May 7, 2012 12:06 am by Pohla Smith / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

About a year ago, Jean Magazzu was diagnosed with bronchitis, but after two courses of different antibiotics, her symptoms remained. by June, she had extreme shortness of breath.

“I couldn't get up and walk across the room without having to rest,” said Ms. Magazzu, 44, of Mt. Lebanon. a single mother and the office and development coordinator for Outreach Teen and Family Services, she went to St. Clair Hospital's emergency room, where a scan showed she had blood clots in her lungs.

After spending the night at St. Clair, she was transferred to Allegheny General Hospital, where she was immediately put on blood-thinning medication. During her stay of about a week, doctors conducted tests that found that the blood pressure in her lungs was three to four times above normal; the right side of her heart also was enlarged. They placed a filter in the large vein that brings de-oxygenated blood from the lower part of her body into her heart's right atrium to prevent any more clots from reaching her lungs.

Ms. Magazzu had a rare disease called chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension, better known as CTEPH. It's a condition that eventually would have killed her if she had not undergone a complex surgery at Allegheny General on Feb. 9.

This delicate surgery called pulmonary thromboendarterectomy removes the clots from the pulmonary arteries and restores blood flow. it is done at about 10 medical centers across the United States, and Ms. Magazzu was the first patient to undergo the procedure at Allegheny General. to become proficient, a team led by cardiothoracic surgeon Robert Moraca underwent six months of training under David McGiffin at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. Dr. McGiffin was present for Ms. Magazzu's operation.

Before Ms. Magazzu's case, Dr. Moraca said, Allegheny General sent such patients to Birmingham, one of the two best-known centers for the surgery in the nation. The other is the University of California, San Diego, where the procedure was developed.

The condition is caused when a clot breaks off in the legs (or, sometimes, the upper extremities), travels through the circulatory system, on through the right side of the heart and gets lodged in the lungs. If the body doesn't dissolve it, more can form on top of it, causing a network of scar tissue. “So it propagates itself,” said AGH cardiologist Raymond Benza.

“The body's response to that is to try to seal off that artery so no more clots can form there, so the vessel closes down,” he said. The result is not unlike a plugged-up drain, creating a tremendous back pressure in the right heart,” he said.

As the pressure builds, the right heart tries to keep up by getting larger and larger. “When it does, it loses its elasticity” and its ability to pump blood to the lungs. “People are dying … from a type of heart failure,” Dr. Benza said.

Most times patients and their doctors do not know clots are traveling to the lungs, so it goes undiagnosed. “It's only recognized when people start to develop early symptoms of heart failure — swelling in their ankles, edema in their bellies, fatigue, shortness of breath, and then, when the disease becomes more prominent, they start passing out when they try to do things,” he said. “That's because no circulation is going beyond these clots.”

The first line of treatment is to try to dissolve the clots with anticoagulants. If that doesn't work, surgery follows. without surgery, Dr. Benza said, “it's uniformly fatal,” with patients living less than a year once heart failure becomes prominent.

Drugs are being developed to help those with inoperable disease that may prolong survival, he said, but they are not a substitute for the surgery in those who qualify for it.

The surgery involves opening the chest and can take from four to 10 hours. The patient is put on a heart-lung machine, and the body is cooled down to about 68 degrees. “The reason we do that is we need to shut blood supply off to the body and lungs and open up the right and left pulmonary arteries and begin to take off their scar tissue,” Dr. Moraca said.

“We work very quickly and efficiently to remove the scar tissue, so we do it all at once in sort of one long block,” he said.

Once it's removed, doctors restart the heart, re-warm the patient and close up the surgical area.

Ms. Magazzu, who has a congenital condition that causes the blood clots, said she could tell her breathing had improved within a couple days, although she was still exhausted from the surgery.

She went back to work part time the last week of March and two weeks later reported feeling very well.

“My breathing is great,” she said. “My stamina could use a little improvement — I haven't been real active over the last nine months. … I can walk up a flight of steps now without having to stop.”

The survival rate can be more than 95 percent in patients who have the surgery done at experienced centers, Dr. Benza said.

To prevent further problems, Ms. Magazzu will have to take anticoagulants for life and keep a filter in the vein leading to her heart.

