Therapeutic advances in respiratory disease
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Ther Adv Respir Dis · Dec 2009
ReviewSpontaneous pneumomediastinum: an algorithm for diagnosis and management.
Spontaneous pneumomediastinum (SPM) is a rare disorder most often affecting young males which is generally self-limiting. Despite the benign prognosis with few complications and little morbidity, it frequently confuses clinicians in primary settings, who may have difficulty differentiating SPM from other serious organ ruptures, especially oesophageal rupture (the so-called Boerhaave syndrome), which may lead to mediastinitis and may be fatal, even with appropriate interventions. An overview of adult SPM is provided, reviewing 17 studies (414 patients), including our clinical experience, and finally an algorithm for diagnosis and management of SPM is proposed, based on the characteristics of SPM.
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Ther Adv Respir Dis · Dec 2009
Historical ArticleThe traditional diagnosis and treatment of respiratory diseases: a description from Avicenna's Canon of Medicine.
This article presents selected text on respiratory medicine from the famous book of medicine, Al-Qanun fi al-Tibb (the Canon of Medicine) by Avicenna (981-1037 AD), which was taught for 600 years as a standard text of medicine across medieval Europe. The authentic manuscript of the Canon of Medicine is located in the Central Library of the Tehran University of Medical Sciences, and the section on respiratory diseases was studied for the most relevant information - information that would be informative and interesting for present day physicians and pulmonologists. The results of the analysis are presented in the article. ⋯ In the time of Avicenna, the presentation of respiratory diseases, their treatment and their prognosis was much different than in modern times. There was more reliance on history, physical examination (which was mostly based on visual observation), individual variation, environmental factors, diet, and so on, for diagnosis and treatment. Nevertheless, going through a popular historic text such as the Canon of Medicine adds to our knowledge of the developments in the area of respiratory medicine at the time of Avicenna.