Category: Conditions

MKSAP: 25-year-old woman with ankylosing spondylitis

Test your medicine knowledge with the MKSAP challenge, in partnership with the American College of Physicians. A 25-year-old woman is evaluated during a follow-up visit for an 18-month history of ankylosing spondylitis. She has minimal lower back pain …

Go quiet into the night

I know what you’re thinking: She’s cold-hearted, cruel, and unkind. But am I? Or are you? Grandma Lilly is 87-years-old and in the ICU. She’s on a ventilator with her wrists restrained to the side of the bed. Grandma can barely see because her eyes are…

Not all pathologists are created equal

Pathology and laboratory medicine services play a vital role in global health care and continuously improve patient care around the world. When it comes to your medical care, you have many options, and choosing the right professional could improve your…

MKSAP: 55-year-old man with severe COPD

Test your medicine knowledge with the MKSAP challenge, in partnership with the American College of Physicians. A 55-year-old man is evaluated in follow-up for severe COPD, which was diagnosed 2 years ago. He has had two exacerbations in the past year r…

Excellent surgeons those who are quick to recognize their mistakes

“Dr. Rahman, this is the nurse in OR 12, Dr. H is doing a robotic/laparoscopic hysterectomy. He thinks he’s injured the ureter and is requesting help. Are you available?” I knew what came next was going to be complex — challenging surgically, disruptiv…

We should not be in a hurry to label a sign or symptom pathognomonic

“Pathognomonia.” I do not believe this is a real word. That’s OK. I don’t care if it isn’t. I have wanted to write this little blurb several times over a period of a few years. My theme is related to what we physicians regard as pathognomon…

The day he stopped pretending to be sick

From second through fifth grade, I mastered the art of being sick. I got out of school, soccer practice and piano lessons so that I could be the child I wanted to be — not sick, but loved, cared for. Here was my recipe: 1. Wake up. 2. Feel anxious abou…

Does coffee lead to cardiac arrhythmias?

Coffee —”because of the caffeine which it holds,” described Dr. Henry Elsner in a 1911 review article in the journal of Hypertension and Arteriosclerosis — causes “increased rapidity of the heart’s action. It makes the heart irr…

MKSAP: 60-year-old man with a variable 2-hour postprandial blood glucose

Test your medicine knowledge with the MKSAP challenge, in partnership with the American College of Physicians. A 60-year-old man variable 2-hour postprandial blood glucose is evaluated during a routine follow-up examination. He has type 2 diabetes mell…

MKSAP: 60-year-old man with a variable 2-hour postprandial blood glucose

Test your medicine knowledge with the MKSAP challenge, in partnership with the American College of Physicians. A 60-year-old man variable 2-hour postprandial blood glucose is evaluated during a routine follow-up examination. He has type 2 diabetes mell…