Items tagged “emergencymedicine”

Achilles tendon tears are the most common ankle tendon injuries, with microtears to full thickness tendon tears of the Achilles tendon and are most commonly seen secondary to sports-related injury, especially squash and basketball. Epidemiology There is strong male over-representation presumab...

The differential for air space opacities is extensive, and needs to be interpreted in context of chronicity (previous imaging) and clinical context. It is therefore useful to divide airspace opacities as follows: acute airspace opacities with lymph node enlargement acute airspace opacities: un...

Aortic dissection is the prototype and most common form of acute aortic syndromes and a type of arterial dissection. It occurs when blood enters the medial layer of the aortic wall through a tear or penetrating ulcer in the intima and tracks longitudinally along with the media, forming a second ...

Aortic intramural hematoma is an atypical form of aortic dissection due to a contained hemorrhage into the aortic wall usually from the vasa vasorum without an intimal tear. It forms part of the acute aortic syndrome spectrum along with penetrating atherosclerotic ulcer and classical aortic diss...

Osteonecrosis (plural: osteonecroses) is a generic term referring to the ischemic death of the constituents of bone. It has a wide variety of causes and can affect nearly any bone in the body. Most sites of involvement have an eponym associated with osteonecrosis of that area (see list below), a...

Boxer fractures are minimally comminuted, transverse fractures of the 5th metacarpal neck, and are the most common type of metacarpal fracture.  A boxer's knuckle is a separate entity, which is a tear of the metacarpophalangeal joint sagittal band that causes subluxation of the associated exten...

Cecal volvulus describes torsion of the cecum around its mesentery which often results in obstruction. If unrecognised, it can result in bowel perforation and fecal peritonitis. Epidemiology Cecal volvulus accounts for ~10% of all intestinal volvuluses, and generally occur in somewhat younger ...

Caroticocavernous fistulas represent abnormal communication between the carotid circulation and the cavernous sinus. They can be classified as direct or indirect which are separate conditions with different etiologies.   Epidemiology Direct caroticocavernous fistulas are often secondary to tra...

Chronic unilateral airspace opacification is a subset of the differential diagnoses for airspace opacification. An exhaustive list of all possible causes of chronic unilateral airspace opacities is long, but a useful framework is as follows: neoplastic post obstructive lymphoma lymphocytic ...

Demyelination is incorrectly often equated to multiple sclerosis, whereas in reality it is a generic pathological term simply describing, as the word suggests, the loss of normal myelin around axons in the central nervous system. This should be distinguished from dysmyelination where the formati...

Dural venous sinus thrombosis is a subset of cerebral venous thrombosis, often coexisting with cortical or deep vein thrombosis, and presenting in similar fashions, depending mainly on which sinus is involved. As such, please refer to the cerebral venous thrombosis article for a general discuss...

Ectopia lentis refers to subluxation or dislocation of the lens of the eye secondary to dysfunction or disruption of zonular fibers. It is most commonly due to trauma. The commonest atraumatic etiologies are Marfan syndrome and homocystinuria. Pathology Etiology trauma systemic and syndromic...

Epiploic appendagitis is a rare self-limiting ischemic/inflammatory process that affects the appendices epiploicae of the colon and may either be primary or secondary to adjacent pathology. This article pertains to primary (spontaneous) epiploic appendagitis. The term, along with omental infarct...

False aneurysms, also known as pseudoaneurysms, are abnormal outpouchings or dilatation of arteries which are bounded only by the tunica adventitia, the outermost layer of the arterial wall. These are distinguished from true aneurysms, which are bounded by all three layers of the arterial wall. ...

Fibrinous pericarditis is an inflammatory process involving the pericardium, leading to a rough and granular appearance with numerous fibrous adhesions 4. Clinical presentation Pericardial friction rub may be heard. Pathology Etiology viral acute idiopathic tuberculosis pyogenic acute r...

Respiratory distress syndrome (RDS) is a relatively common condition that occurs in preterm neonates resulting from insufficient production of surfactant.  Terminology Respiratory distress syndrome is also known as hyaline membrane disease (this term is not favored as it reflects non-specific ...

Mesenteric ischemia, also commonly referred to as bowel or intestinal ischemia, refers to vascular compromise of the bowel and its mesentery that in the acute setting has a very high mortality if not treated expediently. Mesenteric ischemia is far more commonly acute than chronic in etiology. Th...

Intracranial hemorrhage (ICH) is a collective term encompassing many different conditions characterized by the extravascular accumulation of blood within different intracranial spaces. A simple categorization is based on location: intra-axial hemorrhage intracerebral hemorrhage basal ganglia ...

Lead poisoning or plumbism refers to the multi-organ toxicity exerted by exposure to lead. Manifestations differ based on a myriad of features including chronicity, exposure intensity, and age. Neurologic toxicity and hematologic toxicity are common features. Clinical manifestations vary, rangin...

Midgut volvulus is a complication of bowel malrotation usually seen in neonates and infants. Presentation is usually with proximal small bowel obstruction and bilious vomiting. Without prompt treatment, there is a real and significant risk of small bowel ischemia, significant associated morbidit...