Electrolyte Disturbance, Spasm and ECG Disturbance

A case presented to a hospital and has been anonymised for patient confidentiality.

An elderly male was brought to the hospital with a reduced conscious level and evidence of respiratory distress.

No history was obtained from the patient, but there was the possibility that the patient had developed aspiration from poor swallowing.

The patient had known dementia and had previously undergone a thyroidectomy some years before.

Drug history was unknown as was the family history.

The patient apparently lived alone prior to admission to the hospital.

Physical examination on admission confirmed a right basal pneumonia and the patient underwent intubation, ventilation and antibiotic therapy was initiated.

The laboratory data revealed a low K of 2.7 and a low Ca of 4.7 in addition to evidence of infection with raised white cells and inflammatory markers.

A senior doctor suggested that the patient might have tetany to account for the breathing difficulty, and also for a potential swallowing disturbance. Moreover, the tentany may have resulted from the thyroidectomy in the past and hence, the patient probably had hypoparathyroidism and hypothyroidism.

On examining the patient, there was a loss of the outer 1/3 of the eye brows and a swollen face with pale skin consistent with hypothyroidism. There was a necklace scar confirming a thyroidectomy had occurred in the past. The reflexes were generally absent.
Applying a blood pressure cuff to the left arm provoked CarpoPedal Spasm (Trousseau's Sign) and Chvosteck's Sign was negative.

These physical features indeed suggested tetany and hypothyroidism.

ECG revealed atrial fibrillation and T wave inversion in the lateral leads.

It was suggested that a magnesium levelshould also be obtained in addition to thyroid hormone tests and a troponin T level.

The resident gave intravenous calcium gluconate and started K replacement whilst awaiting the results of the other tests.

However, the K level dropped further despite replacement. This was because the Mg proved to be half the normal level. The K cannot be corrected if the Mg level is Low.

Hence, the resident then gave an infusion of magnesium and within a few days, the K level had normalised and the Ca level was also increasing towards normal.

The ECG improved with normalisation of the T wave to the upright position and the patient was in sinus rhythm.

The thryoid tests came back with a TSH of 14 and low T3 and T4 confirming hypothyroidism. The Troponin T test was negative.

Thyroid hormone was commenced at low dose of 25 micrograms/day in view that the patient was elderly and might have underlying ischaemic heart disease.

Diagnosis in this case include:

• Tetany due to combined Hypocalcaemia dn Hypomagnesaemia
• Hypokalaemia due to Hypomagnesaemia
• Iatrogenic Hypothyroidism
  
• Iatrogenic Hypoparathyroidism
• Aspiration pneumonia
  

It was considered that the dementia-like state might improve with thyroid replacement as such problems can occur in profound hypothyroid states.

Moreover, this was a great example of how tetany can present. Tetany can be due to low Calcium or Magnesium, and in this patient, both were present.

The low Magnesium would have precipitated low potassium and the combined electrolyte and thyroid hormone dysequlibrium would have caused muscle weakness which could have lead to problems with swallowing and hence, aspiration pneumonia.

The lessons to be learnt hear are:

1. Always go back to the patient to test a hypothesis. In this case, the low calcium prompted the search for physical signs of Tetany. The positive physical sign and low K, lead to the thought of low magnesium that might otherwise have been missed.
2. If the patient has dangerously low electrolytes, they must be corrected on an urgent basis
3. Thyroid hormone replacement should be started at low dose in the elderly and gradually titrated up until the TSH and T4/T3 are normalised.
4. Electrolyte disturbance can cause ECG abnormalities that can resemble an ischaemic ECG. Moreover, low Ca and K can each precipitate a Long QT syndrome and hence, such patients are at risk of Torsade de Pointes. Thus, reversing such electrolyte abnormalities is required urgently.
   
5. Thyroid deficiency can cause reduced conscious level and even a dementia type picture. When starting replacement, always start at low dose in the elderly.

For a more detailed description, please see an appropriate textbook.

Please Consider......

Lonny Ashworth Welcome Back

Today has seen the return of Lonny Ashworth to our hospital, on this occasion, teaching the new first year residents about the use of ventilators.


Lonny has 33 years of ventilator experience and currently works at the Boise State University, USA.

Over the next few days, he will also be teaching nursing staff from around Japan about ventilator usage and they will be able to get hands on experience of modern ventilators and how
to manipulate the machine settings to provide optimal respiratory care for sick patients.



Lonny's knowledge of these machines and the physics / mechanics is just amazing and it is very worthwhile experiencing his annual visits to Japan.

Chest Pain, Collapse and Vomiting

A patient to another institutions ER department who presented with:

• Chest Pain
• Collapse

The patient had gone to a care centre earlier in the day, and on arriving there, the patient fell to the floor which was witnessed by her carer.

The patient had not lost consciousness but complained of severe chest pain followed by three episodes of vomiting.

The patient was then brought by ambulance to the ER department.

The patient suffered from dementia and was only able to say that there was chest pain. Sometime later, the patient said that there was also upper back pain.

There was no description from the admitting doctor of the quality of the pain or radiation.

The vomitus was of food only and contained no blood.

The previous medical history included dementia and untreated hypertension.

No other history was known.

On initial examination by the ER staff, the patient was afebrile, pulse 90 beats per minute, blood pressure 190/110, respiratory rate 18 per minute with oxygen sats of 90%.

Blood pressure in both arms was said to be the same.

Chest examination revealed bilateral crackles only with normal heart sounds.

Abdominal examination was said to be normal except for some epigastralgia but the chest pain at that time had resolved.

From history and examination differential diagnoses were formulated and included:

• Dissecting aortic aneurysm
• Acute myocardial infarction
• Unstable angina
• Acute perforation of an abdominal viscus
• Biliary colic
• Pancreatitis
• Oesophageal spasm

The ECG showed an old inferior myocardial infarction but nothing acute. The chest Xray was abnormal with evidence of possible tracheal shift to the right and a right paratracheal mass. The right basal lung appeared to be collapsed and there was an effusion at the left base.

This was an unexpected finding from the history as there was no apparent serious illness with this patient in the past.

The patient appeared confused but in obvious pain from the wincing of the face but pain was denied on several occasions.

Hands were cold and the radial pulse was felt to mildly collapse. There was still a wide pulse pressure in the blood pressure despite intravenous anti-hypertensive therapy in the ER. Quinke Sign, Corrigan Sign and DeMusset Sign of aortic regurgitation were negative.

