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RSV

RSV

LifeBridge Health Pediatrics has seen a surge in RSV cases, especially in children under the age of 2.

What is RSV?

Respiratory syncytial (sin-SISH-ul) virus is a common virus that affects the nose, throat, and lungs. It usually causes a mild, cold-like illness but it can be serious for some children, causing illnesses such as bronchiolitis and pneumonia.

What are the symptoms of RSV?

RSV may not be severe at first but can get worse. Early symptoms of RSV may include:

 

  • Runny nose
  • Decrease in appetite
  • Cough, which may lead to wheezing or difficulty breathing

 

In infants under the age of six months, symptoms may include:

 

  • Irritability
  • Decreased activity
  • Decreased appetite
  • Apnea (pauses in breathing more than 10 seconds)

 

Fever may not always occur with RSV infections.

How can you help your child be healthy?

  • Wash your hands or use hand sanitizer often.
  • Cover your coughs and sneezes.
  • Avoid touching your eyes, nose, and face.
  • Do not kiss or share cups and utensils with people who have cold symptoms.
  • Clean and disinfect surfaces that are touched often, such as toys, cellphones, and doorknobs

When should I seek help?

Call your pediatrician if your child is:

 

  • Having difficulty breathing
  • Not drinking enough fluids
  • Experiencing worsening symptoms (cough, fever)

Follow your doctor’s advice.

Your pediatrician’s office or pediatric urgent care is a good option for most patients, keeping the Emergency Department option for the sicker kids who need it the most.

Children’s Urgent Care, part of LifeBridge Health’s Express Care Urgent Care Centers, has three locations: Towson, Bel Air and Westminster: https://ucc4kids.com/

Flu Vaccine:

Influenza A and B are also on the rise in many parts of the country, and we are seeing an uptick in Maryland as well. Please get yourself and your children vaccinated against the flu as well.

In the News:

Watch our pediatricians on the news to learn more information and stay up to date:

 

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Rheumatology Care

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Rheumatology Care

Championing care to restore, maintain and improve immune system health 
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Rheumatology Care

Your Pathway to a Personalized Team of Clinical Specialists

Rheumatic disease and conditions can make it difficult to manage your simplest daily tasks. If you are struggling with rheumatic-related conditions, let us help. The rheumatology experts at LifeBridge Health focus on providing high-quality care for patients seeking treatment for inflammatory and autoimmune disorders and musculoskeletal conditions. Our commitment to innovative diagnosis and treatment is focused on you and centered on your well-being.

Patient meeting with a rheumatologist
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Championing care to restore, maintain and improve immune system health 

Retinal Vein Occlusions

Retinal Vein Occlusions

Retinal vein occlusions happen when a blockage occurs either in the main vein of the retina or a smaller branch point in the retinal venous circulation. Since the main function of retinal veins is to carry blood away from the eye and back to the heart (retinal arteries bring blood into the eye from the heart), blood backs up in the retinal circulation, causing congestion forcing blood out of the vessels and into the retina. This causes bleeding and swelling in the retina, resulting in blurry vision and retinal damage. Vein occlusions tend to be associated with underlying high blood pressure, diabetes and glaucoma. They can also occur, however, in the absence of any underlying systemic disease.

Symptoms

Vein occlusions can cause blurred vision and in some cases the perception of floating spots.

Treatments

Retinal laser treatment may be helpful in stabilizing retinal swelling and preventing more bleeding, but in many cases it cannot restore vision. Retinal swelling may also be treated with special medications, which are injected painlessly into the vitreous cavity, but this therapy is considered experimental and needs to be proven in controlled research trials. The role of retinal surgery is less clear, and further research is needed to prove its long-term efficacy.

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Retinal Tear

Retinal Tear

A retinal tear occurs when the clear gel (vitreous humor) inside the eyeball cavity pulls away from its attachment to the retina (the nerve layer that lines the inside of the eyeball and transmits images to the brain). Sometimes the vitreous gel pulls hard enough to create a tear in the retina in one or more places.

Warning Signs

  • Flashing lights
  • New floaters involving either the central or peripheral vision

Treatments

Retinal tears can be repaired easily in the office with laser treatment. Laser burns are applied so that the tear is completely surrounded, forming a barrier preventing fluid from getting under the retina and causing a detachment. The term for this treatment is "laser retinopexy."

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Retinal Detachment

Retinal Detachment

A retinal detachment occurs when the clear gel (vitreous humor) inside the eyeball cavity pulls away from its attachment to the retina (the nerve layer that lines the inside of the eyeball and transmits images to the brain). When the vitreous gel pulls hard enough to create a tear in the retina in one or more places, fluid can pass through the tear and underneath the retina, causing the retina to become detached from the eyewall.

Symptoms

Key warning signs are:

 

  • Flashing lights
  • New floaters involving either the central or peripheral vision
  • Loss of peripheral vision
  • The perception that a “gray curtain” is moving across  your field of vision.

Treatments

Retinal detachments are repaired in the operating room using advanced microsurgical techniques. In some cases, a detached retina can be repaired with a scleral buckle. A scleral buckle is a device that is permanently placed around the eyeball to indent the wall of the eye, bringing the retina back into its natural position flush against the wall of the eye. In other cases, microsurgical instruments are introduced into the eye to flatten the retina, usually employing laser and a temporary bubble of gas to hold the retina in place as it heals. The gas bubble dissolves on its own over one to two months. In most cases, face-down positioning is required for a brief period of time in the immediate post-operative period. This process is known as vitrectomy, because it involves the removal of the natural vitreous gel from the eye cavity to facilitate gas placement and retinal re-attachment. In complicated cases of retinal detachment, both vitrectomy and a scleral buckle can be employed. In cases of limited retinal detachment, a gas bubble alone may be placed in the eye in the office setting with careful outpatient follow-up.


 

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Retinal Artery Occlusions

Retinal Artery Occlusions

Retinal artery occlusions are caused by blockages in the retinal arteries. The blockage can occur in the form of a blood clot or thrombus but can also be caused by a piece of clot that breaks off (embolus) from another major artery in the body and lodges in a retinal artery.

 

One of the key risk factors for retinal artery blockage is arteriosclerosis (hardening of the arteries).

 

As soon as a retinal artery becomes blocked, there is rapid loss of vision in the area of retina served by the artery. In cases involving the central retinal artery (the main artery supplying the entire retina), severe and sudden vision loss occurs. Without treatment, irreversible vision loss occurs after about 90 minutes

Treatments

 Unfortunately, there is no proven treatment yet. In many instances, an attempt is made to abruptly lower the eye pressure by removing a small amount of fluid from the eye in hopes of dislodging the clot, but it is rarely successful. Attempts to use laser to break up the clot have had very limited success, with the exception of a few case reports. One investigational method involves using systemic medication to dissolve the clot, but this medication must be delivered with an invasive catheter threaded through major arteries in the head and neck and is not without the risk of causing stroke and bleeding in the brain. When a retinal artery occlusion is detected, a careful systemic vascular evaluation is recommended.

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