Schizophrenia is a disorder that causes significant distortions in thinking, perception, speech, and behavior. Characteristics include psychosis, apathy, social withdrawal, and cognitive impairment, which result in significant social impairment. EPIDEMIOLOGY & DEMOGRAPHICS INCIDENCE: 0.2 per 1000. PREVALENCE:...

Hepatitis C is a contagious liver disease that results from infection with the hepatitis C virus. It can range in severity from a mild illness lasting a few weeks to a serious, lifelong illness....

Leptospirosis (Weil’s disease) refers to the 10% of infections with Leptospira interrogans (previously termed Leptospira icterohaemorrhagiae) that result in clinical hepatitis (see also Chapter 6). It is endemic in the tropics but, in the...

Continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) therapy is the maintenance of a positive airway pressure greater than ambient pressure throughout inspiration and expiration. It can be delivered through a facemask, nasal mask or mouthpiece, or...

Ventricular tachycardia is a dangerous tachyarrhythmia characterized by a series of three or more ventricular ectopic impulses (wide QRS complexes) at a rate of 100 or more beats per minute. Accelerated ventricular rhythm is...

D-Dimer: To assist in diagnosing a diffuse state of hypercoagulation as seen in disseminated intravascular coagulation (DIC), acute myocardial infarction (MI), deep venous thrombosis (DVT), and pulmonary embolism (PE). PATIENT PREPARATION: There are no...

Procalcitonin: To assist in diagnosing bacterial infection and risk for developing sepsis. PATIENT PREPARATION: There are no food, fluid, activity, or medication restrictions unless by medical direction.  NORMAL FINDINGS: Method: Fluorescence immunoassay. AgeConventional UnitsSI Units (Conventional Units ×...

Bradyarrhythmias: bradycardia is defined as a heart rate <60 beats/min, and can be either physiological or pathological. Bradycardias are common in critically-ill patients and occur in about 10% of patients admitted to an intensive...