JVP was not raised. Frank sign of the earlobe was positive suggesting some coronary artery disease.

Trachea was depressed (tracheal tug) and mildly deviated to the right. There were no cervical lymph nodes present.

Heart examination revealed a very subtle murmur of aortic regurgitation with the occasional Austin Flint murmur that was no present on every cardiac cycle.

Lung examination revealed dullness at both bases with right basal crackles. On pressing the sternum, this reproduced some central chest pain but it was uncertain whether this was the same as the presenting chest pain as the patient could not describe the problem.

Abdominal examination revealed no AAA but on auscaultation there was a left renal bruit.

Pulses were equal in the upper limbs and femoral areas. The left dorsalis pedis was weaker than the right.

In summary, this patient had a sudden collapse without loss of consciousness, onset of central chest pain and upper back pain followed by vomiting. The patient had later complained of epigastralgia .

The examination had revealed a collapsing pulse and the murmur of aortic regurgitation, right basal crackles and an left renal bruit with a slight inequality of the dorsalis pedis arteries.

Pulling all the main features together to make one unifying diagnosis, it was considered to be a Proximal to Distal Dissenting Aortic Aneurysm.

CT scan showed some minor right basal lung collapse, no obvious apical problem, but the aorta was slightly abnormal.

The advice was to

• Obtain expert radiological advice on the CT scan
• Obtain an urgent cardiac echo to observe the aortic valve and to check for a potential tamponade
• To obtain a doppler study of the kidneys to assess blood flow to ascertain if there was an obstruction to the arterial orifice from a dissection.

The radiologist had confirmed that the CT findings were consistent with an aortic dissection and the patient was admitted under the appropriate specialty.

DIAGNOSIS: Aortic Dissection

This case markedly shows how a history and detailed examination with the basics of an ECG and chest Xray can lead one to the diagnosis of dissection.

Never rely purely on upper limb pulses being equal; they can be equal and there can still be a dissection.

A chest Xray can aid with the diagnosis if there is a widening of the mediastinum and in some cases there can be a left sided pleural effusion which can be a haemothorax due to the dissection. In this case, there was a left sided pleural effusion, but the effusion was not tested , so it remained unknown as to its origin.

Echocardiography is very important as it can show valvular insufficiency and tamponade.

The abdominal bruit was a gift sign in this case as it signified narrowing of an arterial foramen which suggested abdominal extension of the dissection.

The CT scan here was helpful to give more weight to the diagnosis although it was used to confirm the diagnosis rather than to make a surprise diagnosis.

Rectal, Rectal, Rectal !!!!!

Dear Bloggers

This case has been anonymised for patient confidentiality.

An elderly female patient with a two month history of watery diarrhoea was admitted to another hospital. The diarrhoea had started gradually and built up to a peak which had plateaued at 15x per day!! The diarrhoea was described as painful and in the lower abdomen. There was no blood and no mucus in the stool.

The patient described loss of appetite, weight loss of 7 kg and night sweats for the preceding 1 month prior to admission.

On further questioning, the stool was described as looking like 'paper' as it was thin when she produced it, just like paper.

However, the patient had been seen at another hospital where she was told that the problem was irritable bowel syndrome.

Having asked the patient if any doctor had in the last 2 months performed a rectal examination, the answer was NO.

The patient presented to hospital because of the development of urinary frequency, stool-coloured urine and production of gas per urethra at the end of micturition (pneumaturia). The patient also had a feeling of always needing to go to do stool which is known as Tenesmus which is usually an ominous symptom of cancer.

There was no previous medical history and the patient was taking no medications.

There was no relevant family history whatsoever.

Review of systems: No joint pain, no eye discomfort, no myalgias, no bone pain, no chest complaints.

Physical examination revealed a fever of 37.9 degrees C, normal vitals otherwise.

Cardiovascular and Respiratory examinations were unremarkable.

Abdominal examination revealed tenderness in the suprapubic and both iliac fossae. There was no costovertebral angle tenderness. There was no rebound tenderness and no guarding. An indiscrete mass could be palpated.

Bloods revealed a neutrophil leucocytosis, raised CRP and LDH. All other bloods were normal.

CXR was normal.

Differential Diagnosis

From the history of weight loss, appetite loss, night sweats, increasing diarrhoea without blood/mucus and new onset symptoms of UTI are consistent with an advanced colonic tumour NOT irritable bowel syndrome.

Other differential diagnoses should include inflammatory bowel disease but this is somewhat unusual in the absence of bloody diarrhoea. Also, patients will sometimes develop extraintestinal manifestations affecting the eyes (iritis), joints (arthritis), skin (erythema nodosum) etc, which this patient did not have.

Diverticulitis should also be considered, as post-inflammatory masses can occur which cause stricture and can invade the bladder.

CT scan of this patient revealed a colonic mass attaching to the bladder and with air seen inside the bladder which was unsurprising.

Two mistakes were made in the management of this patient.

Firstly, no Rectal Examination was ever done. 45% of all colonic malignancies present in the rectum and are therefore detectable with the tip of the finger! If performed two months ago, this could have perhaps been picked up at a stage when it could have been more amenable to surgical therapy.

Secondly, this patient had a fever and urinary signs of infection including faeces in the urine, white cells >100/hpf , 2+ bacteria and blood. However, the fatal mistake was to rely on urine culture which was negative. Hence, no antibiotic therapy was given on admission. This was clearly wrong as the patient has symptoms and signs of a UTI. Moreover, only 50% of urine cultures prove positive despite a UTI being present. Therefore, giving antibiotics such as a fluoroquinolone antibiotic would be advisable e.g. levofloxacin, as the patient was not being sick, the fluoroquinolones are rapidly absorbed and are effective against gram negative bacteria.

However, the diagnosis could have soon been established by performing a rigid sigmoidoscopy o admission to hospital as again another 25% of colonic cancers can be picked up where they occur in the sigmoid area. [please note 5% occur in the descending colon, 10% in the transverse colon and 15% in the ascending colon].

Thus, 70% of colonic tumour can be potentially picked up with the aid of a finger tip and a rigid signmoidoscope. Simple but rapid and effective in establishing a cause.

The Lessons to be Learnt here include:

• In patient with any lower GI symptoms ALWAYS DO A RECTAL EXAMINATION. It is negligent to avoid doing one, and relying on CT to make a diagnosis in this circumstance is incorrect. CT is a guide only.

