Items tagged “emergencymedicine”

Achilles tendon tears are the most common ankle tendon injuries, and are most commonly seen secondary to sports-related injury, especially squash and basketball. Epidemiology There is strong male over-representation presumably as a result of the predominantly sport related etiology. Patients a...

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 most common form of the 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 along the media, forming a second blood-filled channel within th...

Aortic intramural hematoma (IMH) is an atypical form of aortic dissection due to hemorrhage into the wall from the vasa vasorum without an intimal tear. It is part of the acute aortic syndrome spectrum. Epidemiology Typically aortic intramural hematomas are seen in older hypertensive patients....

Osteonecrosis 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, and these sites are discussed individually...

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 (CCF) 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 CCFs are often secondary to trauma, and as such...

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 (plural: thromboses) 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 ...

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 involving appendix epiploica 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 infarction is grou...

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 results from fine granular roughening of the pericardium. Clinical presentation Pericardial friction rub may be heard. Pathology Causes viral acute idiopathic tuberculosis pyogenic acute rheumatic fever myocardial infarction: Dressler syndrome chronic renal fail...

Respiratory distress syndrome (RDS) is a relatively common condition resulting from insufficient production of surfactant that occurs in preterm neonates.  On imaging, the condition generally presents as bilateral and relatively symmetric diffuse ground glass lungs with low volumes and a bell-s...

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 ...

Midgut volvulus is a complication of malrotated bowel. It may result in proximal bowel obstruction with resultant ischemia if prompt treatment is not instigated. Epidemiology A midgut volvulus of malrotated bowel can potentially occur at any age but in approximately 75% of cases occur within a...

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a relatively common acquired chronic relapsing demyelinating disease involving the central nervous system, and is the second most common cause of neurological impairment in young adults, after trauma 19. Characteristically, and by definition, multiple sclerosis is diss...