Revista médica de Chile
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Revista médica de Chile · Apr 1995
Review[Refractory epilepsy in adults and the new antiepileptic drugs: the role of gabapentin].
The features of refractory epilepsies and the role of functional surgery and new antiepileptic drugs is reviewed. Among the latter, gabapentin, a drug with peculiar pharmacokinetic properties, is highlighted as a therapeutic alternative in refractory epilepsies and eventually for epileptic patients without previous treatment. A new type of relationship between the pharmaceutical industry and physicians, that privileges clinical research, is discussed.
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Revista médica de Chile · Nov 1994
Historical Article[Chilean medicine during the 1891 revolution].
José Manuel Balmaceda was president of Chile between 1886 and 1891. Confronted with an institutional conflict, he was deposed by the Republic's parliament in January, 1891. Some distinguished physicians were members of that parliament; Dr Alfonso Valderrama, senator, chronicler of Revista Médica de Chile's first issues and General Secretary of the University of Chile; Dr José Joaquín Aguirre, deputy. ⋯ President Balmaceda decreed the intervention of the Medical School in February 1891, named Dr Arce as intervenor and designed professors attached to his government. He also dismissed several physicians. Overwhelmed by the political conflict, Balmaceda took refuge in the Argentinian embasy and committed suicide in September, 1891.
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Revista médica de Chile · Sep 1994
Review Case Reports[Dissection of vertebral artery: report of a case and review of the literature].
Vertebral artery dissection seems to be a frequent cause of stroke in young adults. We report a 34 years old female that suffered a cardiac arrest while practicing aerobics, with complete recovery and four months later developed an acute Wallenberg's syndrome. Magnetic resonance imaging showed an infarction in the right posterolateral medulla oblongata and in the right cerebellar hemisphere. ⋯ A follow up angiography, performed six months later, showed an incomplete recanalization of the vessel. Vertebral artery dissection should be suspected in every patient with ischemic symptoms or signs related to the vertebrobasilar territory, specially in young or middle aged patients with a history of trauma. Magnetic resonance imaging and ultrasound-doppler examinations are the diagnostic test of choice.
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A disaster is defined as a unseasonable event that provoke such an amount of victims that the health care capacity of the community is exceeded. The aim of this paper is to review the health attention during an emergency period, whose pre-hospital and hospital services are inherent to critical care medicine. The reduction in victim's morbidity and mortality depends on the opportuneness and efficacy of pre-hospital care. ⋯ At the hospitals an emergency team must elaborate, publish and periodically review emergency care plans and eventually coordinate actions with other community organizations. The diverse phases of the plan must be specified, including preparatives, alerting of involved services, victim care, and reestablishment of normal duties when the emergency situation ceases. As complement, the hospital must have security and evacuation plans to face own emergency situations such as fires, explosions and inundations.
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Revista médica de Chile · Aug 1994
Historical Article[School of public health: 50 years serving medical education and health].
This is the speech pronounced by the Dean of the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Chile, during the academic act that celebrated the fiftieth anniversary of the Chilean Public Health School endowment. The School could have been an independent entity, but its founders decided to ascribe it to the Faculty of Medicine. In this way, the doctrine of hygiene, social and preventive medicine could be preached in a better way to professors and students. ⋯ At the present time, medical education and public health are faced to new realities, consequent to economical, political and social changes. The educational program at the Faculty of Medicine are changing to adapt them to these changes. The Public Health School will have to contribute with new ideas to improve health care of our population that aspires to a efficacious, equitable, humane and economically feasible health system.