Geriatric patient emergency visits. Part I: Comparison of visits by geriatric and younger patients.

Objectives: To describe emergency department use by the elderly, to define problems associated with emergency care of the elderly, and to compare these results with those for younger adult patients.

Design: Retrospective, controlled chart review.

Setting: Six geographically distinct US hospital EDs.

Quantitative ultrasonographic studies of lower extremity flow velocities in health and disease.

Quantitative Doppler ultrasonographic flow velocity determinations are reported from 39 normal control subjects and 80 patients with angiographically documented peripheral arterial disease, in whom femoral, posterior tibial and dorsalis pedis arteries were studied. The mean control values of the most useful parameters were: femoral artery: peak forward velocity (PFV) cm/sec: 40.7 +/- 10.

Twenty-four hour left ventricular bypass with a centrifugal blood pump.

A new centrifugal blood pump system has been developed for left ventricular bypass by the addition of non-thrombogenic blood surface materials and an ultrathin-walled cannula for the retrograde cannulation of the left ventricle. Partial LV bypass at 3 to 6 L/min was undertaken in 55 calves without thoracotomy. In 20 it was continued for 24 hours, with 13 survivors who were eventually sacrificed.