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The antemortem diagnosis of pulmonary embolism
SELECTED
253
ABSTRACTS
patients. Any diffuse increase in the size of one or both legs over the admission measurements should suggest venous thrombosis. Other causes of enlargement are mentioned in the paper. Absolute bed rest should be irmtituted at once in all cases of peripheral thrombosis in an effort to prevent embolism. AUTHOR.
Johnson, Allen England
S.:
J. Med.
The Antemortem 222:
Diagnosis
of Pulmonary
Embolism.
New
793, 1940.
A study of forty-three fatal cases, in which autopsy revealed pulmonary embolism to have been the immediate cause of death, is presented. Dyspnea, tachycardia, and cyanosis, in contrast to pallor, are early and frequent signs. No The pitfalls in clinical electrocardiographic studies were possible in this series. diagnosis of pulmonary embolism are illustrated. SCHWARTZ.
Drinker, Cecil K., Warren, Madeleine Field, Maurer, Frank W., and McCarrell, Jane D.: The Flow, Pressure, and Composition of Cardiac Lymph. Am. J. Physiol.
130:
43, 1940.
A method for collecting the entire lymph flow from the heart is described. Cardiac lymph Bow varies directly with the vigor of the heartbeat. It increases with dilution of the blood proteins and consequent enhancement of capillary filtration. The composrtion of cardiac lymph is described in some detail in six dogs and is compared with that of the pericardial fluid. The cardiac lymph is a filtrate from the blood capillari’es. Normally it conFurthermore, if horse serum is tains serum albumin and globulin and it clots. given intravenously, it can be detected immunologically in the lymph, and similarly gum acacia is also found in this lymph after intravenous injection. AUTHORS. Jensen,
Julius,
Wegner,
Disease and Pregnancy.
Carl,
Keys,
Edgar
Am. J. Obst.
H., Jr., and Smith, & Gynec. 39: 443, 1940.
Hugh R.:
Heart
The experience with’cardiac patients from 1930 to 1938 in the Department of Obstetrics of Washington University is analyzed. Patients with hypertensive or degenerative heart disease were excluded unless they also suffered from valvular disease of the heart. This material conforms fairly well with the general experiences reported in the literature when distributed according to age, gravidity, etiology of heart disease, anatomic lesions, and cardiac function. Of the patient.s admitted to the St. Louis Maternity Hospital during this period, eight died from cardiac causes within six months of delivery. Only two of these had been regular patients of the prenatal clinic, and, on further analy;sis, it was found that among the patients properly handled and cooperating with the clinic, there were no deaths. This experience indicates that, while some cardiac’ patients should not become pregnant and should have pregnancies interrupted if they do become pregnant, the large majority of them can be carried successfully to term if given adequate prenatal care. In the St. Louis Maternity Hospital heart disease takes a place among the causes of death comparable to that which it takes in the Boston Lying-in Hospital and the Charity Hospital in New Orleans. Auricular fibrillation was rarely seen, but here, as elsewhere, it was found to be a serious complication. The functional classification of the cases was similar to
253
ABSTRACTS
patients. Any diffuse increase in the size of one or both legs over the admission measurements should suggest venous thrombosis. Other causes of enlargement are mentioned in the paper. Absolute bed rest should be irmtituted at once in all cases of peripheral thrombosis in an effort to prevent embolism. AUTHOR.
Johnson, Allen England
S.:
J. Med.
The Antemortem 222:
Diagnosis
of Pulmonary
Embolism.
New
793, 1940.
A study of forty-three fatal cases, in which autopsy revealed pulmonary embolism to have been the immediate cause of death, is presented. Dyspnea, tachycardia, and cyanosis, in contrast to pallor, are early and frequent signs. No The pitfalls in clinical electrocardiographic studies were possible in this series. diagnosis of pulmonary embolism are illustrated. SCHWARTZ.
Drinker, Cecil K., Warren, Madeleine Field, Maurer, Frank W., and McCarrell, Jane D.: The Flow, Pressure, and Composition of Cardiac Lymph. Am. J. Physiol.
130:
43, 1940.
A method for collecting the entire lymph flow from the heart is described. Cardiac lymph Bow varies directly with the vigor of the heartbeat. It increases with dilution of the blood proteins and consequent enhancement of capillary filtration. The composrtion of cardiac lymph is described in some detail in six dogs and is compared with that of the pericardial fluid. The cardiac lymph is a filtrate from the blood capillari’es. Normally it conFurthermore, if horse serum is tains serum albumin and globulin and it clots. given intravenously, it can be detected immunologically in the lymph, and similarly gum acacia is also found in this lymph after intravenous injection. AUTHORS. Jensen,
Julius,
Wegner,
Disease and Pregnancy.
Carl,
Keys,
Edgar
Am. J. Obst.
H., Jr., and Smith, & Gynec. 39: 443, 1940.
Hugh R.:
Heart
The experience with’cardiac patients from 1930 to 1938 in the Department of Obstetrics of Washington University is analyzed. Patients with hypertensive or degenerative heart disease were excluded unless they also suffered from valvular disease of the heart. This material conforms fairly well with the general experiences reported in the literature when distributed according to age, gravidity, etiology of heart disease, anatomic lesions, and cardiac function. Of the patient.s admitted to the St. Louis Maternity Hospital during this period, eight died from cardiac causes within six months of delivery. Only two of these had been regular patients of the prenatal clinic, and, on further analy;sis, it was found that among the patients properly handled and cooperating with the clinic, there were no deaths. This experience indicates that, while some cardiac’ patients should not become pregnant and should have pregnancies interrupted if they do become pregnant, the large majority of them can be carried successfully to term if given adequate prenatal care. In the St. Louis Maternity Hospital heart disease takes a place among the causes of death comparable to that which it takes in the Boston Lying-in Hospital and the Charity Hospital in New Orleans. Auricular fibrillation was rarely seen, but here, as elsewhere, it was found to be a serious complication. The functional classification of the cases was similar to