Praxis
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The diagnostic assessment of the low back pain patient is often unsatisfactory because a clear morphological alteration explaining the patient's symptoms can only be found in 10-20% of the cases. The majority of the patients is suffering from non-specific low back pain. ⋯ Furthermore, the aim of the diagnostic work-up is to diagnose and treat specific causes of back and leg pain (e.g. disc herniation and spinal stenosis) to avoid chronicity. In the majority of the cases, history and clinical examination alone allow to differentiate between specific and non-specific low back pain and may lead to a further diagnostic work-up by imaging studies.
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Paroxysmal supraventricular tachycardia (SVT) may have numerous electro-physiologic mechanisms. The most common type of SVT is AV-nodal reentry tachycardia (60%) followed by the bypass tract-mediated SVT (preexcitation. 30%) and a smaller group (10%) comprising paroxysmal atrial flutter or fibrillation and atrial ectopic tachycardia. In persons with otherwise normal hearts symptoms are usually mild and include palpitations or an uneasy feeling in the chest. ⋯ Further diagnostic procedures should prove or rule out a significant structural heart disease. Therapeutic options (expectative, pharmacological prophylaxis, invasive electrophysiologic testing and catheter-mediated modification or ablation) are chosen according to the objective threat (e.g. ventricular fibrillation due to 1:1 conducted atrial fibrillation in a preexcitation syndrome) and the subjective complaints. Definitive healing of the AV-nodal reentry tachycardia and the bypass tract-mediated SVT can be achieved by use of catheter-mediated modification or ablation in 95 to nearly 100%.
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In this article a particular patient/physician relationship is described and analyzed: The described interaction between patient and physician during a consultative investigation by several specialists differs markedly from the common trustful relation between a patient and his family doctor. In this context the term and phenomenon pain is discussed and the necessity for an understandable, patient-oriented presentation of diagnosis and hypotheses considering the patient's individual bio-psycho-social dimension is stressed. Consequences for student education are mentioned.