Former president's breathing tube indicates severe pneumonia
Former President George H.W. Bush is being treated for pneumonia in intensive care at a Houston hospital where doctors are evaluating him before removing a breathing tube.
When a patient is not getting enough oxygen in the blood, doctors will insert a soft plastic breathing tube into the windpipe and connect the patient to a breathing machine called a ventilator.
The longer a patient has a breathing tube, the higher the risk of a secondary infection.
[...] when an improving patient can follow simple commands and has a strong enough cough, doctors will remove the tube and let the sedation wear off.
Coming off sedation can bring on delirium, especially for elderly patients, so doctors will monitor whether the patient is agitated and disoriented, Schwartz said.
The former president wrote to President-elect Donald Trump on Jan. 10, saying that he would be unable to attend Friday's inauguration because of doctor's orders: My doctor says if I sit outside in January, it will likely put me six feet under.
People diagnosed with the condition walk with shuffling steps, and brain scans suggest they have suffered small strokes.
[...] they do not have the characteristic tremors of Parkinson's disease, and they do not respond to drugs for Parkinson's.
Classic Parkinson's disease develops when cells that produce one of the brain's chemical messengers, called dopamine, begin to deteriorate and die.
Vascular parkinsonism can closely mimic a number of other disorders, including classic Parkinson's, progressive supranuclear palsy and excessive fluid on the brain.
The risk factors are the same as for stroke and heart disease: history of smoking, lack of exercise and poor diet.
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Since the condition does not respond well to drugs used to treat Parkinson's disease, treatment relies on lowering the risk factors for stroke.
Preventing falls is important, so a patient may receive physical therapy to improve balance.
Physical therapy can help with balance and walking, but the damage cannot be reversed, said Dr. Corneliu Luca, assistant professor of neurology at University of Miami.
