, which may progress into a hemorrhagic diathesis. Rarely, DIC is present preoperatively as a result of the aneurysm itself. In the presence of additional pathophysiologic factors, a "compensated state" of secondary fibrinolysis may deteriorate into a clinically manifest coagulopathy. Heparin can be a useful adjunct in preoperative management of DIC, but definitive treatment requires surgical repair of the aneurysm. Long-term follow-up is essential to ensure that DIC is due to the aneurysm and that other disease processes are not overlooked. We report a case of DIC caused by an abdominal aortic aneurysm, with resolution after surgical treatment.
Developmental characteristics of three girls with 18p- syndrome are described, with detailed history and results of psychological and speech/language evaluations completed at various ages. Results suggest that some children with 18p- syndrome have average abilities in selected areas, despite previous reports that these children have mild to severe mental retardation. Two of the three girls had more severe deficits in linguistic, as opposed to nonlinguistic, abilities. All had similar difficulties with speech articulation. It is suggested that children with speech/language delays who have physical features associated with this syndrome have chromosome analysis performed. It is also recommended that children identified as having 18p- syndrome be referred for comprehensive developmental assessments and remedial special education programming before a specific prognosis is determined.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
A case is presented of postoperative bile peritonitis from an accessory cholecystohepatic bile ductule after cholecystectomy for acute cholecystitis. Accessory bile ductules (ducts of Luschka) are occasionally encountered in the gallbladder fossa but do not drain directly into the gallbladder fundus. Nevertheless, they may be injured during surgery and may go unrecognized. When recognized intraoperatively, ligation is acceptable; however, when they are actively leaking bile and are greater than 2 mm in diameter, repair of injured cholecystohepatic ducts may be indicated. This case serves to reemphasize one argument for the routine placement of drains after cholecystectomy for acute cholecystitis.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
A dose table that provides the dose as a function of fractions of peripheral volume for 125I implants is presented. The table is based on seed distributions from 50 actual patient implants. Computer dosimetry was used to determine peripheral doses and dose ranges within implant volumes. The effects of seed distribution were also examined. The patient data and a study of computer-generated randomized seed coordinates within a given volume suggest that matched doses do not depend strongly on the exact position of each seed. The table provides the means for planning an implant to obtain a desired peripheral dose that can be directly compared with the postimplant computer dose calculation.