Search PubMed⌕ Search

Biomedical subjects

R Whittemore

Publications and source records attributed to R Whittemore.

26 records · Page 2Linked to original sources
PubMed1982

Pregnancy and its outcome in women with and without surgical treatment of congenital heart disease.

In the state of Connecticut, 233 women with congenital heart defects were prospectively followed up through 482 pregnancies that resulted in 372 infants who were examined frequently during their first 3 years of life. Approximately half of the women had undergone cardiac surgery and they were compared with the women without operation. There was no maternal mortality, and no patient had infective endocarditis, brain abscess or a cerebrovascular accident. The proportion of pregnancies resulting in live births did not differ significantly in mothers with and without cardiac surgery; the average live birth rate was 77 percent in all. However, the number and size of live-born infants was much greater in mothers who had become acyanotic as a result of reparative surgery than in the still cyanotic women, whether or not they had had palliative surgery. In cyanotic women, placental size was abnormally large in relation to birth weight, which was abnormally low. When the mothers were classified according to cardiac function, there was a significant difference between the number of infants born alive to mothers in good to excellent status and the number born to mothers in fair to poor condition. The latter had a significant increase in interrupted pregnancies as well as in cardiovascular complications during pregnancy. The total group had a 16.1 percent incidence rate of infants with congenital heart disease. This rate was corrected to 14.2 percent by removal of seven mothers, two with Noonan's syndrome, one with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy and four with a family history of congenital heart defects.

Abortion, Spontaneous↗
PubMed1980

Radionuclide assessment of right and left ventricular exercise reserve after total correction of tetralogy of Fallot.

First pass radionuclide angiocardiography under conditions of rest and exercise was utilized to evaluate a group of 16 postoperative patients who had undergone total surgical correction of tetralogy of Fallot. Functional data were related to thallium-201 myocardial imaging at rest, a noninvasive means of detecting right ventricular hypertrophy. All 16 patients were asymptomatic and 15 demonstrated normal right ventricular ejection fraction (equal to or greater than 45 percent) at rest. However, 13 patients manifested abnormal right ventricular ejection fraction responses to exercise (normal response is an absolute increment in an ejection fraction of 5 or greater percent). For the entire group, right ventricular ejection fraction at rest was 55 +/- 2 percent, whereas at exercise it was 52 +/- 2 percent (p = not significant). In contrast, left ventricular ejection fraction responses were normal in all patients. Thallium-201 imaging revealed substantial right ventricular uptake consistent with residual right ventricular hypertrophy, which was quantifiable in all patients. Thus, abnormalities in right ventricular performance during exercise may be detected readily by this radionuclide approach in these postoperative patients despite their asymptomatic clinical status and generally normal right ventricular performance at rest.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1975

Management of coarctation of the aorta during pregnancy.

In this report, we shall describe the instantaneous electronic monitoring of the fetal heart rate at 24 weeks' gestation. The mother was undergoing resection of coarctation of the aorta. Because the fetal heart rate reflects by physiological and pharmacologic events, monitoring this rate enabled the anesthesiologists and surgeons to make therapeutic intervention sooner and on a more rational basis.

Adult↗
PubMedDate not supplied

The content, integrity, and efficacy of a nurse coaching intervention in type 2 diabetes.

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to systematically evaluate the content, integrity, and efficacy of a nurse coaching intervention provided after diabetes education that focused on dietary and exercise lifestyle change in persons with type 2 diabetes. METHODS: A multimethod design incorporated an interpretive approach to examine the content and integrity of the intervention and a multiple-baseline, single-subject method to determine the preliminary efficacy of the intervention. RESULTS: The primary strategies of the nurse coaching intervention consisted of facilitating lifestyle change through educational reinforcement, psychosocial support, and motivational guidance. Aggregate quantitative outcomes revealed a modest increase in health-promoting behaviors and a decrease in fasting blood glucose, indicating a trend toward physiologic adaptation. Participants demonstrated a significant increase in integration reflective of psychosocial adaptation. CONCLUSIONS: Providing individualized nursing care after diabetes education may improve health outcomes and the quality of life of persons newly diagnosed with type 2 diabetes. This multimethod design is a cost-effective approach for preliminary evaluation of complex and/or novel interventions.

Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Interface pressure measurements of support surfaces with subjects in the supine and 45-degree Fowler positions.

In the past 20 years there has been a dramatic increase in different types of support surfaces to reduce the incidence of pressure ulcers. The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of static air overlays (Sof-Care and Tendercloud), replacement mattresses (Dermarest and Therarest), and a standard hospital mattress on tissue interface pressures in healthy subjects. A convenience sample of 25 subjects had tissue interface measurements obtained under the sacrum and heel bony prominences on the five support surfaces in the supine and 45-degree Fowler's positions. A repeated measures analysis of variance (p < 0.05) indicated that the Dermarest, Therarest, Sof-Care, and Tendercloud support surfaces reduced pressure significantly under the sacral bony prominence compared with the standard hospital mattress. Heel interface pressure measurements were significantly higher than sacral interface pressure measurements. There was no significant difference between supine and 45-degree Fowler's positions with respect to tissue interface pressures.

Adult↗