The twin-reversed arterial perfusion (TRAP) sequence is a rare complication of twin pregnancies. The anatomically normal twin is termed the pump twin; the recipient twin is malformed and is known as acardiac twin. It functions as a parasite to the pump twin and receives retrograde blood flow of poorly oxygenated blood from the pump twin via the abdominal aorta, resulting in a wide spectrum of m...

Intrathecal baclofen abolishes spasticity in many patients with neurological diseases but there are few studies on its long-term effectiveness. Since 1986 a manually operated subcutaneous pump has been used to deliver baclofen intrathecally in 21 patients with a follow up of at least one year. Most patients had multiple sclerosis and all were wheelchair-bound. Sixteen patients had a complete an...

Forty-three patients with severe pump failure complicating acute myocardial infarction were treated with vasodilators (nitroprusside (40) and phentolamine (3)) for four hours to 27 days. Cardiac index, stroke volume index, and stroke work index (SWI) increased while the left ventricular filling pressure (LVFP) decreased during vasodilator therapy. Twenty-four of the 43 patients (56%) survived. ...

Roller pumps are widely used for cardiopulmonary bypass in developing nations by virtue of proven safety during several years of institutional use and cost effectiveness. However, careful adjustment of roller occlusion is needed because they are known to cause spallation, tubing wear, and the occasional incident of rupture of tubing in the extracorporeal circuit. Rupture of polyvinylchloride tu...

BACKGROUND Takotsubo cardiomyopathy (TC) is an acute cardiac syndrome characterized by transient left ventricular dysfunction and relatively good prognosis after discharge. However, cardiac complications during hospitalization remain to be fully determined. We attempted to determine features characterizing patients with adverse clinical outcome by comparing those with cardiac complication and w...

OBJECTIVE To evaluate the efficacy of treatment for gastro-oesophageal reflux disease (GORD) on chronic cough in children and adults without an underlying respiratory disease. DESIGN Systematic review and meta-analysis. DATA SOURCES Cochrane, Medline, and Embase databases, references from review articles. INCLUDED STUDIES Randomised controlled trials on GORD treatment for cough in childre...

The cause of the abnormal active cation transport in erythrocytes of some uremic patients is unknown. In isolated adipocytes and skeletal muscle from chronically uremic chronic renal failure rats, basal sodium pump activity was decreased by 36 and 30%, and intracellular sodium was increased by 90 and 50%, respectively, compared with pair-fed control rats; insulin-stimulated sodium pump activity...

Acardiac-acephalic twin is one of the bizarre complications of monozygotic, monochorionic twin pregnancies. It is commonly referred to as Twin Reversed Arterial Perfusion (TRAP) sequence, in which the primary malformation is the lack of a well -defined cardiac structure in one twin (acardiac), which is kept alive by its structurally normal co-twin (pump twin) through abnormal placental vascular...