• The patient had symptoms of OVERFLOW DIARRHOEA. This occurs when there is a blockage in the colon either by a internal occlusion [for example constipation, tumour] or external compression [e.g. invading non-colonic tumour]. Hard stool is unable to pass through the small hole produced by the compression. The liquid stool within the right colon migrates over the obstructed harder stool and through the stenosis of the colon to produce tape-like stool or diarrhoea, just as in the case of this patient. Thus, taking a decent history about the consistency of the stool should have set of warning alarms to do a rectal examination and rigid sigmoidoscopy at the bedside.

• The patient clearly had developed a fistula from bowel to bladder with subsequent infection. Relying on culture alone is not correct. Look at the history, physical, vital signs [such as fever] and other laboratory data and they ALL point to a UTI. Hence, patient should have been treated on suspicion of infection which might otherwise progress to a complicated UTI.

Please consider..............

Devil's Grip

A young adult male was admitted to another institution with severe upper chest pain that awoke him from sleep.

He had been previously well and had no serious underlying problems.

The pain was located in his upper chest and was severe (9/10) and made worse by lying flat. The pain was squeezing in nature, radiated to his back and was non-pleuritic. There was no associated breathlessness, cough, sputum or haemoptysis. The pain did not radiate to his neck, jaw or arms. He felt nauseated and sweaty but had not vomited.

He also complained of right upper quadrant abdominal pain. He had no other abdominal symptoms including the absence of diarrhoea, constipation, jaundice or malena.

On direct questioning, he denied doing any recent heavy lifting. He complained of no neck pain although he did mentioned that he had new onset 'katakori'. He did not have a stressful occupation.

Previous history included hyperlipidaemia, appendicetomy.

He was taking no regular medications.

He was a previous smoker having given up last year.

When he was initially examined there was a positive finding of fever which was low grade. The chest examination was unrevealing. Abdominal examination showed some right upper quadrant tenderness but no organomegally.

All bloods were normal except for a raised neutrophil count, low lymphocytes and rising CRP.

Initial differential diagnoses included;

• Acute MI
• Unstable angina
• Variant angina
• PE
• Aortic dissection
• Spontaneous pneumothoraces
• Spontaneous rupture of oesophagus with surgical emphysema
• Oesophageal spasm
• Gastritis
• Pericarditis

The serial ECGs revealed no pathological changes.

Chest radiograph showed no evidence of surgical emphysema, pneumothorax or enlargement of the superior mediastinum.

CT chest was performed and dissection was ruled out.

Echocardiogram of the heart revealed some mild left ventricle asynergy and abdominal scanning was normal.

In view of the abnormal echocardiogram result, the patient underwent coronary angiography which was normal.

Hence, despite the serious pains, no major abnormality could be found.

On further review on attending the same institution for review, the pain had mostly resolved, but he was left with some persistent abdominal discomfort and blood tests were still abnormal.

Examination was completely unremarkable.

The only major abnormality was the evidence of an inflammatory /　infective episode. The mild LV asynergy made me consider a coxsackie infection. However, the CK and ECG were normal.

The diagnosis to be somewhat unusual and referred to as Bornholm Disease, but also known as Pleurodynia or Devil's Grip.

This is a viral infection caused by Coxsackie B virus (1-5 isotypes) affecting the diaphragmatic and intercostal muscles. It causes painful spasm and fever, and it can simulate the painful and potentially serious pathologies consider above. The condition occurs in summer months (hence, at this time) and adults are affected to a greater degree than children.

Having reviewed several texts, the general description is poorly reported with there being no definite bedside diagnostic criteria although a rising titre of anti-coxsackie antibody should be normally be checked . However, this is a diagnosis of inclusion when all other serious diagnoses have been ruled out.

Pleurodynia generally resolves with 6 days and treatment is with analgesics.

Don't Ignore Your Patient's Symptoms

This patient was admitted to a hospital and details have been anonymised.

The patient is an elderly male with a long history of rheumatoid arthritis who been admitted with non-specific symptoms of

• fever
• malaise
• back pain

The patient was vague and confused so was not able to answer questions clearly, but it appeared that there were no localising symptoms to the chest, CNS, abdomen, genitourinary tract, joints or skin.

There was no other significant history.

The patient had been taking long term steroid (prednisolone 5mg / day) and NSAIDs. The patient had not been on any DMARDs.

Physical examination performed by another doctor was described as generally unrevealing except for the signs of cold shock, and features of chronic steroid administration which included a Moon Face, a Buffalo hump, Centripetal obesity and the obvious signs of advanced RA of the hands.

Blood results suggested renal failure, sepsis and DIC, and he underwent renal ultrasound scanning which revealed an infected hydronephrotic right kidney.

As the coagulation was deranged, the patient who would have normally had nephrostomy tube insertion instead had a double J stent inserted from renal pelvis to bladder in order to allow drainage of the infected kidney.

Microbiological results revealed the infecting organism to be Proteus mirabilis.

He was also treated with broad spectrum antibiotics and received iv steroid replacement in view of the real potential for an Addisonian crisis in view of his prolonged period having received oral steroids for the rheumatoid arthritis over the years.

The patient's inflammatory markers began to settle and the renal failure improved. However, the patient developed an ensuing haemolytic anaemia with raised bilirubin, raised reticulocytes, but normal Coombe's test. Other testing for GI evidence of bleeding was negative.

It was clear that there was some process still driving the haemolysis despite the improving infection from the Genitourinary tract.

The back pain had essentially been overlooked because the patient had had a long history of back pains and of course, an infected kidney can also cause back pain. However, other pathology such as infection which could be causing this back pain had not be investigated and excluded and moreover, the infection was supposed to be improving and therfore one would have expected the back pain to also get better!

When the patient was questioned, he said that the pain in his back had changed and had become worse than usual. It was so painful, that the usual pain medications were not proving to be effective.

It was therefore decided to perform a CT scan of the lower abdomen and back which astoundingly revealed a psoas abscess!!!!!

What this case shows is not to ignore or overlook the most trivial of symptoms as they may lead to a diagnosis that had clearly not been considered on admission to hospital. Back pain is a very common symptom especially in patients with arthritis. However, never forget that RA patient by dint of their autoimmune state are relatively immunodeficient and in addition, the patient had been taking steroids further impacting on immune suppression. That puts them at greater risk for infections.

