Publications by authors named "James A Wilkens"

Iatrogenic pneumothorax has become an increasingly recognized complication of routine outpatient procedures, such as transthoracic needle biopsies of the lung and transbronchial lung biopsies. Patients with clinically significant pneumothorax are typically managed with evacuation via a percutaneously placed catheter or chest tube. Tube thoracotomy and chest tube management have traditionally been performed by cardiothoracic surgeons; however, with the increasing number of interventional radiologists and interventional pulmonologists, more chest tubes are being placed by specialists who do not admit and manage patients in the hospital setting.

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Many hospitalist groups are hiring physician assistants (PAs) to augment their physician services. Finding PAs with hospitalist experience is difficult. Employers often have to recruit PAs from other specialties or hire new graduates who have limited hospital experience.

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Brain tumors may lead to symptomatic epilepsy. A retrospective analysis was undertaken to evaluate the frequency of seizure as the presenting symptom leading to brain tumor diagnosis in adults. One hundred and forty-seven consecutive patients with newly diagnosed brain tumors were analyzed regarding the frequency of seizures as the initial presenting symptoms and those subsequently developing seizures.

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