Items tagged “emergency medicine”

Renal angiomyolipomas (AML) are a type of benign renal neoplasm encountered both sporadically and as part of a phakomatosis, most commonly tuberous sclerosis. They are considered one of a number of tumors with perivascular epithelioid cellular differentiation (PEComas) and are composed of vascul...

Chronic bilateral airspace opacification is a subset of the differential diagnosis for airspace opacification. An exhaustive list of all possible causes of chronic bilateral airspace opacities is long, but a useful framework is as follows: inflammatory sarcoidosis granulomatosis with polyangi...

Interstitial ectopic pregnancy, also known as intramural ectopic pregnancy, is an important type of ectopic pregnancy with higher risks of rupture and hemorrhage compared to usual tubal ectopic pregnancies.  Terminology The term interstitial pregnancy is sometimes erroneously interchanged with...

Intussusception occurs when one segment of bowel is pulled into itself or a neighboring loop of the bowel by peristalsis. It is an important cause of an acute abdomen in children and merits timely ultrasound examination and reduction to preclude significant sequelae including bowel necrosis. Whe...

The American Association for the Surgery of Trauma (AAST) renal injury scale, most recently updated in 2018, is the most widely used grading system for renal trauma. The 2018 update incorporates "vascular injury" (i.e. pseudoaneurysm, arteriovenous fistula) into the imaging criteria for viscera...

The differential diagnosis of small bowel fold thickening is broad. Diffuse fold thickening may be "regular and smooth" or "irregular and nodular". Regular, smooth generalized thickening edema congestive cardiac failure (CCF) hypoalbuminemia lymphatic obstruction angioneurotic edema infec...

Subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH) is a type of extra-axial intracranial hemorrhage and denotes the presence of blood within the subarachnoid space. Epidemiology Patients tend to be older middle age, typically less than 60 years old 2. Subarachnoid hemorrhage accounts for 3% of stroke and 5% of str...

Subdural hemorrhage (SDH) (also commonly called a subdural hematoma) is a collection of blood accumulating in the subdural space, the potential space between the dura and arachnoid mater of the meninges around the brain. Subdural hemorrhage can happen in any age group, is mainly due to head trau...

Endovascular aneurysm repair (EVAR) was first pioneered in the early 1990s. Since then the technology of the devices has rapidly progressed and EVAR is now widely used as a treatment of thoracic and abdominal aortic aneurysms (AAA). The advantages of endovascular repair over open repair are tha...

Cerebral venous thrombosis (CVT) (plural: thromboses) refers to the occlusion of venous channels in the cranial cavity, including dural venous thrombosis, cortical vein thrombosis and deep cerebral vein thrombosis. They often co-exist and the clinical presentation among them is very similar and ...

Renal vascular pedicle injury  is a severe form of renal trauma, which if not recognized and treated expediently, can lead to the loss of the kidney.  Radiographic features CT Contrast enhanced CT is the Imaging modality of choice. On CT it is recognized as a non-enhancing kidney. Perirenal h...

Small bowel obstruction (SBO) accounts for 80% of all mechanical intestinal obstruction, the remaining 20% results from a large bowel obstruction. It has a mortality rate of ~5%. Clinical presentation The classical presentation is cramping abdominal pain and abdominal distension with nausea an...

Colonic diverticulitis (plural: diverticulitides), is a complication of colonic diverticulosis, and one of the presentations of diverticular disease. Differentiating one from the other is critical since uncomplicated diverticulosis is mostly asymptomatic and acute diverticulitis is a potentially...

A perforated appendix is one of the complications of acute appendicitis. When appendicitis is left untreated, necrosis (gangrene) of the appendiceal wall can occur and progress to a focal rupture. Epidemiology The rate of perforated appendix vary from 16% to 40%, with higher incidence in youn...

Sternoclavicular joint injuries are uncommon and can vary from a mild joint capsule sprain to serious dislocation. This article is focused on sternoclavicular joint dislocations.  Epidemiology Most cases result from indirect trauma 5, especially high-speed motor vehicle accidents. They can rar...

Posterior dislocations of the hip, although uncommon, are the most common direction of dislocation for this joint, outnumbering anterior dislocations 9:1. Pathology It most frequently occurs in the setting of significant trauma, given a large amount of force required. The most common scenario ...

Rectal foreign bodies are not uncommon in emergency departments around the world and potentially cause management difficulties. Epidemiology The incidence varies according to the region, said to be uncommon in Asia and most common in Eastern Europe 1. Typically patients are male with a wide ra...