LITFL Review 305
LITFL • Life in the Fast Lane Medical Blog
LITFL • Life in the Fast Lane Medical Blog - Emergency medicine and critical care medical education blog
Welcome to the 305th LITFL Review! Your regular and reliable source for the highest highlights, sneakiest sneak peeks and loudest shout-outs from the webbed world of emergency medicine and critical care. Each week the LITFL team casts the spotlight on the blogosphere’s best and brightest and deliver a bite-sized chunk of FOAM.
The Most Fair Dinkum Ripper Beauts of the Week
What’s on the Trauma Professional’s blog this week? Lots as usual! Learn about bucket...
Source: Life in the Fast Lane - November 5, 2017 Category: Emergency Medicine Authors: Marjorie Lazoff, MD Tags: LITFL review Source Type: blogs
Two Views are Better than One
A middle-aged man was found on the highway. A concerned passerby called 911, and then EMS made him a patient of mine. Approaching the stretcher, the aroma of alcohol permeated the air. Such is my life as an inner-city nocturnist.This patient was a little different, though. He said he had been short of breath before passing out. Peeking out from the bottom of the sheet was an ankle boot. The patient provided little assistance with his history. His exam was otherwise completely normal.Just that week at the mortality and morbidity conference, a case bearing similarities struck terror in our hearts. A middle-aged man with a le...
Source: Lions and Tigers and Bears - November 1, 2017 Category: Emergency Medicine Tags: Blog Posts Source Type: blogs
Should Pathologists and Radiologists Become One Speciality?
A new study has found a growing connection between pathology and radiology. According to researchers at the University of Pennsylvania and the Scripps Research Institute, the two specialties should be combined into one role called the “information specialist.” Not only would this individual interpret diagnostic images, but they would oversee artificial intelligence disease-screening technology.Since the dawning of the specialty, radiologists have come to rely on computers to make accurate assessments. The study authors hypothesize that since interpreting these images is a form of pattern recognition, we should use auto...
Source: radRounds - October 26, 2017 Category: Radiology Authors: Julie Morse Source Type: blogs
EchoPixel Lets Surgeons See CT, MRI, and Ultrasound Scans in 3D
Since the invention of the X-ray machine in 1895, medical imaging technology has improved dramatically, but the visualization of those images hasn’t changed enough to keep up. Even though CTs and MRIs capture 3D data, the consumption of that data by physicians is still almost entirely in 2D formats.
EchoPixel, a company based in Mountain View, California, hopes to bridge the gap. The company’s technology uses a patient’s CT, MRI, or ultrasound scans to generate a holographic experience that can be manipulated, shared, or saved for later reference. By doing so, it allows medical teams to better understand clinical pro...
Source: Medgadget - October 13, 2017 Category: Medical Devices Authors: Cici Zhou Tags: Informatics Medicine Neurosurgery Radiology Source Type: blogs
Breast Implant MRI : Teaching Points
Case Report Follow up case of subpectoral silicone implant with no old scans available.MR findingsBoth breasts suggest well defined regular silicone implants in deep pectoral region with intact capsule. Subtle heterogeneity of the silicone signal at places is MR flow or interphase related with no linguine sign positivity to suggest any intra or extracapsular rupture of silicone. The contour of implant at places is depressed suggesting partial collapse (more seen in left breast implant anteriorly. Pectoral muscles appear normal. Both breast show tiny bright foci – possibly cysts with rest normal with no axillary lymp...
Source: Sumer's Radiology Site - October 9, 2017 Category: Radiology Authors: Sumer Sethi Source Type: blogs
A Case of Missing Teeth
An older man presented to the emergency department for respiratory complaints, and a routine series of studies—blood work, ECG, and a chest x-ray—almost automatically appeared in the orders.Haziness on the left side—left hilar fullness probably isn't good. A CT scan would likely confirm the fears of cancer.The large mass wasn't unexpected, but did you see the metallic foreign body in the stomach? There was something on the left side under the diaphragm on the upright chest radiograph. The same thing appeared on the coronal CT image. Did he swallow something?Upon detailed questioning, the patient remembered t...
