Appendicitis

Appendicitis is inflammation of the appendix. Mostly appendicitis begins when the opening from the appendix into the cecum gets blocked. When the blockage occurs, bacteria found in the appendix begins to infect the wall of the appendix and then it can rupture.

Some different symptoms of appendicitis are:
Abdomen pain
loss of appetite
nausea
vomiting
high temperature

There are different test that can help to diagnose appendicitis. They can vary from blood work, urinalysis, abdominal x-ray, ultrasound and CT.

Appendicitis can be difficult to diagnose because the symptoms are so common to other abdominal pathologies.

Usually once the diagnosis has been made and the doctor know you have appendicitis, surgery is done. sometimes it can be treated with antibiotics but most time the appendix is removed.

To find out more about appendicitis, you can go the the following websites: www.mghradrounds.org and www.medscape.com

Aortic Dissection

Aortic Dissection is when the aorta has a tear in the wall causing blood to leak between the layers of the wall and forcing the layers apart.

Some of the causes of aortic dissection is high blood pressure, many connective tissue disorders and trauma to the chest. Most people who suffer from aortic dissection are of the age between 50 to 70. Males are more likely to have this disorder than females.

Some different symptoms are sudden onset of chest pain. Some patients describe it as stabbing or tearing pain. Blood pressure changes and aortic insufficiency.

Some diagnostic test to diagnose aortic dissection can be a plain chest x-ray, CT, ECG, and MRI.

Treatment for aortic dissection is very important. Aortic dissection is a medical emergency and the risk of death is greatest in the first few hours after dissection begins. The choice of treatment depends on the location of the dissection. Sometimes surgery is needed and in other cases medical management is done.

If you would like to learn more about aortic dissection you can visit these websites, www.aic.cuhe.edu.hic and myweb.lsbu.ac.uk.

Pneumonia

Pneumonia is an inflammatory process of the lung. Pneumonia can occur at all ages. The leading cause of death among the elderly is pneumonia. Vaccines can be given to prevent certain types of pneumonia.

Different causes of pneumonia can either be caused by bacterial infection of viral infection.

Some symptoms of pneumonia are:
cough
chest pain
fever
difficulty breathing
chills

Treatment for pneumonia depends on the cause of pneumonia. Most are treated with antibiotics.

Plain x-rays is one diagnostic tool to see if a patient has pneumonia along with examination of the sputum. CT of the chest can also diagnose pneumonia.

Introduction

My name is Robyn Dilger. I live in Owensboro, Kentucky and work at Owensboro Medical Health Systems. I have worked there for going on 8 years. I work in diagnostic x-ray, but I have been cross-trained in MRI. I have worked in MRI for the last several years. I love working in MRI and I am working on getting my Bachelors Degree in CT/MRI to help further my opportunities in the MRI department at OMHS.