CPC's - medical Flashcards
(144 cards)
How do you examine a pathology pot?
- ORGAN:
- Hollow/Solid
- Presentation/ anatomic features
- DIMENSIONS:
- Size of organ
- Size of lesion (if present)
- DISTRIBUTION OF ABNORMALITY: Diffuse/multiple/solitary
- SIZE/SHAPE/BORDER/ANATOMICAL BOUNDARIES OF LIASION
- CUT SURFACE OF LESION:
- Homogenous/ Heterogenous
- Colour
- Solid/ cystic/ texture?
- Border: demarcated/spiculated/defined
- Haemorrhage/necrosis
- Exophytic (growth outwards) or endophytic (growth inwards)
- DDx:
- NEOPLASTIC vs NON-NEOPLASTIC
- Neoplastic: beign or malignant
- Non-neoplastic: Infectious/inflammatory/deposit/ harmatomas/congential
- NEOPLASTIC vs NON-NEOPLASTIC
How do you describe a lump?
12 points
- Size
- Site
- Shape
- Surface
- Margin/edges
- Tenderness
- Composition
- Consistency
- Fluctuation (fluid-filled)
- Fluid thrill
- Transillumination
- Resonance
- Pulsatility
- Reducibility
- Mobility/fixation of lump and its tissue layer
- Overlying skin
- Regional lymph nodes
- Other:
- Muscle wasating
- Joint movement
- Gait
- General physical examination
What are the possible causes of “black diarrhoea”?
- Blood
- Iron
- Food colouring
- Beetroot
- Licorice
What further information would you seek from the history in a patient with vomiting and diarrhoea?
Diarrhoea:
- Colour (is it melaena?)
- Tar-like
- Bright red - fresh blood (more likely to be a lower GI bleed)
- Green - iron
- Nature:
- Watery
- How much
- Frequency of motions: did all of them contain blood?
- Volume
- Smell
Vomiting
- Nature - Haematemesis
- Did it precede the diarrhoea?
- Frequency?
- Quantity
- Smell
- Faecal-like material
Associated symptoms:
- Has it been asscoiated with “indigestion”/dyspepsia (and waht does the patient mean by indigestion?)
- Nausea
- Syncope
- ‘ligh-headed’ or ‘giddy-ness’
- Related to anaemia - dyspnoea/ Angina
- Pain - SOCRATES
Medications:
- What medications are they currently on?
- Is there regular use of NSAIDs or aspirin
- Anticoagulants?
Past medical / surgical Hx:
- Prior GI bleeding
- Previour GU disease
- previous diagnosis of peptic ulcer
- FHx of peptic ulcers
- Underlying medical disorder - especially liver disease
- Previous surgery
- Brusing
- Change in bowel habits
- Weight loss/anorexia
- History of oropharyngeal disease
Social Hx: Alcohol and smoking
What are the differentials for upper GI bleeding?
Anatomical approach - oesophagus to anus:
- Mallory Weiss tear
- Varices
- Erosive oesophagitis
- Peptic ulcer disease
- Gastroduodenal erosins
- Malignancy (can occur anywhere)
- Crohn’s disease
- Infectious gastroenteritis
- Angiodysplastic lesions
Things going to kill the patient:
- Bleeding or perforation peptic ulcer
- Varices
- Multiple blood transfusion
What investigations would you perform in a patient with upper GI bleed?
Blood tests:
- FBC:
- Hb: may be slightly decreased or normal, depending on how long the bleeding has been going on.
- Hct: may not reflect blood loss accurately if taken soon after the onset og bleeding (as with Hb)
- Platelets: rise with bleeding, but could be an indication of another underyling disease contributing to/or causing GI bleed.
- UECs: in upper GI bleeding, expect a high urea with a normal creatinine → unless there is underlying renal impairment.
- LFTs: to ascertain underyling liver disease.
- Coags: is there underlying bleeding disorder
- Group and hold: incase transfusion is needed
- gastroscopy: gold standard in upper GI bleeds.
Imaging:
- Chest x-ray
- arteriography and embolisation
- Tc-labelled red blood cell tag
ECG
How do you manage a patient actuely with upper GI bleeding?
Stabilise the patient first:
- IV fluids
After patient is stabilised:
- Consider need for transfusion - group and hold
- Anaglesia (only is patient is in pain)
- IV antibiotics if peritonitis is thought to be an issue (perforation)
- Correct any coagulation deficiencies
Urgent endoscopy.
