Browsing all posts in Fast Facts.

Uric acid nephrolithiasis

Kidney stones (nephrolithiasis or urolithiasis) affect approximately 12% of men and 5% of women during their lifetime. Nearly half of all first time stone formers will have another stone episode within the next four years.
Stones can form when calcium, oxalate, uric acid or cystine are at high levels in the urine.
Uric acid stones represents 5 - [...]

Effectiveness of vasectomy

Around 42 million couples worldwide rely on vasectomy as a method of family-planning.
Every year 800,000 vasectomies are performed in the US.
Recanalisation: 0.5% of all vasectomies (is defined as the presence of any spermatozoa after one or more previously azoospermic samples were properly collected and documented).
Why are doctors sued following vasectomy?

Failure to be sterile (unwanted pregnancy)
Failure [...]

Carcinophobia

Fear from cancer
One not uncommon indication for prophylactic mastectomy is carcinophobia (a.k.a. cancerophobia).
Cancerophobia or carcinophobia is an active behavior of extreme fear of cancer that can lead to repeated medical examination without giving full reassurance to the patient. Denial is a mechanism of defense that usually helps the patient to cope with painful, threatening, overwhelming, [...]

2009 Best Hospitals in the US

The Best U.S. Hospitals for 2009

Johns Hopkins Hospital, Baltimore
Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minn.
Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center, Los Angeles
Cleveland Clinic
Massachusetts General, Boston
New York-Presbyterian University Hospital of Columbia and Cornell
University of California-San Francisco Medical Center
Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia
Barnes-Jewish Hospital/Washington University, St. Louis
Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Boston & Duke University Medical Center, Durham, N.C.
University of Washington [...]

Top 10 Fattest Countries

According to the World Health Organization there are currently 1.6 billion overweight adults in the world and that number is projected to grow by 40% over the next 10 years.

Naruru (94.5%)
Micronesia (91.1%)
Cook Islands (90.9%)
Tonga (90.8%)
Niue (81.7%
Samoa (80.4%)
Palau (78.4%)
Kuwait (74.2%)
United States (74.1%)
Kiribati (73.6%)

The list reflects the percentage of overweight adults aged 15 and over. These are [...]

Mesothelioma brief review

This is a paid review
Mesothelioma Aid

Mesothelioma Aid is a site for practical living with malignant mesothelioma. In addition to medical information, mesothelioma patients, their families, and their caregivers need support with real life and mesothelioma caregiving issues. Mesothelioma Aid’s focus is on providing answers to your questions and helping you best cope with what is [...]

Volkmanns ischemic contracture

The brachial artery is the major artery that transverses the antecubital fossa; injury to the brachial artery will cause radiating pain, decreased skin temperature, decreased pulses, and pallor of the distal arm and may result in Volkmann contracture.
The Volmann’s ischemic contracture is a contracture of the flexor muscles and median and ulnar nerve palsies. a [...]

Leprosy (Hansen’s disease)

Introduction
Leprosy has a rich history dating to biblical times.
“Leper” is an ancient term used to identify patients with leprosy who were severely stigmatized by the deformity that resulted from Mycobacterium leprae infection.
In the clinical context, the term Hansen’s disease should be used instead of leprosy. Gerhard Henrick Armauer Hansen, a Norwegian physician, discovered the microbe [...]

National Survey for Health and Nutrition in Mexico (2006)

The 2006 National Survey for Health and Nutrition in Mexico (Encuesta Nacional de Salud y Nutrición 2006, a.k.a. ENSANUT) revealed that among mexican adults, 70 percent have obesity or overweight.
There were not states in the Mexican Republic with smaller prevalence to 55 percent.
Campeche, Chihuahua, Durango, México City, Estado de México, Quintana Roo, Sonora, South Baja [...]

Top Ten causes of death in Mexico

Several times, some people have asked me what causes death to mexicans.
On the last mortality statistics (2004) of general population, the main causes of death were [independently of sex]:

Heart disease - 16.4%
Complications of Diabetes Mellitus - 13.1%
Cancer - 12.9%
Traumatic injuries - 7.4%
Liver disease (alcoholic and non-alcoholic) - 6.2%
Stroke - 5.7%
Perinatal complications - 3.5%
COPD - 3.0%
Pneumonia [...]

Screening Measures for Cancer

Elisa Camahort wrote at Healthy Concerns a Frequently Asked Question: What are the best preventative screeinngs -of cancer- we all should do?
By now, there is evidence for three types of cancer, the recommendations of the US Preventive Services Task Force are the following:
Breast Cancer

Screening mammography, with or without clinical breast examination, every 1-2 years [...]

Gallstone Ileus

Gallstone Ileus is an infrequent cause of mechanical bowel obstruction. It is caused by an impaction of a gallstone in the terminal ileum by passing through a billiary-enteric fistula (often from duodenum). It occurs more frequently in women with average age of 70 years.
Clinical picture: Episodic subacute obstruction in an elderly female. Abdominal pain and [...]

Splenic Injury and Hemoperitoneum in Blunt Trauma

The following pictures are from different clinical cases.
In Blunt Trauma the spleen and the liver are injuried in 40 and 20 percent, respectively.
In the ER, you have three four options in the Work-Up of a patient with blunt abdominal trauma

Peritoneal Lavage: Now just performed if you haven’t access to ultrasound (lack of money or lack [...]

Worst case of hemorrhoidal prolapse ever & PPH

BEWARE! Gory image

A 45 year old male with history of chronic reducible hemorrhoidal disease came to the emergency department with excruciating pain, rectal bleeding and an anal non-redicible mass after a bowel movement.
On examination, we found this:

In this case, the only way to reduce the prolapse is a procedure for prolapsing hemorrhoids (PPH) which is [...]

Intussusception

Intussusception is the invagination of a part of the intestine into itself, in other words is the prolapse of one part of the intestine into the lumen of an immediately adjoining part. It is the most common abdominal emergency in early childhood.
Epidemiology: Most episodes of intussusception occur in otherwise healthy and well-nourished children. Approximately 60% [...]