Source: Lions and Tigers and Bears - October 2, 2017 Category: Emergency Medicine Tags: Blog Posts Source Type: blogs
Giving Back: RAD-AID
Question: What do airships, 747 ’s, William Shatner, Radiology, and giving back have in common?Answer: RAD-AID International!Let me explain …A few years ago, I decided to bail out of the rat-race of private practice. My original goal was to retire altogether, but it seemed more reasonable to ease out slowly, maintain health insurance and some shred of income, and have something to do, at least periodically. And so I started out working 26 weeks per year, and now I ’m down to 22 weeks. Which leaves 30 weeks that need to be filled. I had originally thought I would ramp up my writing, but somehow that hasn’t happened;...
Source: Dalai's PACS Blog - September 18, 2017 Category: Radiology Source Type: blogs
Short and Long Posterior Splints for Leg Injuries
We use splints to help immobilize and stabilize injuries, but it's important to realize splinting also alleviates pain and edema and promotes healing until follow-up. If you are ever concerned that there is a fracture (even if it's not apparent on radiograph, i.e., navicular fractures), splint your patient before discharge. If you have the luxury of orthopedic consult in-house, talk to him before discharge.Indications for Short Posterior Splint-Fractures of the distal tibia and/or fibula-Ankle dislocations-Severe sprains-Fractures of the talus-Fractures of the calcaneus-Foot fractures such as fractures of the fifth m...
Source: The Procedural Pause - September 1, 2017 Category: Emergency Medicine Tags: Blog Posts Source Type: blogs
Knee pain – not just a simple case of osteoarthritis
Knee osteoarthritis is, like so many chronic pain problems, a bit of a weird one. While most of us learned that osteoarthritis is a fairly benign disease, one that we can’t do a whole lot about but one that plagues many of us, the disability associated with a painful knee is pretty high – and we still don’t have much of a clue about how the pain we experience is actually generated. Cartilage doesn’t have nociceptive fibres, yet deterioration of cartilage is the hallmark of osteoarthritis, though there are other structures capable of producing nociceptive input around the knee joint. Perhaps, as so...
Source: HealthSkills Weblog - August 13, 2017 Category: Anesthesiology Authors: adiemusfree Tags: Assessment Pain Pain conditions Research Science in practice biopsychosocial Chronic pain disability pain management rehabilitation treatment Source Type: blogs
Funtabulously Frivolous Friday Five 200
LITFL • Life in the Fast Lane Medical Blog
LITFL • Life in the Fast Lane Medical Blog - Emergency medicine and critical care medical education blog
Just when you thought your brain could unwind on a Friday, you realise that it would rather be challenged with some good old fashioned medical trivia FFFF…introducing Funtabulously Frivolous Friday Five 200 – we’ve made the 200 mark after reinstating the FFFF on the 1st of August 2014, thank you for all your suggestions and support.
Question 1
What is the theme tune to M.A.S.H. called?
+ Reveal the Funtabulous Answer
expand(document.getElementById('ddet...
Source: Life in the Fast Lane - August 4, 2017 Category: Emergency Medicine Authors: Neil Long Tags: Frivolous Friday Five gummy bears head banging joe lex MASH melkersonn's syndrome rod of asclepius rod of caduceus subdural haematoma suicide is painless Source Type: blogs
Exactly What the Patient Said
"I have tonsillitis," claimed the 20-something young woman who showed up at 2:30 a.m. because the pain was keeping her awake. She pointed dead midline between her chin and hyoid bone when asked the location of the pain. The back of her throat looks normal: uvula midline, no exudates, no vesicles, normal voice, and handling secretions. But the midline.... Should I be worried? The epiglottis sits right there. Before the Hib vaccine, it used to be almost all kids, but these days adults get epiglottitis. What to do? Soft tissue lateral neck? CT? Discharge?I went with a soft tissue lateral neck, which wa...
Source: Lions and Tigers and Bears - August 1, 2017 Category: Emergency Medicine Tags: Blog Posts Source Type: blogs
