Ramanisblog

Tag: causes

  • Heart Diseases XI-Heart attack

    A heart attack occurs when blood flow to part of the heart is blocked, often by a blood clot, causing damage to the affected muscle.
    This is usually caused by atherosclerosis – hardening of the artery walls. The clot, often caused by rupturing or tearing of plaque in an artery is sometimes called a coronary thrombosis or a coronary occlusion.
    If blood supply is cut off for a long time, muscle cells are irreversibly damaged and die, leading to disability or death depending on the extent of the damage to the muscle.
    A heart attack, also known as myocardial infarction, can also occur when a coronary artery temporarily contracts or goes into spasm, decreasing or cutting the flow of blood to the heart.
    An unexpected and abrupt heart attack occuring soon after the onset of symptoms can result in sudden death.
    It accounts for about half of all coronary heart disease deaths and can be caused by nearly all types of heart disease.
    Three main symptoms of a heart attack:
    1. Pressure or pain in the centre of the chest, lasting more than a few minutes or going away and coming back
    2. Pain spreading to the shoulders, neck or arms
    3. Chest discomfort combined with light-headedness, fainting, sweating, nausea or shortness of breath
    Other common warning signs of heart attack include unusual chest, stomach or abdominal pain, nausea or dizziness, shortness of breath or difficulty breathing, unexplained anxiety, weakness or fatigue, palpitations, cold sweat or paleness.

    What to do if someone has a heart attack
    Check the victim for a response
    If no response, ask someone to call for an ambulance. If you are on your own, do this yourself; you may need to leave the victim
    Check the victim is breathing normally
    If breathing is normal, place them in the recovery position and await help
    If not, open their airway using a head tilt and chin lift and begin 30 chest compressions
    Open the airway again and give two rescue breaths (mouth to mouth)
    Continue the chest compressions and rescue breaths in a ratio of 30:2
    For detailed instructions, visit the Resuscitation Council website.
    Anybody experiencing these symptoms should call an ambulance immediately, but should not try to drive themselves to hospital, as complications can begin to occur before they get there.
    Most people do have time to get to hospital and be treated before collapsing, but they do need to act quickly.
    Some people wait for hours or even days before seeking help – they are the ones that get into trouble.
    After a heart attack
    Diagnosis of a heart attack usually involves a clinical examination, an electrocardiogram, heart rhythm monitoring and blood tests.
    Echocardiograms or angiograms will detect the extent of damage to the heart.
    Immediately after a heart attack, clot-busting drugs will be used to restore blood flow. Aspirin, to aid blood flow, and beta-blockers, to ease the heart’s work rate, may also be used.
    In the days or weeks after a heart attack, surgery – either angioplasty or coronary artery bypass surgery – may be performed.
    http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/medical_notes/g-i/764015.stm

  • Leukaemias and lymphomas

    Very useful.
    Source: Cancer Research/NHS
    Leukaemias and lymphomas are cancers which affect the cells which are part of the fluids circulating around the body.
    Leukaemias affect certain blood cells, particularly the white cells, or “leukocytes” which help fight off infections and disease.
    And lymphomas are cancers of the lymphatic system, a network of vessels which form part of the body’s immune system, and carry other infection-fighting cells called “lymphocytes”, as well as draining dead cells away from the tissues.
    There are several different types of leukaemia, classed mainly according to the way the cancer develops, and the variety of white blood cells they affect.
    There are two principal kinds of lymphoma – Hodgkin’s and non-Hodgkin’s – the latter is more common, and also slightly harder to treat.
    Professor Peter Johnson, an expert in lymphomas from the University of Southampton, who carries out work for Cancer Research UK is hopeful that new chemotherapy and radiotherapy techniques will help improve survival rates in lymphoma.
    He said: “The sorts of treatment we are investigating in the future centre around how we can stir the body’s immune system into recognising that the lymphoma is there.
    “This we think is a very promising form of new treatment.”
    SYMPTOMS
    There are different symptoms for leukaemias and lymphomas
    Symptoms of leukaemias include:
    Anaemia – patient unusually pale, weak and tired
    Frequent infections, fevers, chills, or flu-like symptoms
    Easy bruising or bleeding
    Night sweats
    Bone or joint pain
    Weight loss
    Swollen lymph nodes, tender to the touch
    Leukaemia cells can also affect the testicles, causing swelling, or affect the spinal column and cause headaches, seizures and vomiting.
    The different types of leukaemia develop in different ways. Acute leukaemias progress rapidly, whereas in chronic leukaemia, symptoms take longer to develop and the decline is far less swift.
    Some of the symptoms of lymphomas can be very similar to those of leukaemia.
    The main difference is a painless rather than tender swelling of the lymph nodes, particularly in the neck, under the arms or around the groin.
    Hodgkin’s and non-Hodgkin’s patients also often suffer night sweats, unexplained fevers, fatigue and weight loss. There can also be itchy skin or red patches.