The change in the nature of the back pain and the fact that it was enough for the patient to complain about it was enough for it to be investigated. Just because a patient has a chronic condition does not mean to say that it should not be investigated during an admission to hospital as the condition may have deteriorated or become complicated, as in this case by infection.

Let's suppose the patient had COPD. Just because the patient has a chronic pulmonary condition does not mean to say if breathlessness gets worse then it should not be investigated, does it?! Without such investigation, a pneumothorax, infection, PE, tumour etc would be missed. Hence, the same is for other areas of the body including the back or any other chronically affected area / organ system.

Basically, this boils down to Listening to Your Patient and taking them seriously. Sometimes in these chronically ill patients, it is better to over investigate and come up with normal results than to under investigate and miss the diagnosis.

Remember, that patients who are elderly or immunosuppressed for whatever reason will not always show a raised white count, fever, tachycardia etc in response to infection. In such patients, have a low threshold for treating.

It proves that in this case, despite an abscess being present, the inflammatory markers were improving!! The main feature for making certain that the patient was scanned, was the fact that there had to be a severe pathological process driving the haemolytic anaemia.

The haemloysis was probably due to localised-subacute DIC and the anaemia resolved once the abscess was drained.

This patient underwent retroperitoneal drainage of the abscess and full microbiological results revealed Proteus mirabilis as in the urine.

Things to Remember:

• Listen to your patient
• Examine all the areas complained about by the patient
• Investigate affected areas
• Treat !

Things to Remember About Seizures

A young man who was admitted with a seizure. He had a childhood history of seizures but had not had an episode for 10 years.

The previous evening, he had been awake until 4am and had not eaten any breakfast the following morning. At 11 am he had a seizure that was observed by his friend and this was Tonic in nature and associated with the apnoea and cyanosis. The patient did not bite his tongue and had no urinary incontinence. In fact, the patient had some retrograde and antegrade amnesia for a short period prior to and after the seizure, and he could not remember getting up from the floor and walking around in a confused manner following the seizure.

He had no other relevant previous medical history and took no regular medications. He drank no alcohol but smokes. He has never driven a vehicle because of his fear of seizures.

On further questioning, he explained that he had new back pain. He also had a slight headache but no neck stiffness or photophobia. It was noticed that he had a swollen Right upper eyelid and he was asked if he had bruised his eye from the fall with seizure. In fact, he reported that he had developed an eye infection several days ago and had been using antibiotic drops. These drops had been opened 2 years ago and had not refrigerated-- thus, they were likely to be contaminated. The drug was Levofloxacin.

On examination he was afebrile but felt warm to touch. He was alert and jovial.

Vital signs were otherwise normal. In fact, all of the physical examination including cardiovascular, respiratory, abdominal, CNS and PNS exams were entirely normal. He had a bruise over his right upper back that was fresh but not painful when pressing the ribs. He denied any vertebral body pain. He had no neck stiffness.

Blood results were normal except for a raised white cell count that was consistent with a recent seizure. CRP was normal.

Chest Xray was normal with no rib fractures present. CT head showed a normal brain.

So, this man had a Tonic Seziure and this was on a background of previous epilepsy plus recent tiredness and possible hypoglycaemia. I say possible hypoglycaemia because no blood sugar was taken to determine this. The patient had been taking out-of-date Levofloxacin eye drops and any eye drop can get into the systemic circulation. If one checks the side effects of Levofloxacin, one such effect is Seizures !!

Hence, there may possibly be a Drug Induced effect from a fluoroquinolone drug.

Things to Remember:

• Ask the patient about every abnormality you see e.g. bruised eyes, grazes to skin, wounds etc. DON'T TAKE IT FOR GRANTED that the problem is due to the current problem e.g. in this case falling over with a seizure. As is clearly demonstrated in this case, asking him about his eye revealed that he was taking an antibiotic which can cause seizures!

• ALWAYS check if patient has signs of Meningitis

• ALWAYS check the Blood Sugar

• TAKE A HISTORY of things that cause the seizures e.g. lack of sleep, hypoglycaemia, flashing lights, alcohol

• FIND OUT if patient drives a vehicle! If they do, they should be advised to STOP DRIVING. You have a responsibility to the patient and the general public to inform the patient about driving cessation from epilepsy

• Check URINE as UTIs can induced seizure in persons with history of seizures.

• ALWAYS, ALWAYS, ALWAYS ASK ABOUT DRUGS and PLEASE check the drug side effects and ADVERSE REACTIONS PROFILE as in doing so, you may find out that the drug induces seizures.

• REMEMBER THAT RAISED WHITE COUNT DOES NOT ALWAYS MEAN INFECTION; the process of seizure activity causes white cells adherent to the vascular endothelium to fall off into the blood stream thereby elevating the peripheral circulating white count.

Have a nice weekend!

Kyorin Daigaku-- Dr Stein and Dr Aoki

Last night I attended Dr Stein and Dr Aoki's combined conference hosted by Kyorin Medical School and organised by Dr Saraya (Kampo Master)

Dr Stein talked on aspects of physical examination for determining common rheumatologic diseases including rheumatoid arthritis, osteoarthritis and gout.

Dr Aoki posed many intelligent and probing questions to Dr Stein throughout his two hour lecture along with very good questions from the doctors and students sitting in the audience.


I was able to learn from Dr Stein's rheumatological experiences in Japan over many years and his opinion on doses of DMARDs such as Methotrexate. Moreover, I was particularly happy to see only a few xrays and with the talk concentrated on symptoms and physical signs.

Not a CT or MRI in sight. How refreshing :) !

Amazing Prof Stein

Today saw the return of Prof Stein to Japan for teaching his famous Problem Oriented System at our hospital.

He is quite an amazing person as despite a grueling flight from Florida yesterday, he was ready for lectures in history taking and physical examination and problem solving.

We had two exceptional cases, one of Wernickes Encephalopathy and one of bacterial pericarditis.

The famous Dr Makoto AOKI was also in attendance in the afternoon for the infectious disease case and he was able to provide his expert opinion along with Prof Stein's dissection of the case and evaluation of the data.

Prof Stein's system is very useful and it helped me to make difficult cases far more logical to interpret as a medical student and as a junior physician.



I now teach a similar way to Prof Stein with a British system emphasis on physical examination in addition to use of relevant history taking plus differential diagnosis formation.

