Does endocarditis require routine coagulation screening?

Routine preoperative coagulation screening detects a rare bleeding disorder.

Factor X deficiency is a rare hereditary coagulation disorder. We report a case of congenital factor X deficiency diagnosed preoperatively in an 8-yr-old female child scheduled to undergo corrective surgery for congenital thoracolumbar kyphoscoliosis. Her preoperative coagulation profile revealed prolonged prothrombin time and activated partial thromboplastin time values. Further evaluation sho...

Does Modernization Require

The workup for bariatric surgery does not require a routine upper gastrointestinal series.

BACKGROUND Morbid obesity is a serious disease that afflicts over five million Americans, threatening their health with such co-morbidities as diabetes, arthritis, pulmonary failure and stroke. Surgery is the only effective therapy, providing long-term control of weight, diabetes, pulmonary failure, and hypertension for as long as 14 years. Because the operation presents a major expense, this s...

Routine preoperative coagulation tests: an outdated practice?

Routine coagulation tests have been used for many years in the preoperative setting in the belief that they identify patients who may have acquired or congenital bleeding disorders, and on the assumption that testing will predict perioperative bleeding allowing treatment to be given and prevent it. Coagulation ‘screens’ typically include the prothrombin time (PT) and the activated partial throm...

Does intelligence require a body?

Our brain controls our body—every movement we make is guided by neuronal activity. But how about vice versa? Does the body influence our brain; does it have an impact on how we think? This question might seem odd. We usually stick to a simple ‘sense– think–act’ paradigm: we hear the phone ring (sense), we recognize that we should answer it (think) and grab the receiver (act). This is a one-way ...