Wednesday, June 2, 2010

Shingles


Shingles: An acute infection caused by the herpes zoster virus, the same
virus as causes chickenpox. Shingles is most common after the age of 50 and the risk rises with advancing age. Shingles occurs because of exposure to chickenpox or reactivation of the herpes zoster virus. The virus remains latent (dormant) in nerve roots for many years following chickenpox.

Shingles is an extraordinarily painful condition that involves inflammation of sensory nerves. It causes numbness, itching or pain followed by the appearance of clusters of littles blisters in a strip pattern on one side of the body. The pain can persist for weeks, months or years after the rash heals and is then known as post-herpetic neuralgia.

People with shingles are contagious to persons who have not had chickenpox and can catch chickenpox from close contact with a person who has shingles. Treatment includes antiviral medication and pain medication.

The term shingles has nothing to do with a shingle on a roof or the small signboard outside the office of a doctor but is derived from the Latin cingulum meaning girdle, the idea being that shingles often girdles part of the body.

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Asbestosis: a problem of industerial exposure

Pathophysiology, clinical data and radiology

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The Diabetic Foot: Medical and Surgical Management

This book is a must for any practitioner treating diabetic foot patients. With an array of authors from renowned institutions, this book has satisfactorily taken on the enormous task of providing current information on the management of the diabetic foot, while reinforcing well-established protocols, principles, and treatments. . .Particularly well done is the chapter on clinical examination and identification of the at-risk patient, which presents key questions for identifying ulcer risk and assessing a diabetic foot wound. Several chapters informatively and clearly address the vascular complications and surgical treatments available. Also well-covered is diabetic polyneuropathy. In this challenging yet common complication of diabetes, the author does an excellent job of classifying various syndromes of diabetic neuropathy, including differential diagnosis, causes, and management. The surgical chapters describe an array of options for the surgical practitioner. Of note is the section on amputations and rehabilitation in which the authors provide an innovative view of amputations as a procedure to enable the patient to return to productive community activity instead of failure or the start of disability.

It is a pleasure to review such an insightful book full of information, new and old, that can be easily incorporated into the daily treatment of the diabetic foot patient. I highly recommend this book as an additional reference for those involved in the complicated task of medical and surgical management of the diabetic foot.

The topics covered range from proven preventive strategies to cutting-edge wound care techniques that draw on such new developments as growth factors and living skin equivalents. A detailed review of the pathophysiology of the diabetic foot is also included. The emphasis throughout is on a multidisciplinary approach that incorporates the services of diabetologists, podiatrists, orthopedic surgeons, orthotists, diabetic nurse educators and others. Numerous black-and-white color photographs, drawings, algorithms, and charts illustrate the text

Overall, this is an excellent text. Dr. Veves and his colleagues have provided a scholarly and multidisciplinary summary of an increasingly common clinical problem faced by all vascular surgeons. This book will be of great value to vascular surgeons, orthopedic surgeons who treat diabetic foot problems, and other specialists who treat these patients.

This book provides detailed information on the medical and surgical management of the diabetic foot. With chapters from many eminent contributors, the book will serve as an excellent point of reference to most departments involved in diabetic foot care.


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