Tomorrow sees yet more great cases for Prof Stein to solve and I hope the Jet-Lag with not be a problem for him.

I think this is a good opportunity for our residents to learn medical English plus other medical concepts that are more common in foreign countries.

Tomorrow is also the last day for my apprentice medical student from Kyorin University. I am hoping that he will be able to produce a summary of his experiences to publish on this blog. I hope that he will consider returning for residency at this hospital.

Measles

The following includes two cases of Measles in as many weeks, both in adults. The first case was a female patient who had not be vaccinated.

She had a mild rash, fever, conjunctivitis and Koplik spots. She did not appear to have any remarkable systemic compromise. She was allowed to go home but restricted to her home until she became well-- a self-imposed quarantine.



The next case was a young adult male with a one week history of fever, sore throat, malaise, rash and vomiting. He too had been unvaccinated.

He was severely unwell with a high fever and sweating. He had multiple Koplik spots, a peripheral blanching maculopapular rash, although on his face, the rash had become confluent. Examination of his chest revealed reduced air entry at his left base and abdominal examination showed mild hepatosplenomegally. This was indeed a severe case and a primary measles pneumonia was suspected. Liver function tests were mildly abnormal consistent with the physical findings.

There has now been an explosion of cases of measles of epidemic proportions and these cases have also occurred in the unvaccinated adults.

With myself being trained in immunology, I recognise how important it is to adequately immunise the children and adults alike in an at risk population. The take up of MMR is Japan has been inadequate and even some doctors that I know have never been vaccinated and are therefore at risk.

Immunising the bulk of the population generally ensures that such an infectious and potentially fatal illness cannot take hold in the population at large. Those individuals not immunised are protected by the 'herd immunity' of the population already immunised. However, if the take up rate of vaccine decreases, then a hiatus occurs which allows the infection the ability to return with catastrophic consequences.

The other problem that exists is that the number of available vaccines has almost been depleted and hence, even if people want to be vaccinated, they cannot easily find the vaccine. It would seem that Japan was taken unawares of the potential outbreak.

The current epidemic shows how important vaccination is to prevent disease. Side effects from vaccination, albeit rare, do not outweigh the benefit of life saving immunity. The previous concerns about Crohn's disease and autism from combined MMR vaccination have never been proved and when this similar problem occurred in the UK, the Government at that time, did everything possible to ensure that vaccination was maintained to a high level. However, vaccination levels also dropped, as in Japan, and new cases of Measles began to occur.

However, the outbreak in Japan may be more extensive than that seen in the UK and there may be more cases of measles yet to occur. Case fatalities will occur as it is inevitable with this infection.

I only hope that the correct preventions are used by health care providers to ensure that spread is restricted as much as possible and that correct quarantine procedures are adhered to. I hope that in the future Japan will see a higher level of vaccine uptake to ensure that an outbreak of measles never happens again and this disease become a medical relic in the textbooks like Smallpox !

Busy, Busy Busy

This week has seen Dr Aoki begin his lectures for the new first year doctors. Many of the junior doctors turned up with their copy of Dr Aoki's book and he was happy to answer questions for the residents during and following the lecture.

Here are some photos below:







This week also saw me invited to conduct Bedside Teaching Rounds in the ER department. The residents, myself and Dr O. saw a great case that turned out to be a different diagnosis to what I had initially expected and putting together the history, physical examination and laboratory data provided the clues to the probable diagnosis.

I will therefore be teaching in both General Internal Medicine and Emergency Medicine in the foreseeable future.

I have also had my Kyorin medical student shadow me for the last 3 weeks and I think his eyes have been opened as to how a good history and physical examination are sometimes better than machines ! :)

I have noticed both from medical students and junior doctors that their knowledge of drugs including generic names, mode of action, side effects and interactions are not as good as they should be. This is a very important part of being a practising physician and although, as i am informed, it is not an important part for passing the final examination, it is however important for treating patients safely and effectively.

For example, in a recent case, a patient was admitted after overdosing on anti-epileptic agents, neuroleptic agents and tricyclic anti-depressants. After checking the drug interactions, which had not been done, we found that the combination proved to be a potentially lethal cocktail which could induce a Long QT interval and hence, Torsade de Pointes. After reviewing the ECG it indeed showed a prolonged QT of 458 msec !!!!! Hence, if the patient had developed a tachyarrhythmia or VF, the therapy would have been Magnesium rather than other anti-arrhythmic drugs which is a very important point.

Unfortunately, there is no guarantee that the previous physicians checked about the interactions of these drugs which brings me back to the emphasis on the proper education of pharmacology.

It is very, very important to know details about drugs and especially about Generic names and junior doctors by just re-writing the drugs on admission to hospital or on discharge without knowing why they were prescribed or checking side-effects / interactions is not sufficient and this needs to change.

There are some very good British and American pharmacology textbooks and I would strongly suggests that medical students and junior doctors obtain such reading material to improve upon where they may have deficiencies in their knowledge on pharmacology.

Next week sees the Famous Professor Stein visit from the USA and it should be a very busy week for me again and most enjoyable too!!

Have a great weekend.

Never Move An Unstable Patient

This story is anonymised and is from the UK.

A very sick patient who was admitted following an out of hospital cardiac arrest with a substantial time without effective CPR before arrival of paramedics, rendering the patient with likely global hypoxic-ischaemic brain damage.

The admission ECG showed diffuse anterior ST depression and with resolution there was persistent ST change consistent with a N0n-ST Elevation MI (NSTEMI) which is an acute coronary syndrome (ACS).

Following admission, the patient developed recurrent generalised seizures requiring intubation to protect the airway.

The CT head scan showed an old infarct and frontal cerebral wasting but no SAH or intracerebral haemorrhage.

Diazepam was given followed by phenytoin rapid infusion, but both failed to curtail the seizure activity.

There were recurrent Jacksonian seizures every 2-3 minutes and lasting up to one minute, and the junior doctor was not completely certain how to proceed from there.

However, because a bed was then ready on another ward, the staff were hastily collecting the notes to transfer the patient despite recurrent seizures being present. Despite a protected airway, this did not prevent the patient from developing possible complications of seizures such as recurrence of a cardiorespiratory arrest, intracerebral haemorrhage etc...

