Scoliosis

GENERAL INFORMATION

Scoliosis is a type of condition that usually affects children, teenagers, and young adults. It actually can happen to anyone but most commonly in those referred above. Scoliosis will cause the spine to curve in the wrong direction, usually more lateral (sideways). If not noticed or taken care of when younger, it can progress as the person tends to get older, and actually may also become more painful.

SYMPTOMS

When checking for symptoms of scoliosis, take these findings into affect. If you notice the person leaning to one side more than the other, uneven shoulders and ribcage, and in younger children, when the school nurse does the annual screening, they will be able to notice if when they bend over if the spine is straight or moves to one side more than the other.

TYPES OF SCOLIOSIS

There are actually four types of scoliosis that a person can get. The first one is Idiopathic which actually means it occurs without any notice to the person. This occurs in about 80 percent of scoliosis, and is the most common in girls. The next kind is congenital which means it is present at birth which has occured during the pregnancy. The third kind is neuromuscular which occurs in children who usually have spinal bifida or cerebral palsy. The last kind is called adult or degenerative scoliosis which is usually found later in life by someone who might have osteoporosis or other bone diseases causing this to happen.

TESTS

Some tests that can be done for scoliosis are x-rays, plumb line test which is used to see if the spine lies straight, scoliometer which will measure the lumps on the back to tell if its scoliosis. The severity of the curve can be determined by either a MRI or an xray. The sooner it is taken care of, the less likely it will become progressive and become more painful to the patient.

Carotid Artery Aneurysm

GENERAL INFORMATION

A carotid artery aneurysm is when the wall of the vessel starts to bulge or become inflamed. The bigger the aneurysm gets, the more it will push along the walls of the vessel and make them become weak. Also, the bigger the aneurysm gets the more likely it will eventually burst. Most of these aneurysms are due to atherosclerosis and most common in people that are 60 years old or older.

SYMPTOMS

Most of the time when someone has a carotid aneurysm, they wont have any symptoms, they are usually found in x-rays taken for some other reason or sometimes they can even find them when taking an annual physical. If someone were to experience symptoms, some of them might include: Pain in the abdomen, feeling full after eating a smaller type of meal, nausea, vomiting, and thrombuses.

DIAGNOSIS

To find out if someone has a carotid artery aneurysm, a family doctor may ask the person if there is any heart disease in the family or if you smoke. Most of the time, it is diagnosed and found when a person recieves an xray, ct, or mri for another type of illness. Most of the time people do not know they have them until they burst.

TREATMENT

The way a carotid artery aneurysm is treated depends on the size. The bigger the anerysm is, the most likely it is to burst, therefore sugery will need to be done. Anyone with an aneurysm larger than 6.5 centimeters are immediately taken in for surgery. Those who have smaller aneurysms such as 3.0 centmeters, these people may be watched using ultrasound equipment. The doctors for surgery will either do an abdominal surgery and clamp off the aorta while fixing the problem, or a newer way to do it is by making small cuts in the groin to make their way to the aneurysm.

Goiter

GOITER

GENERAL INFORMATION

The definition of a goiter is the enlargement of a thyroid gland. If you have ever seen on or a picture of one you would definantly think this crazy lump is cancerous. Actually, goiters are not cancerous at all, they are just enlargements of the glands. Reasons for getting goiters can be from the levels of the thyroid hormone being normal, way too high, or way too low. The most common cause of a goiter is from lack of iodine in the daily diet.

SYMPTOMS

If the goiter is very small, signs and symptoms may not be noticable at all. They might not even need to be treated. But, for goiters that are larger the most common symptoms are: Visible swelling at the neck, hoarsness in throat, tightening in neck, coughing, and or difficulty swallowing and breathing.

CAUSES

There are numerous amounts of reasons why one may develop a goiter. The most common are: Iodine deficiency in the daily diet when a person is not getting the amount of iodine needed, it is important to have iodine in your diet because it helps to produce the thyroid hormones.

Another reason is Grave's Disease which we talked about in the last section. Thyroid cancer, pregnancy, and inflammation are other causes of developing a goiter.

DIAGNOSIS

The diagnosis of a goiter can be done in several ways. The main one is a hormone test. Blood tests are done to determine the levels in the thyroid to see if they are normal, overactive, or underactive. Antibody test can also be done which is to look for abnormal antibodies in the body because that is also a reason why a goiter can form. Ultrasound and thyroid scanning can also diagnose a goiter.

TREATEMENT

Some of the treatement that can be done to reduce the goiter size is to observe and watch the size over time, take medications for over active and under active thyroid glands, to help reduce the inflammation. Surgery is also an alternative and part of the thyroid gland will be removed.

Achondroplasia

GENERAL INFORMATION

Achondroplasia means without cartilege formation. It is a genetic condition which causes a person to be abnormally short. Everyone who has this disease are usually at an average height of about 52 inches for males and 49 inches tall for females. This disease is the most common cause of short statured people. This disorder is one of bone growth. The long bones have trouble growing into their full sizes. The intelligence level is of a normal human being, just the anatomy is very off and non symmetrical.

SYMPTOMS

Symptoms will start at birth and be very noticable. A baby who has Achondroplasia usually has a long chest and very short extremities. All of these will be very disproportioned including having a larger head than most babies. Joints will be able to extend longer than normal and fingers will be both short and long. A small hump in the back may also be visible to some along with bowed legs.

DIAGNOSIS

Achondroplasia is usually either diagnosed at birth by the baby's abnormal and dis-proportioned limbs and physical features, or it can also be diagnosed by recieving x-rays, ultrasounds, or other imaging modalities. To diagnose before birth there is a special procedure that is done to specifically look at the cells and that procedure is called chorionic villus sampling or CVS.

TREATMENT

There is no known cure from preventing or treating Achondroplasia. Because of this treatment usually involves trying to prevent or treat the signs and symptoms that may be a result of the disorder such as: Reduced strength, reoccuring ear infections, breathing disorders, obesity, croweded teeth.

MRI SAGITTAL T1 WEIGHTED IMAGE