Category: Med Blog

Screening for Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm

USPSTF recommends screening men 65-75 years old who have ever smoked, with ultrasound. Anything less than 3cm is normal. 3cm-3.9cm require surveillance every 2-3 years. 4cm-5.4cm require surveillance every 6 months. Aneurysms 5.5cm or larger require surgical referral. [Grade B recommendation]

Screening for Breast Cancer

USPSTF recommends mammogram starting at age 50, then repeat every

… Continue reading

When an older patient comes in for a headache, besides the common headaches like migraine, cluster, and tension headaches, it is also very important to consider Temporal Arteritis. Here, I will explain to you what this is. What is it? In summary, temporal arteritis, also known as Giant Cell Arteritis, is a systemic vasculitis of medium and large arteries. While… Continue reading

The ToRCHeS are a group of infections that can be passed from the pregnant mother to her fetus through the placenta. They can infect anytime during gestation, and sometimes during the time of delivery as well. Since they can cause mental retardation, morbidity, and even death, they are important to recognize and prevent. So far in my pediatric rotation, I… Continue reading

When you first see a seizure, or experience it yourself for the first time, it can be quite freightening. Seizures can present in numerous different ways, often not what we think of when we usually think of “seizures.” Here, I’d like to present a few types of seizures and epileptic syndromes you may see in children. First, a little about… Continue reading

How Do We Get Osteomyelitis? Osteomyelitis is when you have an infection of the bone. It can be caused either by hematological spread that leads to sepsis of the bone, or by direct spread from an adjacent trauma wound, infected diabetic foot ulcer, decubitus ulcer, or some other ulcer that spreads to bone. Hematogenous osteomyelitis happens in 20% of the… Continue reading

How Do We Get Pneumonia? Our body has a pretty good natural barrier to protect the lungs from potential pathogens. First, we have hair and turbinates in our nose to block out larger particles. Then we have cilia that constantly sweep mucus-trapped pathogens out of our bronchioles and trachea, and not to mention a cough reflex. We also have tons… Continue reading

To prepare for my upcoming week in the neonatal nursery for my pediatric rotation, I’ve decided to put together this list of common and not-so-common conditions that one may see in the newborn. When babies are born, you may see things here and there that might worry you. However, not all abnormal findings are bad and many of them go… Continue reading

Earlier this week, two of my AUC colleagues and I had an awesome Sim Man learning session together with Dr. Butler. This is the first of two Sim Man sessions that I am required to attend for my rotation at the Royal Blackburn Hospital. I thought the session was very helpful and Dr. Butler did a great job preparing the… Continue reading

In my med school experience, Female Reproductive Endocrinology is one of the more challenging things to learn in physiology, since hormones rise and fall, and interact with each other in different ways in different phases of the cycle. But when broken down to 28 steps, the process is easier to understand.

1. Menstruation marks the beginning of the menstrual cycle, because

… Continue reading

When we talk about female hormonal drugs, the biggest treatments that come to mind are for breast cancer, menopause, contraceptives, and fertility. BREAST CANCER As estrogen often causes breast cancer to grow, breast cancer can be treated with hormonal drugs. There are two major ways to tackle breast cancer via hormonal therapy. One, you can either suppress breast cancer’s response… Continue reading

In med school, we learn about the beauty of the human body, yet how ugly it can become at times. We learn how everything in the body fits together to work in harmony, yet how everything can fall apart at the same time. After taking pathology, I realized so many things can go wrong with the body in so many… Continue reading

Physiology is a really interesting class (and a challenging one). While anatomy teaches where everything is in the body, physiology teaches how everything works in the body. For this new block, we have a new visiting professor from Temple University School of Medicine and a new unit: Gastrointestinal Tract. We’ll learn about the whole process from the time we put… Continue reading