Category: P

Excessive loss of blood from the uterus or vagina after delivery. Postpartum hemorrhage often occurs when the muscles of the uterus do not contract enough to cause it to shrink and compress the blood vessels inside. It can also occur if bits of the placenta remain inside the uterus and prevent it from tightening up…

Heart failure after pregnancy caused by a disorder of the heart muscle. The cause is unknown. The condition occurs mostly in women over age 30 who have had several pregnancies or in women who have had preeclampsia, eclampsia, or a multiple pregnancy. Postpartum cardiomyopathy usually occurs in the first month after childbirth, but it can…

An acute infection caused by an enterovirus called poliovirus that can affect the nervous system and the skeletal muscles. Polio, which is a shortened term for poliomyelitis, has become a rare disease since polio immunization has become widespread in developed countries. It is highly contagious, spreading through direct contact with an infected person or infected…

A facility staffed by health professionals trained in the prevention and treatment of poisoning. Most communities have a poison center; the phone number is usually listed on the inside cover of the local phone book. In the event of a poisoning or suspected poisoning, a telephone call to the poison center will elicit instructions from…

An opportunistic infection caused by a one-celled organism believed to be a fungus called Pneumocystis jiroveci. The fungus rarely causes infection in healthy people. But in people who have weakened immune systems, the organism can invade the lungs and multiply. As a result, the tiny air sacs in the lungs called alveoli (which enable the…

Abnormal growths that arise in the pituitary gland located at the base of the brain. Most pituitary tumors are not malignant. However, they can enlarge and damage nearby tissue. Symptoms of a pituitary tumor include headache, seizures, personality changes, visual disturbances, drooping eyelids, weakness, lethargy, irritability, and cold intolerance. Some pituitary tumors secrete an excess…

An infection caused by the parasitic roundworm Enterobius vermicularis, which lays its eggs in the human intestines. Pinworm infestation is common in temperate zones and usually affects children between the ages of 2 and 12. The infection is transmitted by the transfer of the eggs, which may be present on the hands or under the…

The portion of the ear that projects from the head; the external ear. The flap of skin and cartilage that projects from the head at the exterior opening of the external auditory meatus of the ear. In man the pinna is largely vestigial but it may be partly concerned with detecting the direction of sound…

The compression or “trapping” of a nerve, causing numbness, tingling, weakness, and pain in the area supplied by the nerve. The primary treatment for improving the symptoms is to relieve the pressure on the nerve. Physical therapy, injections of corticosteroids, and medication to reduce the inflammation and pain may be used. In some cases, surgery…

Also known as physiatry, the field of medicine that focuses on restoring function in people with various musculoskeletal and neurological disorders. Physiatrists—physicians who specialize in the field of physical medicine and rehabilitation—treat acute and chronic pain resulting from a wide range of problems, from back pain to carpal tunnel syndrome to quadriplegia. One of the…