In extreme circumstances, pulsatile facial redness may result from the same pathophysiology that produces cannon A waves. An 89-year-old man presented with a complaint of decreased exertion tolerance. The electrocardiogram revealed complete atrioventricular block with a ventricular escape at 34 beats/ min. Echocardiography demonstrated normal ventricular function and no significant valvulopathy...

Salivary function provides host protection, assists in the initiation of food and fluid intake, and enables communication through speech. Without adequate salivary output, oral and pharyngeal health declines along with a person’s quality of life. The complaint of a dry mouth (xerostomia) and the objective finding of salivary dysfunction are common occurrences in older individuals, producing tra...

Introduction: Otalgia is one of the complaints which may occur at any age. The etiology of the pain may be in the ear, structures around the ear or other head and neck structures. This is caused by the complex nervous connections in the head and neck areas, the ear, the pharynx and the nose. Since understanding the etiologies of referred otalgia can help in the assessment and treatment of the ...

Synovial sarcoma is a rare but distinct soft tissue neoplasm, most commonly occurring in para-articular regions of the extremities of young adults and also occurring in the head and neck region. To the best of our knowledge, only one case of primary synovial sarcoma of the thyroid has been previously reported. Here, we report a 15-yr-old man who had a chief complaint of a palpable neck mass. Th...

Introduction: Epidermoid cysts of the neck occur less commonly than dermoid cysts of the head and neck. They are located mostly in the submental region and present as a painless slow growing swelling. The purpose of this article is to present an unusual case of submental epidermoid cyst which showed mobility and increase in the size on deglutition which is a very unusual finding. Case Report: A...

Pain catastrophizing is becoming increasingly recognized as a clinically important psychological factor in chronic musculoskeletal pain. In this retrospective cross-sectional study, we have identified factors associated with an increased risk for pain catastrophizing in chronic neck pain (CNP) patients. We obtained data from our medical database on 331 patients who were treated for neck pain as...

Supervising Section Editor: Sean O. Henderson, MD Submission history: Submitted April 01, 2012; Accepted April 16, 2012 Full text available through open access at http://escholarship.org/uc/uciem_westjem DOI: 10.5811/westjem.2012.4.12292 [West J Emerg Med. 2012;13(6):494] Shankar LeVine, MD Caitlin Bailey, MD Arun Nagdev, MD Alameda County Medical Center, Department of Emergency Medicine, Oakla...

So we did what we usually do, approach understanding clumsily, not knowing if such a complaint could ever be resolved, or how, or to whose satisfaction, or the child’s wishes, with so little help to offer, recording an uncertain prognosis, so awkward to translate, entering the clinical elements anyway, using terms that burnish our bronzed mode of medical thinking, closing our eyes, trying to co...