What is Helicobacter pylori and how does it cause gastric ulceration (as would be described to a patient)?
- H. Pylori is a bug/bacteria that sits in the stomach and causes inflammation of the lining of the stomach. In a certain percentage of people, this leads to an ulcer.
- H. Pylori is present in about 50% of the world’s population.
- 20% of the developed world is infected
- over 70% of the developing work is infected
- Can be detected by urea breath test
- H. Pylori coverts urea to ammonium hydroxide (through its urease), which provides it with an alkaline environment in which to live → makes it resistant to acidic stomach contents.
How do you manage a patient who has GI bleeding due to a peptic ulcer caused by H. Pylori?
Treat symptoms, the disease and prevent complications.
- Immediate treatment:
- Stop bleeding:
- Injection - adrenaline/ ‘glue’/ alcohol
- Diathermy
- IV PPI
- Stop bleeding:
- Intermediate treatment:
- PPI and two antibiotics - ‘triple therapy’
- Esomeprazole 20mg orally, twice daily for 7 days PLUS amoxycillin 1 g orally, twice daily for 7 days PLUS claritheromycin 500 mg orally, twice daily for 7 days
- PPI and two antibiotics - ‘triple therapy’
- Long term treatment:
- After 6 weeks review patient to determine if H. Pylori has been eradicated.
- Urea breath test
- If infection still present need to check antibiotic resistant, move to ‘quadruple therapy’
- PPI twice daily for 7 to 14 days PLUS colloidal bismuth subcitrate 120 mg orally, 4 times daily for 7 to 14 days PLUS tetracycline 500 mg orally, 4 times daily for 7 to 14 days PLUS metronidazole 400 mg orally, 3 times daily for 7 to 14 days.
- After 6 weeks review patient to determine if H. Pylori has been eradicated.
What is portal hypertension and how does it cause oesophageal varices?
Portal hypertension occurs as a result of increased resistance to blood flow through the portal system. It can occur under the following cicrumstances:
- Prehepatic:
- Obstructive thrombosis
- massive splenomegaly shunting blood into the splenic vein
- Hepatic:
- Cirrhosis
- Infections such as milliary TB or schistosoomiasis
- Sarcoidosis
- Posthepatic:
- Righ sided heart failure
- Contrictive pericarditis
- Hepatic vein outflow obstruction
The rise in portal system pressure causes bypasses to develop wherever the systemic and portal circulation share common capillary bed.
Oesophagogastric varices develop in 65% of patients with advanced cirrhosis. Most commonly seen in alcoholic cirrhosis.
What are complications associatd with chronic gastric ulceration?
- Bleeding
- Perforation
- Obstruction from oedema or scarring
What Hx would you get from a person who presents with increased weight gain and ankle swelling?
- SOCRATES:
- Chest pain?
- Fatigue?
- Bruising eaily?
- Jaundice?
- Cough with sputum/haemoptysis
- PMHx: medical/surgical/medications/allergies
- FHx: cardiac disease, renal, diabetes. autoimmune disease.
- POSH: recent travel, sexual Hx, pregancy?/ drinking, smoking, drug use
What are the DDx for ankle oedema?
- Renal disease:
- Glomerulonephritis:
- Nephrotic syndrome
- Acute nephritic syndrome
- Chronic renal failure
- Glomerulonephritis:
- Cardio disease:
- Congestive heart failure
- Pericardial effusion, constrictive pericarditis, restrictive cardiomyopathy
- Local venous disease: DVT, chronic venous insufficiency
- Hepatic disease:
- Cirrhosis
- Pulmonary: Cor pulmonale, pulmonary hypertension
- Lymph obstruction
- Sepsis
- Pregnancy
- Hypothyroidism/myxoedema
- Iatrogenic: medicine-induced oedema
- Sleep apnoea
- Idiopathic
Describe the pathophysiology of oedema.
Oedema - palpable swelling produced by expansion of the interstitial fluid volume.
Two basic steps:
- An alternation in capillary haemodynamics that favours the movement og fluid from the vascular space into the interstitium.
- The renal retention of dietary sodium and water, thereby expanding the extracellular fluid volume.
