• Hypertriglyceridemia And Bloodletting

    From ironjustice@21:1/5 to All on Thu Jan 2 02:11:52 2020
    A man's blood was so fatty it looked like milk. Doctors used an ancient practice to save him

    https://calgaryherald.com/news/world/a-mans-blood-was-so-fatty-it-looked-like-milk-doctors-used-an-ancient-practice-to-save-him/wcm/6982246c-bae9-4815-a743-2a37e6937505

    When doctors tried to reverse the extreme condition, the man’s milk-blood ended up clogging a filtering machine

    NATIONAL POST STAFF Updated: December 31, 2019

    Keep reading but be warned — this is pretty gross.

    German doctors had to use an ancient, dangerous treatment to save a man, 39, after his lifestyle and existing medical conditions ended up thickening his blood to the point that it resembled milk. No, seriously. It was more white than red.

    Science Alert reported that the man presented himself at an emergency department in Cologne suffering from nausea, vomiting, headaches and a lack of alertness. He was functioning just above a vegetative state.

    The man was symptomatic of hyperviscosity and extreme hypertriglyceridemia, doctors would discover. Hyperviscosity can lead to seizures because blood can’t flow around the body; extreme hypertriglyceridemia means you have far too many triglycerides,
    the matter found stored in fat cells in human blood.

    Triglycerides are made when the body converts calories as you eat, to store for later use. Normally, in the human body, they should be present at around 150 milligrams per litre of blood, or less. Science Alert reports this patient had a (literally)
    blood-curdling 18,000 milligrams per litre.

    As a first attempted solution to his problem, and with the patient falling unconscious, medics put the man on what’s called a plasmapheresis filter. This draws out harmful antibodies from the blood — including, say, an overload of triglycerides —
    and pumps you full of clean, replacement blood.

    But extreme hyperviscosity can make plasmapheresis a tricky process, and when doctors tried to reverse the extreme hypertriglyceridemia, the man’s milk-blood ended up clogging the machine. He had deteriorated so badly, it was reported, because of his
    diabetes, in addition to a bad diet and resulting obesity.

    As a last-ditch solution to save the man, doctors resorted to bloodletting, a practice that began in ancient Greece but later fell out of use because it did far more harm than good. Back then, it was done by doctors who used an array of grim cutting
    tools, or leeches, brought in to suck out a patient’s “bad” blood.

    (See? Told you it was gross.)

    Bloodletting’s earliest practitioners believed that blood didn’t circulate, but actually pooled in the body’s extremities, and excess should be gotten rid of because it led to bad “humours.” In this case, bad humours or not, the medical team
    took two litres of blood from the man. When this was replaced with new red blood cells, plasma, and saline, it actually worked. Doctors believe the result may open new possibilities when it comes to the use of extreme, presumably outdated practices.

    According to Science Alert, the researchers explained in their case note:

    “If plasmapheresis can not be done due to extreme hyperviscosity, our experience demonstrates that conventional bloodletting with replacement (fluids) may be an effective alternative. To our knowledge, this is the first report to describe this
    procedure.”

    Remarkably, the patient’s triglyceride levels soon lowered and he emerged from his medical crisis with no signs of the brain damage sometimes associated with people in similar states.

    As of yet, there is no word on the status of the clogged blood-switching machine.

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    A Man's Blood Turned So Thick And White, It Almost Killed Him

    PETER DOCKRILL27 FEB 2019

    https://www.sciencealert.com/a-man-s-blood-was-so-full-of-fat-it-turned-the-sickly-colour-of-milk

    Who loves ya.
    Tom


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