Her prognosis is “to live a normal life expectancy for a young woman,” Dr. Benza said. “Her heart is healed. her right ventricle is normal now, and she's going to have an amazing prognosis.”

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Viral meningitis may sound scary, but it isn’t.

Augusta Health in Fishersville said the hospital has had several people admitted with viral meningitis.

The classic symptoms are a trio of fever, photophobia (that’s when light is painful to the eyes) and headache and or neck pain.

The viral, version of meningitis is painful but usually goes away on its own. in fact, there is also almost a 100%t recovery from viral meningitis.

However, you need to check with your doctor to make sure it’s not caused by bacteria.

Bacterial meningitis needs to be treated right away with antibiotics, and flu-like symptoms will rapidly take over the body.

If untreated, meningitis can lead to shock and death within hours of the first symptoms.

© Copyright 2012 WHSV / Gray Television Group, inc. All Rights Reserved.

How long do the symptoms last. I have this and have been on antibiotics for a week and I am getting worse. I have started to run a fever and I have chills and now I am coughing up things.

Ok, i can tell you that prostatitis cna be divided into two types,Chronic and acute.If it is acute ,aome antibiotics can treat it.While if it is acute, it may be hard.So you should know taking antibiotics will cost a large pennies to your body,it has side effect.It also cna produce drug resistance and no actual effect.you can try to go to hospital for operation or choose other med.Diureitc anti-inflammatory pill is a right choice.It has cured my aunt .you can try.

Time to take yourself back to the Dr. Antibiotics for a week should have greatly improved your symptoms and have not. Chills and fevers are also signs hat you are not getting better. The cough may be unrelated but at the same time just coincidental you may have picked up a respiratory bug. Your dr. is the only one who can tell for sure.

It is really that you have go back to the doctors and have a check , prostatitis is caused by bacteria and you will suffer from more complications if you leave it untreated , the Diuretic and anti-inflammatory pill can help you to cure your prostatitis , your fever and chills are all the symptoms of prostatitis , you have to get the treatment as soon as you can . Please do not waste time on taking antibiotics , that does not work for your prostatitis. Go back to the doc and seek some good drug to use , the herbs are the good selections, you can use the google search engine to get more related information .

My dog was exposed to kennel cough. I took him to the vet and he has been on meds. for 7 days. still not eating or playing the way he did. I am concerned.

I would give it another week and if he is still coughing go back to the vet. he may need a stronger antibiotic. the reason I say this is that I had a pup that contracted a nasty form of kennel cough that did not respond to the first four antibiotics we gave her. she didn't want to eat much or play. the vet. put her on the second strongest antibiotic (erythomyacin-excuse spelling) on the list in fact I had to get it at the pharmacy because vets' don't keep it on hand. she started to get a little better but it still took two rounds of the antibiotic to get her well. I know there was some lung damage because she will cough a little in the winter months but is fine in the summer. one round of meds. may not be enough.

We have a labrador and she has had kennel cough twice, about a year apart each time.

She was sick for about 2 weeks from start to finish so give it until that sort of time frame before you start to worry. As long as he is on the medication he will come good again.

While he is sick don't let him exhaust himself so keep him quiet and well rested. When he is starting to feel better he will run around again on his own. then you know he's on the mend.

I keep getting bladder infections, one after the other, even though I am not sexually active at this time, my last sexual encounter was five months ago could this be a symptom of being infected with HIV?

I'm no expert is HIV/AIDS, but aren't you jumping to a pretty dramatic conclusion? Perhaps your bladder infections simply haven't been treated with the right antibiotics. IHave you seen a urologist? Perhaps there is something more going on that a bladder infection? But I certainly would not think HIV unless you know that your last sexual parter was infected.

No it's not a symptom of HIV. Also HIV isn't diagnosed by symptoms but by a HIV test. If you have any concerns about HIV you can do a test. But the bladder infection is not connected.

I dont think so, bladder infections are common in young women, and sometimes hard to clear up.
Try visiting a urologist for better diagnosis and treatment.

NO it is not a symptom. See a Urologist for reccurent UTIs, they are treatable.