The junior doctor was advised that a patient must be stable prior to being moved and when eventually moved, they should be accompanied by doctors and nurses who can perform CPR and they should have the correct resuscitation equipment with them in the case that the patient was to have a further cardiorespiratory arrest en route.

Sometimes, the eagerness to clear a bed space and move the patient from an emergency department to reduce nursing work can actually place the patient in a dangerous predicament.

One must always remember that the patient comes first.

The ultimate responsibility lies with the doctor overseeing the patient's care and it is the duty of the doctor to ensure that the patient is stable before moving them.

In this case, the junior doctor gave an infusion of midazolam which terminated the recurrent generalised seizures providing a hiatus of stability thereby allowing the patient to be moved safely.

This case demonstrates the importance of stabilising patients and although each situation is different, the general principle applies.

There are sometimes exceptions to the rule such as the patients with severe haemorrhage who require immediate surgery and patients in an unstable environment e.g. war zone.

However, patients with upper GI bleeding who require an emergency gastroscopy who are haemodynamically unstable should not be moved and such patients should have this examination with gastroscope done in the emergency room.

As a doctor, you are responsible for the patient and other staff rely on you to make a plan of action. It is your responsibility to ensure that the patients can be stabilised and if you need help then ask your senior to come.

Never be pressurised to move an unstable patient when you know it is the wrong thing to do.

Sometimes standing your ground and reasoning the point with staff who do not fully appreciate the problem can save your patient from complications.

Rare as Hens Teeth

This patient had a diagnosis of streptococcal pneumonia on admission .

She typically had reactivation of Herpes affecting her upper right lip area.

However, she complained of a painful tongue after several days in hospital and the next day she developed a rash on her tongue.

A dermatologist was consulted and an odd diagnosis of amyloidosis was considered.

However, the history was not consistent with amyloidosis as it was too acute.

Moreover, the examination revealed separate, small vesicles on the tongue, predominantly right sided with sparing of the posterior 1/3 of the tongue and left lateral border.

The right inner lip mucosa also showed a shallow, white ulcer.



The diagnosis consistent with the preceding history would be one of Lingual Herpes Simplex infection from likely reactivation or even Varicella Zoster eruption.

HSV and VZV can be reactivated by streptococcus pneumoniae infection, fever, sunlight, stress and during menstruation in females.

The treatment involves oral aciclovir, usually at a dose of 200mg 5 x per day, or if severe then intravenous at 5mg/kg/day.

Oropharyngeal HSV is very infectious and health care workers should wear gloves if they are likely to come in contact with the oral secretions.

Labial HSV (cold sores) are very common and although reactivation can occur anywhere such as in the oesophagus in tube feed patients, pubic region (HSV2 > HSV1) etc, but to see it occur on the tongue is most unusual.

One has to consider underlying causes of immunodeficiency in such patients such as HIV or haematological malignancy being possible underlying diseases.

The posterior 1/3rd of the tongue is unaffected in this patient because the nerve supply to that area is different, being the Glossopharyngeal Nerve (IX). The left border of the tongue was equally unaffected as the HSV did not reactivate along the nerve supplying that region.

The central tongue is affected in this patient showing that the right nerve supply also crosses the midline to supply a large area of the contralateral tongue.

Social History

Dear Bloggers

I was asked just today what was the purpose is of a social history.

Well, I had taken for granted that social history was well known and for what purposes.

Having thought in great detail I was able to provide a very detailed number of reasons, and they can sometimes be more important than the reason for admitting the patient to hospital.

For example, when a patient is admitted to hospital, the doctor must start planning for their discharge and mentally estimate when that will be so that a timely exit from hospital can be arranged.

However, the social situation at home must be established to understand if the home dynamics are safe. For example, a patient with COPD who sleeps upstairs may no longer be able to use the steps and therefore, modifications may need to be made at home. The same goes for patients with recurrent falls who may need hand railings placed in dangerous areas at home.

In the UK, discharges home are sometimes delayed not because of the patient condition, but because the doctors failed to appreciate that they had to plan the discharge by arranging for a physiotherapist to retrain the patient and for a home assessment to be made to ensure safety.

Moreover, social history examines the home dynamics such as relationships, financial funding, ability to cook, clean, wash and doing the daily activities such as shopping. Is the patient the carer for their ill relative and if so, by entering the hospital, who will look after the relative?? The same goes for children when a parent is admitted to hospital.

Without a social history, no idea can be understood of the family situation and therefore, very important matters may be missed.

Funding can be a big problem for the elderly who have little savings and for those families with low incomes. In the UK, with the Welfare State, funding can be obtained to help pay for expenses of home modification, providing home care such as washing, cleaning and bathing plus if need be, full time nursing care facilities.

The situation in Japan is somewhat different from my experiences.

Other important matters identifiable from a social history include where the patient lives? In a house, an apartment. Are there stairs that need to be climbed? Can the patient climb them or do they need to stop? Does the elevator work?

Is the patient in an industrial area ? Have they ever been exposed to dangerous chemicals / materials e.g. asbestos

Does the patient have animals at home? Was the chest disease caused by the pet bird in the cage at home??

All these are part of the social history or they can also be incorporated as direct questions in the history of the presenting /chief complaint.

This provides the doctor with very interesting elements of the patients life that may throw up unforeseen risk factors not previously appreciated.

Secondly, as I have already alluded to, it provides the doctors and social workers the ability to work towards a home package that can be set in motion upon discharge home of the patient if such a package is required.

Finally, in fact alcohol and tobacco are NOT part of the social history and I always find that this is the only thing that is mentioned when the words social history are uttered. Tobacco and alcohol are HABITS.

I think from the above information it can be readily appreciated that social history is a detailed evaluation of the patient's life before entering the hospital and it should never be forgotten to be asked in detail.

I hope this gives you something to consider.

All the best.

Golden Week Mayhem and Training Opportunites

Dear Readers

Since returning from Golden Week, I have been extremely busy with my duties and I am afraid I have neglected my blog.

I am hoping to bring some interesting cases or discussions to this blog later this week.

I now have been joined by a medical student from Kyorin Medical School who wants to learn about history and physical, and as he termed it, I am his "Case Study!"

As I have mentioned previously, I am happy for medical students and / or doctors to come to this institution for short or longer periods to take part in externships if they wish to learn from me or to learn internal medicine from our other doctors.

If you are also interested in such study opportunities, then please join up to gmail and drop me a line on this blog and I can then contact you directly via your gmail email address.

