Howard R. Bierman

Pericarditis in patients with leukemia

Abstract 1. 1. Four leukemic patients who developed pericarditis during the course of their illness are reported. Adhesive pericarditis was found at post-mortem examination in two patients with myelogenous leukemia. In the remaining two patients with lymphogenous leukemia, effusion was the major finding. One of the patients with chronic myelogenous leukemia recovered from an episode of pericarditis and survived for eleven months. 2. 2. The electrocardiographic changes in three patients were characterized by tachycardia, low voltage, elevation of ST complexes, and flat to inverted T waves. 3. 3. Peripheral blood leukocyte counts above 100,000 were present in three of the four patients. In the remaining patient, the peripheral blood leukocyte count was consistently below 2,500 per cubic millimeter. 4. 4. It is suggested that pericarditis with cellular infiltration occurs more frequently than usually suspected in leukemic patients and may often contribute to their death.

Portal venipuncture; a percutaneous, trans-hepatic approach.

Conclusion This technic permits relatively easy access to the portal venous system in man. It should afford many opportunities for clinical investigations, including portal venography.

Negative effects of oral monobenzyl ether of hydroquinone in malignant melanoma in man.

Conclusion Daily oral doses of 0.3 to 27 g of monobenzyl ether of hydroquinone, for total doses of 2.9 to 1490 g in 21 to 214 days, had no effect upon the growth of malignant melanoma in 8 patients. Ingestion of mono-benzyl ether of hydroquinone produced no toxic effects other than transient nausea and vomiting when the daily dose exceeded 10 g.

A Hypodermic Pressure Manometer Utilizing the Bonded Wire Resistance Strain Gauge

The recent development of the bonded resistance wire strain gauge has led to its use as a device for measuring physiological pressure phenomena. Further application of the strain gauge has been as an instrument for measuring intravascular blood pressures and other pressure phenomena in biology and medicine.

The interrelationship of the electrocardiographic complexes studied by simultaneous multiple recording.

Abstract 1.1. The use of simultaneous recordings of six electrocardiographic leads in twenty-three normal subjects and in thirty-three patients with a variety of cardiac lesions has afforded the opportunity of studying the genesis of the different waves through comparison of simultaneous peaks. 2.2. Study of the precordial leads (V 1 through V 6 ) revealed the following: 2.1.A. There is a considerable variation in duration of the QRS complexes in the various precordial leads. 2.2.B. Peaks of the P and T waves occurred consistently earlier in V 1 than in V 6 unless the waves were inverted, in which case the peaks tended to be simultaneous. 2.3.C. Among the normal subjects, as contrasted to the patients with left ventricular hypertrophy and bundle branch block, the R wave in V 5 and V 6 did not represent the last portion of the left ventricle to be depolarized. 2.4.D. QS complexes in right ventricular leads were essentially similar in time to S rather than Q waves. 2.5.E. The peak of the R′ in bundle branch block represents the onset of the intrinsic deflection. 3.3. Study of the unipolar extremity leads and the standard leads revealed the following: 4.A. There is a phase difference between the peaks of the P, Q, R, S, and T waves in the various standard leads. 5.B. The peak of the R wave in the unipolar extremity leads was usually not simultaneous, particularly among normal subjects. 6.C. The QS complex in V R was similar in time to an S rather than a Q wave. 7.D. With a vertical heart, the nadir of the S wave in V L followed the peak of the R wave in V F ; the nadir of the S wave in V 1 followed the peak of the R wave in V 6 . 8.E. A phase difference in the peaks of the P and T waves existed in the different unipolar extremity leads. 9.F. Formulas for deriving the standard leads from the unipolar extremity leads are only approximations unless the leads are taken simultaneously.