    The first thing a doctor will do to investigate suspicions of leukaemia or lymphoma is carry out a physical examination.
    The lymph nodes in the neck, under the arms and in the groin will be “palpated”, or felt. It can be slightly uncomfortable, but not painful.
    A doctor can also feel for unusual swellings in the liver, which can happen if lymphoma spreads to that organ.
    Blood tests, known as “full blood counts” will also give a strong clue as to both the presence of disease – and what type it is.
    The numbers of various types of cell, mature and immature, are physically counted to make sure there are the right number.
    Another key test is the x-ray or CT scan, which can look for swellings in the lymph nodes, liver, lungs and spleen.
    In the case of leukaemia, this may take the form of taking a sample of bone marrow, normally from the hip with a needle. Sometimes a sample of bone is taken for analysis.

    If this confirms the presence of leukaemia cells, a lumbar puncture, which involves inserting a needle through the back into the lower spine takes more fluid for analysis.
    For lymphoma, a biopsy of lymph nodes, normally from the neck and underarm area is taken to check for disease.
    All this information will help doctors work out how aggressive the cancer is, and how far it has already spread.
    CAUSES
    The causes of lymphoma and leukaemia have not yet been established.
    However, in Hodgkin’s lymphoma, there appears to be a connection with a virus called the Epstein-Barr virus.
    This is the virus which causes glandular fever, and Hodgkin’s is often found in people in their 20s.
    However, the incidence of glandular fever is high among this age group – and the number of Hodgkin’s cases is very low.
    TREATMENTS
    Doctors try to tailor treatments for both lymphomas and leukaemias to fit the variety of disease found.
    Although many patients will be given chemotherapy, different combinations of drugs are often used.
    The aim is to get the cancer into “remission”, which means no evidence of cancer can be found on scans or blood tests.
    Often, leukaemia patients are given short, intensive courses of chemotherapy through a tube left linked into a main blood vein in the chest.
    Sometimes, drugs are injected through a tube directly into the spinal column or brain to reach the cells there.
    This may require the patient to stay in hospital for the duration of treatment.
    Lymphoma patients are also often given chemotherapy.
    This can be a combination of eight different drugs.
    However, if the cancer does not appear to have spread far, then radiotherapy may be an option.
    Both leukaemia and lymphoma patients sometimes need to have bone marrow transplants, particularly if the first chemotherapy treatment fails and more powerful drugs have to be used.
    The bone marrow is found at the centre of the body’s larger bones, such as in the spine and upper leg, producing blood cells and helping the body fight infection.
    If high-dose chemotherapy is to be used, this may permanently damage the bone marrow, so it has to be replaced afterwards.
    The patient can be given drugs to stimulate the production of cells vital to rebuilding the bone marrow, which are then harvested and replaced after the treatment.
    Or a donor may have to be found whose bone marrow is an exact match for the patient.
    A close relative may be able to provide a match, but this is far from certain.
    The Anthony Nolan Bone Marrow Trust keeps a register of 130,000 volunteers who are all prepared to give bone marrow if they prove a match for a patient.
    This increases the chances of an unrelated match being found.
    http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/3244503.stm

    <img src="null” alt=”Leukaemias and lymphomas” />