Of course, your comments with not be published and will be kept confidential.

Abuse Of My Blog

Dear Readers

I am occassionally getting anonymous comments that are an abuse of this blog and as moderator, I must choose whether such comments should be published.

In the main, most polite and reasonable comments are published.

I should stipulate that only clinically related comments in respect of this site will be published and not advertisements for peoples books!!

However, I feel it is now necessary to restrict all comments by asking all those who wish to leave a comment to do so by signing into Gmail.

I trust that you will understand reasons for this decision as I hope it will ensure that the quality of legitimate comments is maintained.

WOW!!! What A Case For Differential Diagnosis !!!!

I have another GREAT CASE here which comes from a distant hospital.

The case is anonymised as always.

The patient was an elderly female who was referred to the hospital after an emergency call out for Chest Pain.

The patient had awoken at 10:30pm when she got up to visit the toilet. She developed sudden onset of chest pain that was severe and continuous and sharp in nature. The pain was also described as radiating to the patient's back. After 1.5 hours the patient arrived at the hospital and quickly underwent emergency examination.

Further history was taken and it became apparent that the pain was situated to the left of the epigastrium (so called the left hypochondrium). It was unrelated to movement or respiration. The patient denied being breathless, and it was apparent that this was the first time this pain had occurred. There was no associated cough, sputum, haemoptysis, radiation to the neck/jaw/arms, no nausea, no vomiting, no report of recent tarry stools (malaena). There was no history of GERD and no history of flatulence. The patient denied weight loss, constipation or diarrhoea. There was no description that the radiating pain was tearing or not.

The only previous medical history was of hypertension which the patient had for 10 years. She had decided to stop her anti-hypertensive medications 3 months previously without medical advice.

The patient smoked 60 cigarettes per day and liked to drink sake.

On examination, the patient was afebrile, BP 200/120, heart rate of 68/min, respiration rate was 16/min with an Sp2 of 96% on room air.

Physical examination was unrevealing except for signs of liver disease (palmar erythema and spider naevae on the upper chest).

Chest and abdomen revealed no localising signs for the cause of the pain and the abdomen was not distended and apparently non-tender.

However, the ECG revealed ST depression and T wave inversion in V5 and V6 suggestive of ischaemia.

Blood results revealed a normal initial CPK 86 (61-265) but the CK-MB was raised 17 (4-16) but Troponin T was <0.05.>3.3, AST 75 (13-37), gamma GT 467 (12-49), CRP 1.13 (<0.30) style="font-weight: bold;">pH 7.485, pCO2 38.5, PO2 64.9 (74-108), HCO3 29 (21-29), BE 6.2.

The top differential diagnoses included:

• Acute MI
• Pulmonary embolism
  
• Unstable Angina
• Aortic Dissection

The chest roentogen looked normal.

The CT abdomen was revealing as it showed a very abnormal aorta. See below:

On seeing the patient by a senior doctor, it became apparent that the history was slightly different. In fact, the patient had described ABDOMINAL PAIN, rather than chest pain as relayed by the paramedics to the hospital staff, and it was described as 'PULSATILE', not sharp, meaning for every heart beat the pain recurred i.e. pulses of pain. It was also asked whether the patient had been experiencing back pains in the SAME LOCATION sometime before the severe pain to which the answer was YES.

The patient denied symptoms of intermittent claudication (ASO).

The patient had undergone emergency surgery and the diagnosis was described as a pre-rupture of an Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm (AAA). The surgeon described it as pre-rupture as there was no bleeding into the retroperitoneal space. The location was infrarenal and involved the iliac arteries as well. The patient had a graft placed and achieved good haemostasis and pulses to both limbs.

However, it was also of concern about the aorta higher up in the patient's chest as on initial inspection of the Contrast CT, it looked like there was a proximal dissection that had migrated to the lower abdominal aorta. On more detailed inspection it appeared that there were two separate vascular luminal dissections, one in the thorax and one in the abdomen, the latter being the bigger of the two.

It was of concern that the more proximal dissection had been overlooked in the emergency situation because of the large possible impending rupture of the large abdominal aortic aneurysm.

Hence, it was requested that the doctors have the radiological films formally reviewed by a Radiologist and the result is below:

Thoracic lesion: dissecting aortic aneurysm (thrombus closing type) is seen from the bifurcation of the left subclavian artery to the upper surface of the diaphragm .

Lower abdominal dissecting aortic aneurysm (New pathologic lesion) is seen. At least TWO dissected cavities are overlapped. They are not enhanced, but the density is comparatively high.

Upper abdominal lesion, there is no dissected area but some enlarged lesion can be seen.

Radiology confirmed a total of THREE dissecting aneurysms in this patient.

This is an extremely interesting case, and it is rare to see three dissections in a single patient.

Obviously, the surgeons were concerned about impending aortic rupture as a result of continuing oozing of blood into the aortic wall, and hence, the patient underwent emergency surgery, but in the main, uncomplicated distal dissecting aortic aneurysms are treated conservatively with blood pressure control.

The more proximal dissections involving the aortic root and arch DO require surgical intervention on an emergency basis as complications such as stroke, aortic insufficiency, coronary ischaemia, tamponade and haemothorax (left sided) can occur, all of which may be fatal.

However, by far the commonest cause of dissections is vascular injury by high blood pressure and in the main, hypertension is associated with distal dissections rather than proximal ones, as in this case.

Other causes include:

• Trauma/iatrogenic- cardiological investigations / procedures e.g. coronary angiography, CABG, Previous aortic valve replacement
  

• Inflammatory disease causing vasculitis e.g. syphilitic aortitis, Takayasu's arteritis, RA etc
• Collagen Disease: Marfan's Syndrome (approx 50% cases of dissection aged <40 style="font-weight: bold;">Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, annuloaortic ectasia
• Congenital: Biscupid aortic valve- dissection always involves the ascending aorta, Coarctation of the Aorta, Turner's Syndrome (associated with coarctation)
• Drugs: Cocaine; transient rise in blood pressure from surge in catecholamines
  

Finally, to recap, most dissections occur in the 60-80 age group and more in males than females.

The pain of dissection is SEVERE and can be Sharp or classically 'tearing' in nature in the rear of the chest or produce back pain. Pain can also be in the anterior chest. The pain can radiate to the chest or abdomen.

Proximal dissections are more associated with chest pain and distal dissections with abdominal and back pain respectively as a general rule.

