For patients and caregivers, understanding clinical progression, diagnostic imaging results, and pharmacological treatment options is vital for managing acute and chronic health conditions.
An infection involves the colonization of tissues in the body by bacteria, viruses or fungi. During the infection process, the infectious agent enters the body, identifies cells containing specific factors that facilitate infection, and then colonizes cells or tissues, leading to disease.
Read more →
Your liver contains thousands of enzymes that carry out chemical reactions required for proper metabolism, digestion and to help detoxify your body. Elevated liver enzymes in your bloodstream indicate the presence of liver damage that causes the enzymes to leach from your liver cells into your bloodstream.
Read more →
Each breast contains an extensive system of glandular tissue, surrounded by fatty tissue, blood vessels, lymph nodes, connective tissue and nerves. Diseases affecting the breast can cause inflammation, breast irritation and tissue damage.
Read more →
Your abdominal cavity contains a number of essential organs and tissues, including your stomach, intestines, kidneys, liver, spleen, pancreas and large blood vessels such as your aorta.
Read more →
Each breast contains a series of milk ducts, which make up a part of breast glandular tissue. These tubes run from the milk-producing breast lobules to the nipple, allowing for lactation and breastfeeding.
Read more →
Many cases of breast cancer are estrogen-responsive, which means the tumor grows in response to estrogen. Tamoxifen is a therapeutic agent designed to block the effects of estrogen.
Read more →
The breasts contain large amounts of glandular tissue, organized into milk-producing lobules and milk-transporting ducts. The lobules and ducts form a complex tree-like structure that connects to the nipple.
Read more →
Shared nerves carry pain sensations from the lower abdomen and scrotum, which contains the testicles and other male reproductive structures. For this reason, pain originating in either location is often felt in both areas.
Read more →
Infection of the breast, a condition called mastitis, can occur when microbes enter cracks in the skin and colonize within a milk duct, usually but not always at a time in life when the mother is nursing. Mastitis can be caused by bacteria, viruses, and fungal microbes, and can affect one or both of the breasts.
Read more →
Your brain relies on small molecules, called neurotransmitters, to facilitate signaling between brain cells, as well as transmission of signals to nerves throughout the body. One neurotransmitter important for signaling in the brain is dopamine.
Read more →
Learn about the stages of a tooth abscess, from tooth decay to infection and spread. Understand how to prevent and treat this serious dental condition.
Read more →
The digestive system is made up of a series of tissues that mechanically and chemically digest food and absorb nutrients into the body to sustain life. The length of the digestive system is lined with membranes that contain specialized digestive cells, connective tissue and a rich supply of blood vessels.
Read more →
Your body contains hundreds of hormones circulating within your blood or stored within various tissues of your body. Maintaining a proper level of each hormone proves important; too much or too little of a single hormone can lead to a hormonal imbalance.
Read more →
The thickness of your blood depends on specialized blood cells, called platelets. After tissue damage, your platelets activate, clump together and begin to synthesize protein fibers that hold the cells together in a blood clot to prevents bleeding from the injury site.
Read more →
The liver is an essential organ responsible for detoxifying the body. Liver cancer is a form of cancer that develops from cells of the liver and the bile duct. According to the National Cancer Institute, 22,620 new cases of liver cancer were diagnosed in the United States in 2009, and liver cancer caused 18,160 deaths.
Read more →
Hair loss can occur for a number of reasons: genetically determined alopecia, severely damaging hair treatments or extensions, a hormonal imbalance, or lifestyle factors such as dietary habits.
Read more →
A fibroid breast tumor, or fibroadenoma, is a benign breast growth that can occur in one or both breast. A fibroadenoma feels like a firm and rubbery lump that is usually painless to the touch and can be moved within the breast.
Read more →