Word: echocardiogram
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Some of the older diagnostic standards are undergoing a technological makeover of their own. Echocardiogram machines are getting smaller and smaller, and their output is increasingly being digitized, which allows doctors to calculate more accurately the ability of the heart to function. And new radioactive markers are making nuclear perfusion scans shorter and more precise...
...provocative essay titled "Must Doctors Still Examine Patients?" that being examined "has a calming effect on anxious patients, [and] a placebo effect on somatic but nonorganic complaints." Touch, we seem at risk of forgetting, is a basic part of the healing process, a fundamental expression of caring. Yes, an echocardiogram is technically better than a stethoscope for examining the heart, and an automatic blood-pressure cuff can take as good a reading as a nurse. But you don't need a Ph.D. or a degree in psychology to realize we would all lose something very important if we cut human...
...better handle on what's going on inside a woman's heart, many cardiologists perform an echocardiogram during a treadmill test. Echocardiograms can give doctors a detailed picture of the size, shape and pumping action of the chambers of the heart and of how well the valves are working. If the pumping action looks stiff, doctors know the heart is ailing...
...doctors giving patients the proper pills? A study shows that while 90% of folks with artificial heart valves are prescribed antibiotics, only 60% of those with less extreme conditions are getting them. And unbelievably, 25% of people with a perfectly normal heart are given antibiotics. Advice: if an echocardiogram doesn't show a heart-valve problem, don't take antibiotics. If it does, demand them...
...meantime, if you took Redux or fenfluramine, be sure to tell your doctor. If he or she detects a murmur or if you develop significant shortness of breath, you will have to have an ultrasound examination of the heart called an echocardiogram to determine whether you need further medical attention. If there is a valve problem, you may have to take antibiotics before undergoing certain procedures, such as teeth cleaning, that increase the risk that bacteria could enter your bloodstream...
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