Examination should include examining all the peripheral pulses. Typically, if dissection is present one may see a 20mmHg difference in blood pressure in the upper limbs.

Examine the JVP, as may be elevated in Tamponade.

Examine for Pulsus Paradoxus-- drop of >10mmHg BP during inspiration; associated with Tamponade.

Listen for reduced heart sounds and listen for the diastolic murmur of Aortic Regurgitation (proximal dissection).

Percuss the chest for effusion (might be a haemothorax)-- however, patients typically will have internally exsanguinated if this is present.

Listen for bruits or absence of bowel sounds-- suggestive of vascular compromise.

Check neurological examination if evidence of weakness as it implies vascular occlusion by the migrating dissection (proximal dissections).

ECG can be normal, especially in Distal dissections, but in proximal type, it may cause coronary ischaemia.

Chest Xray can be normal in dissection and does not exclude the diagnosis.

Once dissection has been considered, it must be excluded, and scanning modalities such as CT are quick and provide a degree of accuracy to reach the diagnosis.

Finally, well done to the doctors who got the diagnosis and treated the patient quickly !!!

Have a Great Golden Week!!!!!!!!!

UpToDate Keeping Me UpToDate

Dear Readers

It would seem that although I am reading UpToDate for some of the best EMB and references around, UpToDate USA and Japan are reading this blog too!!

I recently had contact from their Japanese Office Director, and I very much welcome the review of this blogsite as they will only find complimentary words for such a great product.

I have been kindly advised that the UpToDate software should work on Japanese Windows Pocket PCs, for example, the Willcom PPC made by Sharp.

If any of you have UTD which has been having any problems on your Japanese PPC then please contact the UTD Japan Office and I would hope that they will be able to sort them out as soon as possible :)

UpToDate, Inc. Japan Office
Sumitomo Shinbashi Bldg.7F
1-8-3 Shinbashi Minato-ku
Tokyo 105-0004
Japan
japan@uptodate.com
Tel 81-3-3572-5002
Fax 81-3-3572-5003

Best wishes.............

Sherlock Nose

This case has been anonymised for patient confidentiality.

An elderly patient was originally admitted several weeks ago with a fever and after investigations, a urinary tract infection was diagnosed. The urine grew a drug resistant Proteus mirabilis that was probably acquired at the nursing home where the patient normally resides.

It was not initially know what the organism was and so a broad spectrum antibiotic cover was used (cetriaxone).

Initially, the patient made good progress until one week ago when fever recurred. After work-up, it was established that the patient had acquired a hospital infection from Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Group B streptococcus, with infiltration being noted at the lingula of the left upper lobe. Quite rightly, antibiotics were changed and the patient was started on piperacillin and tobramycin to which the organisms were sensitive.


However, the patient continued to deteriorate with no change in the spiking fever and with raised white cells and CRP.

A senior doctor was asked to consult for the patient because despite good antibiotic cover for the identified organisms, the chest xray was worsening.

Before seeing the patient the senior doctor was shown a recent Xray and it revealed a well circumscribed lesion in the right upper zone, not typical of a pneumonia.

Most importantly, going to see the patient gave a potential diagnosis.

On entering behind the curtain there was a very strong smell of anaerobic organisms, a similar smell of most hospital laboratories !! Knowing that the patient was diabetic, the feet were initially examined for infected diabetic foot ulcers. However, although there was some pressure areas, there was no ulceration.

The feet were smelt closely, but no smell was emminating from them. The smell was followed upwards and it became extremely strong from the patients MOUTH !!!!

A torch was shon in the mouth and it revealed a green exudate on the top of the right gum area consistent with an anaerobic infection. This patient's mouth was also extremely dry because of mouth breathing only.

Listening to the chest, there were reduced breath sounds at the right upper zone and crackles at the right base and left mid zone consistent with some of the Xray findings.

At this point, the diagnosis pointing to being a Lung Abscess from anaerobic infection until proven otherwise with possible aspiration pneumonia at the right base as well, although the Xray does not show obvious right basal changes, and hence, this shows just how important good clinical examination is.



It was advised that the patient see an oral specialist to ascertain if there was any evidence of oral abscess and to detail the dentition.

Moroever, this patient underwent CT scanning and it revealed an unusual but well circumscribed pneumonia rather than an abscess.

However, with an obvious oral anaerobic infection plus evidence of oral aspiration in addition to markers of infection, being unresponsive to aerobic cover antibiotic therapy and a well circumscribed right upper lobe lesion, the differential diagnosis should always include an anaerobic abscess.

The patient responded well to piperacillin and clindamycin and the infection resolved rapidly.

However, the oral anaerobic infection still persisted despite antibiotic therapy and good mouth cleansing.

The patient later developed a further pneumonia and this time it was diagnosed as a severe fungal pneumonia which was refractory to therapy and this was an indicator of severely impaired immunity.

The commonest cause of lung abscess is from anaerobic organisms and often the patient has poor dentition and aspirates the bacterial during respiration to predispose to the infection.

Moreover, this patient was immunocompromised due to diabetes and in addition, the patient had already had two other infections in recent weeks. Most significantly, the patient had Parkinson's disease and Lewy Body Dementia and had previously aspirated and thus, he was always at significant risk for this problem.

Of course, in this case, the presence of Psuedomonas may have been the cause of the abscess but certainly coverage of anaerobic organisms was warranted here.

Remember to always look at the FEVER CHART and a good indication of an abscess is the classical Spiking Fever. Try and keep things simple, like trusting your sense of smell, and often the diagnosis makes itself known to the doctor.

Hence, all that was needed was a nose, a stethoscope, an Xray and of course, Sherlock Holmes.

Today's story is thus Sherlock Nose !!

Have a great Golden Week !!!!

Having passed this case on to Professor Tierney he made a number of observations:

Firstly, only 60% of bacteroides produce the typical anaerobic smell and hence, the absence of such as smell does not exclude the diagnosis of an anaerobic infection.

Secondly, in the patient without teeth, the presence of a lung abscess is lung cancer until proven otherwise. Original quote was: A lung abscess without teeth is cancer of the lung until proven otherwise- Prof Tierney

Thirdly, lung abscess treatment should include rigid bronchoscopic drainage with antibiotic therapy.

Many Thanks to Professor Tierney on these points, and I am sure the Blog Readers fully appreciate his expert contribution.