What Are Potential Complications of a Forceps Delivery?
Discussion
The main outcome of any delivery is to have a healthy mother and healthy child. For millinea, mothers delivered babies with the help of their mothers and learned women without the benefits of potential instrumented interventions when complications arose, and today they are options for some deliveries. Instrumented delivery techniques have markedly decreased maternal and neonatal morbidity and mortality. Instrument delivery techniques in the second stage of labor includes forceps (begun in the 1600s), vacuum delivery (mainly use began in 1950s) and second stage cesarean section (cesarean section being first used ...
Source: PediatricEducation.org - October 23, 2023 Category: Pediatrics Authors: Pediatric Education Tags: Uncategorized Source Type: news
What Causes Dysphagia?
Discussion
Swallowing is a complex process with 4 phases:
Preparatory – food is moistened with saliva, chewed and prepared into a bolus by teeth, tongue and hard palate.
Oral – food bolus is moved into oropharynx by tongue and triggers the swallow reflex. Soft palate elevates to prevent nasopharyngeal reflux.
Pharyngeal – food bolus is moved through the oropharynx and hypopharynx to the esophagus. Respiration stops briefly with vocal fold adduction and larynx elevation to prevent aspiration.
Esophageal – the cricopharyngeaul muscle relaxes which allows the food bolus into the esophagus where it is ...
Source: PediatricEducation.org - October 16, 2023 Category: Pediatrics Authors: Pediatric Education Tags: Uncategorized Source Type: news
How Old Do You Have to Be To Receive Yellow Fever Vaccine?
Discussion
In the United States, Yellow Fever (YF) is rare and usually due to traveler’s coming to the US from Africa (34 countries) or South America (13 countries, see maps here) This wasn’t always true. There were numerous outbreaks in the past few centuries. However, after the Spanish-American War, a YF commission was sent to Cuba that proved YF was mosquito-borne and 1 year later major improvement was seen due to a multi-pronged mosquito control program.
“In May 1900, the U.S. Army,…formed the U.S. Army Yellow Fever Commission to gather data in Cuba that might inspire improvements in the publi...
Source: PediatricEducation.org - October 9, 2023 Category: Pediatrics Authors: Pediatric Education Tags: Uncategorized Source Type: news
How Many Countries Still Have Endemic Wild Polio?
Discussion
Poliomyelitis is caused by an enterovirus virus which causes acute flaccid paralysis. It is transmitted through fecal-oral spread. “All three serotypes of WPV [wild polio virus] are highly contagious, although 95% of primary infections cause a transient viraemia [sic] without symptoms. Paralysis occurs in one in 150 infections due to invasion of the central nervous system (CNS) and damage to the anterior horn of the spinal nerve roots.” In the prevaccination era, infants and young children were most at risk. The inactivated (IPV, inactivated or Salk) vaccine and the oral (OPV, live-attenuated or Sabi...
Source: PediatricEducation.org - October 2, 2023 Category: Pediatrics Authors: Pediatric Education Tags: Uncategorized Source Type: news
How Many Diphtheria Vaccines are Currently Licensed in the US?
Discussion
Diphtheria is caused by the toxin produced by Corynebacterium diphtheriae. Two other Corynebacterium species (C. ulcerans and C. pseudotuberculosis) may produce diphtheria toxin; both species are zoonotic. Diphtheria is spread by respiratory droplets and also contact with open ulcers or sores. Incubation period is 1-10 days with a usual period of 2-5 days. The bacteria attacks the respiratory tract mucosa causing cellular death which in turn causes a “pseudomembrane” of tissue to build up causing respiratory distress and possible death due to airway obstruction (5-10% for general population but up to...
Source: PediatricEducation.org - September 25, 2023 Category: Pediatrics Authors: Pediatric Education Tags: Uncategorized Source Type: news
Early Fall Break
PediatricEducation.org is taking an early fall break The next case will be published on 9/25/23. In the meantime, please take a look at the different Archives and Curriculum Maps listed at the top of the page.
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Donna D’Alessandro and Michael D’Alessandro, curators. (Source: PediatricEducation.org)
Source: PediatricEducation.org - September 18, 2023 Category: Pediatrics Authors: Pediatric Education Tags: Uncategorized Source Type: news
What Are Common Vascular Rings and Slings?
Discussion
Vascular rings and slings are not that common a congenital heart problem (about 1% of all congenital heart defects), but do occur and arise from abnormal embryological development of the major vascular structures.
Embryologically the great vessels and their major branches arise from the aortic sac.
The aortic sac forms two horns – a right and a left. These horns then form aortic arches.
The aortic arches with their paired branches then course into the pharyngeal arches.
Initially these aortic/pharyngeal arches have symmetric vascular pairs, but as development progresses they become asymmetric (basically du...
Source: PediatricEducation.org - September 11, 2023 Category: Pediatrics Authors: Pediatric Education Tags: Uncategorized Source Type: news
What Are the Complications of Sickle Cell Trait?
Discussion
Sickle cell disease (SCD) is a group of inherited blood disorders where there are abnormal hemoglobin molecules and the red blood cells take on a characteristic sickled shape instead of a rounded shape. Sickled hemoglobin provides an evolutionary advantage of giving the individual increased protection against severe and cerebral malaria. The sickled shape doesn’t move through the vascular system as well and therefore is more likely to aggregate in small vessels causing an increased risk of vaso-occlusive disease, acute chest syndrome, splenic sequestration, and priapism. There is also an increased risk of ...
Source: PediatricEducation.org - September 4, 2023 Category: Pediatrics Authors: Pediatric Education Tags: Uncategorized Source Type: news
What Are Some Radiographic Signs of Congenital Heart Disease?
Discussion
Total anomalous pulmonary venous return causes snowman sign on a chest x-ray. The pulmonary veins fail to connect normally to the left atrium. Alternate pathways direct flow to the right atrium and then across an atrial communication. The admixture of blood at the atrial level and the right to left atrial shunt result in the cyanosis. It may present at birth because of obstruction to the pulmonary veins.
“Characteristic heart shapes in patients with congenital heart disease are often due to long standing hemodynamic changes and are therefore less commonly seen today on [chest x-ray] because patients with c...
Source: PediatricEducation.org - August 28, 2023 Category: Pediatrics Authors: Pediatric Education Tags: Uncategorized Source Type: news
