If you’re unhappy with the appearance of age spots, treatments are available to lighten or remove them. Since the pigment is located at the base of the epidermis — the topmost layer of skin — any treatments meant to lighten the age spots must penetrate this layer of skin. Continue reading
Age spots — also called liver spots and solar lentigines — are flat gray, brown or black spots. They vary in size and usually appear on the face, hands, shoulders and arms — areas most exposed to the sun. Though age spots are very common in adults older than age 40, they can affect younger people as well. Continue reading
Anaplastic thyroid carcinoma is a rare and aggressive form of cancer of the thyroid gland.
Anaplastic thyroid cancer grows very rapidly and is an invasive type of thyroid cancer. It occurs most often in people over age 60. The cause is unknown.
Anaplastic cancer accounts for only about 1% of all thyroid cancers. Continue reading
Angiomyolipoma (AML) is the most common benign tumour of the kidney and are composed of blood vessels, smooth muscle cells and fat cells. Angiomyolipoma are strongly associated with the genetic disease tuberous sclerosis, in which most individuals will have several angiomyolipoma affecting both kidneys. They are also commonly found in women with the rare lung disease lymphangioleiomyomatosis. Angiomyolipoma are less commonly found in the liver and rarely in other organs. Whether associated with these diseases or sporadic, angiomyolipoma are caused by mutations in either the TSC1 or TSC2 genes, which govern cell growth and proliferation. Continue reading
Transposition of the great arteries (TGA) is the most common cyanotic congenital heart lesion that presents in neonates. The hallmark of transposition of the great arteries is ventriculoarterial discordance, in which the aorta arises from the morphologic right ventricle and the pulmonary artery arises from the morphologic left ventricle. Continue reading
Tetralogy of Fallot is a type of congenital heart defect. Congenital means that it is present at birth.
Tetralogy of Fallot causes low oxygen levels in the blood. This leads to cyanosis (a bluish-purple color to the skin).
The classic form includes four defects of the heart and its major blood vessels: Continue reading
Gastric bypass and other weight-loss surgeries make changes to your digestive system to help you lose weight by limiting how much you can eat or by reducing the absorption of nutrients, or both. Gastric bypass and other weight-loss surgeries are done when diet and exercise haven’t worked or when you have serious health problems because of your weight. Continue reading
The nature of the air operation will frequently determine the type of medical control required. In most cases, the available skill set for an air ambulance staffer is considerably greater than that of a typical paramedic. As a result, those operating in this environment will often be permitted by medical control to exercise more latitude in medical decision-making. Assessment skills tend to be considerably higher, and, particularly on interfacility transfers, permit the inclusion of such factors as the reading of x-rays and the interpretation of lab results. This allows for planning, consultation with supervising physicians, and the issuing of contingency orders in case they are required during the flight. Some systems operate almost entirely off-line, using protocols for almost all procedures and only resorting to on-line medical control when protocols have been exhausted. Some air ambulance operations have full time, on site medical directors with pertinent backgrounds (e.g., emergency medicine); others have medical directors who are only available by pager. For those systems operating on the Franco-German model, the physician is almost always physically present, and medical control is not an issue. Continue reading
A final area of distinction which requires mention is the operation of truly large aircraft, generally fixed-wing in nature, as air ambulances. In the past the infrequency of demand for such a service in the civilian sphere meant that the majority of such operations are confined to the military, which requires them in support of overseas combat operations. Military organizations with a capability of this type of specialized operation include the United States Air Force, the German Luftwaffe, and the British Royal Air Force. Each operates aircraft staffed by physicians, nurses, and corpsmen/technicians, and each has the capability of providing long distance transport, along with all required medical support, to dozens of injured persons simultaneously. Continue reading
In some cases, air ambulance services will be provided by government, either directly or by means of a negotiated contract with a commercial service provider, such as an aircraft charter company. Such services may focus on the transfer of critical care patients, may support ground-based EMS on scenes, or may perform a combination of these roles. In almost all cases, the government will provide guidelines for use to both hospitals and EMS systems, in order to keep operating costs under control, and may specify operating procedures in some level of detail in order to limit potential liability, Continue reading