Systemic Scleroderma Soumya Chatterjee DEFINITION AND ETIOLOGY Scleroderma, or systemic sclerosis (SSc), is a chronic multisystem autoimmune disease characterized by a vasculopathy, diffuse fibrosis of skin and various internal organs,…
Structural Disorders of the Esophagus Edgar Achkar Dysphagia, a common symptom in those with esophageal disorders, can arise from a multitude of underlying causes. Dysphagia, or difficulty swallowing, refers to…
Pulmonary Embolism Anil Gopinath, Thomas R. Gildea DEFINITION AND ETIOLOGY Pulmonary embolism (PE) refers to the presence of endogenous or exogenous substances within the pulmonary vascular bed that result in…
Nonmelanoma Skin Cancer Rebecca Tung, Allison Vidimos More than 1 million cases of skin cancer were diagnosed in the United States in 2007. About 80% of these new skin cancer…
Hypokalemia and Hyperkalemia Boon Wee Teo, Saul Nurko PHYSIOLOGY OF POTASSIUM HANDLING Potassium (K+) is the most abundant cation in the body. About 90% of total body potassium is intracellular…
Occupational Lung Disease Raed A. Dweik, Peter J. Mazzone Exposure to dust in the workplace is associated with a variety of pulmonary and systemic illnesses. The term pneumoconiosis is derived…
Complications of Cirrhosis Ascites, Hepatic Encephalopathy, and Variceal Hemorrhage Karin B. Cesario, Anuja Choure, William D. Carey ASCITES Definition and Etiology Ascites is defined as the accumulation of fluid in…
Bipolar Disorder Sami Khalife, Vivek Singh, David J. Muzina DEFINITION AND ETIOLOGY Bipolar affective disorder (BPD), classified as a mood disorder,1 is a chronic, recurrent illness associated with high rates…
Complications of Acute Myocardial Infarction Adam W. Grasso, Sorin J. Brener Complications of acute myocardial infarction (MI) include ischemic, mechanical, arrhythmic, embolic, and inflammatory disturbances (Table 1). Nevertheless, circulatory failure…
Hypercoagulable States Steven Deitcher DEFINITION The concept of a state of hypercoagulability dates back to 1854, when German pathologist Rudolph Virchow postulated that thrombosis resulted from, and in turn precipitated,…