Im 28 and diagnosed with prostatitis again. 1st time at 26 (worst pain I ever had until they gave me the right diagnosis). Been on antibiotics for a 8 days now and doesn't seem to help this time around. plus I fell sick like flu and get pains in my lower abdomen. has anyone else had these symptoms? what are some other symptoms that are expereinced not listed on websites?

I have recently been diagnosed with prostatitis due to some pains I've been having. I've been given an antibiotic for ten days. Haven't had the pain in quite some time so hopefully I'm good to go.

Peace

All of a sudden my dog started scratching nonstop. I knew it wasn't a flea problem because I put her Advantage every month. I took her a bath and she had a red rash on her front chest and front legs. I took her to the vet and he says it is an allergy. He gave her two injections and said that the scratching would stop immediately. He also gave her some antibiotics and steroids. She did get better but I worry it could be something else, possibly mites?

The only way to know for sure is for the vet to do a scratch test. Go back and have them to do one so you can find out what she is allergic to. maybe the shampoo you are using to bathe her in?

My girlfriends dog gets the same thing its only alligerys. Remember they will come and go with the seasons dont over bathe the dog about once a month or every 2 weeks is good enought try useing anti-bacterial hand soap thats what we use and have never had a problem. best of luck

look for black stuff in your dogs ears. my dog had mites and thats how you could tell they were there.

hi,it sounds like your dog has dermititis, which makes dogs scratch like buggery, i personally would take him back to the vets and get another opinion, preferrably a different vet! also swimming your dog at the beach will help heaps, if not the beach a warm salty bath.

I have a throat infection that hurts really bad, no runny nose or other symptoms at all. the doctor said it was probably a virus but he gave me antibiotics anyway. Should I take the antibiotics? Could it be bacterial?

If he did indeed prescribe you antibiotics, you should take them most likely. He probably noticed that you had a bacterial infection in the first place. you know, you could have strep throat?Have you ever considered that?

im being treated with antibiotics. is there anything else, like exercise and fluid intake, i can do to relieve the symptoms?

Asthma is really a serious condition that has a big effect to affected individual. Fortunately, nowadays there are many drugs available that may help you managed asthma attacks. and yes it is useful for treating chronic bronchitis, emphysema, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). this article discuss a little more about how can we prevent it and what drug can best assist you to.

Asthma causes recurring airway obstructions. it is a chronic inflammatory disease that could be caused by environmental triggers, or it may use a genetic background. Asthma causes wheezing, coughing, breathlessness, and chest tightness. Sufferers could possibly avoid the environmental triggers to reduce some occurrences of asthma attacks.

COPD is really a chronic pulmonary disease that includes bronchitis and emphysema. Chronic only denotes that it’s a thing that has affected one’s health for some time. these diseases create a blockage inside the airways of the lungs. it is difficult to get enough oxygen to perform the simplest of daily functions. Exacerbation can be a sudden worsening of symptoms that may last a day or two, and often require antibiotics, steroids, and perhaps hospitalization.

Seasonal allergies are related to pollens which are produced with the year. Spring offers pollens released through the trees because they get up after the winter. Summertime release both grass and weed allergens. inside the fall, ragweed is prominent. Seasonal allergies modify the lining with the nose, eyes, and even the lungs in individuals who suffer from asthma.

Cystic fibrosis causes excess mucus to build up inside a person’s pancreas, digestive tract, and the lungs. it prevents a body to effectively break down and absorb food. It’s a common lung disease in young adults and youngsters which can be probably an inherited disease that often leads to death when young.

Sarcoidosis is a disease that can appear and disappear on and off within a person’s everyday life. it causes an inflammatory reaction of the tissues in your body, and may affect nearly any organ. Generally, it boils down to the lungs or even the lymph nodes.

To wind down the muscles surrounding the airways, Spiriva may be used to make breathing less complicated. Much more, it may also decrease the inflammation of airways. Patients that are in the middle of creating a severe asthma attack should not use this medicine. Doctors should be consulted prior to beginning the use of any medication. People accept severe airway inflammations and obstructions and may get rest from the usage of this medication.

Blazhe Ilijaoturay knows pretty much all healthcare remedies on the market, and seems to have diligently weighed the substantial benefits and drawbacks connected with Spiriva and trust it to be the first currently available. In case you wants to get more info, keep reading.

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