- This can be as a result of primary renal sodium retention
- Can be as a result of an appropriate response to a decrease in the effectuve circulating volume
The development of oedema requires a relatively large alternation in one or more of the Starling’s forces in a direction that fabours an increase in net filtration:
- Elevation in capillary hydralic pressure
- Reduced plasma oncotic pressure
- Ehnaced capillary premeability
- Lymphatic obstruction
Nephrotic syndrome oedema:
The oedema that results from nephrotic syndrome is not due to decreased plasma onctoic pressure alone, but rather is the result of an interplay of increased capillaruy hydraulic pressure (renal retention of Na and water) and decreased plasma oncotic pressure.
What tests would you order for a patient with suspected nephrotic syndrome and what would you expect to see in the results?
- Dipstick test.
- Urinalysis MCS and 24 hour protein:
- Nephrotic syndrome (minial change disease): Proteinuria >3.5gmd/24 hrs, lipiduria, negative culture
- UEC:
- Looking for potassium abnormalities, but not expecting to find any in this case.
- Evidence of renal disease → raised creatinine or urea
- LFTs: looking for evidence of cirrhosis or other liver disease (cause of oedema)
- Albumin: low albumin due to either renal disease (most likely) or liver disease.
- Coags: need to make sure these are normal before a renal biopsy can be done.
- High risk thrombo-embolism especially in membranous nephropathy
- Lipid profile:
- There are abnormal lipids in nephrotic syndrome, including minimal change disease.
- Cardiovascular disease risk factor
- FBC: anaemia and platelets
- ECG and CXR: to rule out any acute cardiac problems and pulmonary oedema
- Renal biopsy: Definitive diagnosis
How would you manage a patient initial as a GP with oedema due to nephrotic syndrome?
- Initial treatment:
- Commence diuretic to treat the oedema: Thiazide + K+ sparing diuretic (spironolatone, amiloride)
- Over investigations
- Refer to renal outpatient clinic
What is the definition of nephrOtic syndrome?
Proteinuria (≥3.5 g/day), generalised oedema, hypoalbuminaemia, and hyperlipidemia. Approximately one-third of all cases result from systemic disases such as DM, SLE, or amyloidosis.
What is the definition of nephrItic syndrome?
A disorder of glomerular inflammation, also called glomerulonephritis. Proteinuria may be present but is usually <1.5 g/day.
What investigations should a renal physician order in a patient with ?nephrotic syndrome and low albumin?
- Urine and serum electrophoretogram - myeloma
- Lupus/Autoimmune screen
- Renal U/S - one or two kidneys, check size, abormality such as Horseshoe kidney
- Renal Biopsy - essential for diagnosis minimal change disease in adults (common in children).
- H&E, immunofluoresence, electron microscopy
What are the risks and benefits of a renal biopsy?
- Risks:
- Renal infarct: damaging more of an already vulnerable kidney
- Bleeding
- Not enough tissue to make a diagnosis (need 20-30 glomeruli)
- If focal disease, then biopsy wont be sensitive a test (could miss the diseased part)
- Benefits:
- Necessary for the definitive diagnosis
- Helps guide treatment
What does this show?
This is a normal glomerulus. In minimal change disease the biopsy on light microscopy appears normal.
What disease process is occuring in this electron microscopy image?
his is minimal change disease (MCD) which is characterized by effacement of the epithelial cell (podocyte) foot processes and loss of the normal charge barrier such that albumin selectively leaks out and proteinuria ensues. By light microscopy, the glomerulus is normal with MCD. In this electron micrograph, the capillary loop in the lower half contains two electron dense RBC’s. Fenestrated endothelium is present, and the basement membrane is normal. However, overlying epithelial cell foot processes are effaced (giving the appearance of fusion) and run together.
How does the kidney prevent proteinuria? What are the filtration mechanisms?
- Epithelial foot processes (podocytes) and split membrane
- Ionic barrier - basement membrane and fenestrated endothelial cells negatively charged and repel large molecules such as Albumin with like charge
- Normal basement membrane 300 nm - in minimal change disease the BM is normal, but thickened in membranous nephropathy secondary to immune complex deposition.
Minimal change disease causes 90% of nephrotic syndrome in children <10 years, 50% in those >10 years, but only 15% in adults. What is the aetiology of MCD in adults and children?
- Idiopathic - most
- Drugs - NSAIDs, Abx, bisphosphonates, 5-ASA (IBD drugs)
- Neoplasia especially haematological (Hogkin’s)
- Post-infective: TB, HIV, syphilia, mycoplasma, Hep C
- Atopy
- Other glomerular disease