Journal of the Chinese Medical Association : JCMA
-
This study was undertaken to assess the radiologic outcome of spinal fusion, with bone chips from laminectomy in patients with lumbar spondylolisthesis. ⋯ Proper decortication of the posterolateral vertebral gutter with removal of all soft tissues attached to the bone chips prior to the placement of bone graft were noted to be the most significant factors for spinal fusion. Fusion rate with bone chips from laminectomy was shown to be comparable to that of the iliac crest bone graft.
-
The occurrence of solitary fibrous tumor in the orbit is rare. The following is a report on the case of a 24-year-old man presented with painless, progressive proptosis of the right eye for the duration of 1 year. ⋯ Postoperatively, the patient was symptom-free. From review of the literature on orbital solitary fibrous tumor, emphasis should be placed on complete tumor resection and continuous follow-up monitoring of the tumor.
-
The present era of a competitive healthcare environment indicates that providers have been convinced that attentiveness to patient satisfaction is integral to care quality and market share. Patient satisfaction is especially critical for frequent users of the emergency department (ED). The aim of this study was to compare satisfaction of overall ED care between frequent and infrequent ED users, and to find out the factors determining satisfaction among the frequent ED users. ⋯ The frequent ED users were unique, and their satisfaction with overall emergency care was significantly lower than that of infrequent ED users. Managing waiting time perceptions and providing discharge instructions may be an effective strategy to achieve improved patient satisfaction among frequent ED users.
-
Low back pain (LBP) is very common in the general population. Most patients with LBP will receive an X-ray examination on lumbar spine; however, the results are likely to show a negative finding or degenerative joint disease, which are not truly pathological factors. Among various imaging diagnostic tools for active bony lesions of lumbar spine, planar bone scintigraphy has a higher sensitivity, but its ability to locate anatomic lesions is less satisfactory. The purpose of this study was to investigate the role of SPECT for evaluation of LBP. ⋯ SPECT was more sensitive and located more lesions than planar bone scintigraphy, especially when the lesions were located at posterior element of vertebrae. Most of the lesions were distributed at the 4 th and 5 th lumbar vertebral segments. There was no significant statistical difference of abnormal SPECT related to X-ray finding. The use of SPECT was the first choice among all image modalities when cause of low back pain was assumed to arise from bone and joint disorder at clinical evaluation.
-
Review Case Reports
Severe hypophosphatemia in a patient with diabetic ketoacidosis and acute respiratory failure.
Although hypophosphatemia is a common complication during therapy of diabetic ketoacidosis, it is seldom severe and rarely causes clinical manifestations. We report a 39-year-old woman with diabetic ketoacidosis who developed acute respiratory failure after therapy. Although hyperglycemia and acidosis were corrected after treatment, respiratory distress and weakness still persisted. ⋯ The patient's clinical condition improved steadily over the next few days, and after 4 weeks of hospitalization, she was discharged home without obvious long-term sequelae. In a critically ill patient, the symptoms of hypophosphatemia are not apparent and may mimic the symptoms of other underlying disease. Although phosphate replacement is not recommended routinely in diabetic ketoacidosis, if the patient develops cardiopulmonary distress, anemia or severe hypophosphatemia, phosphate therapy under close surveillance is indicated.