*Medical News Extra*
A person here recently complained that his lazy doctor did a "quickie"
DRE. He was right to be concerned. The "finger wave" (to borrow
somebody's pet name) should not be an in-and-out affair
Now scientists have discovered that a little extra finger wiggling, or
"Digital Rectal Massage" (DRM), may confer certain health benefits. So
next time you go to the uro, ask for the VIP Treatment (Swedish or
Shiatsu?)
Here are the details:
**Two doctors were awarded the 2006 *Ig-Nobel" Prize* in Medicine for
the following discovery**:
"Termination of Intractable Hiccups With Digital Rectal Massage"
Francis M. Fesmire of the University of Tennessee College of Medicine,
for his medical case report "Termination of Intractable Hiccups with
Digital Rectal Massage"; and Majed Odeh, Harry Bassan, and Arie Oliven
of Bnai Zion Medical Center, Haifa, Israel, for their subsequent
medical case report also titled "Termination of Intractable Hiccups
with Digital Rectal Massage."
Case Summary:
A 60-year-old man with acute pancreatitis developed persistent hiccups
after insertion of a nasogastric tube. Removal of the latter did not
terminate the hiccups which had also been treated with different
drugs, and several manoeuvres were attempted, but with no success.
Digital Rectal Massage was then performed, resulting in abrupt
cessation of the hiccups.
Recurrence of the hiccups occurred several hours later, and again,
they were terminated immediately with Digital Rectal Massage. No other
recurrences were observed. This is the second reported case
associating cessation of intractable hiccups with Digital Rectal
Massage. We suggest that this manoeuvre should be considered in cases
of intractable hiccups before proceeding with pharmacological agents.
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DRE Aborts Potential Heart Attack. . .
"Termination Of Paroxysmal Supraventricular Tachycardia By Digital
Rectal Massage"
A 71-year-old woman with an episode of paroxysmal supraventricular
tachycardia (PSVT ) complicated by angina pectoris and hypotension had
her arrhythmia abruptly terminated by Digital Rectal Massage (DRM)
after other vagotonic maneuvers had failed. DRM termination of PSVT
has not been heretofore reported. In treating PSVT by physical
vagotonic maneuvers, DRM may be preferable to other techniques because
of the decreased likelihood of complications noted with other such
maneuvers.
(Note: "Vagotonic" refers to stimulation of the vagus nerve, not what
some of you are thinking.)
And, as if there is anybody out there who actually needs a definition
of DRE: The doctor inserts a "digit", i.e., finger, into the rectum
and feels his way around a bit, looking for nodules.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/q...e&db=PubMed&li
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
So if you are a man with Pca, heart trouble and hiccups (or any
combination of the above), ask your doctor if Digital Rectal Massage
is right for you!
LFC
From the *Anals* of Medicine 
Linear Mode
