More articles from Symptoms to Diagnosis
An unexpected turn: A 71-year-old man with myocardial infarctionThe patient’s temperature was elevated, pulse rate 98 beats per minute, respiratory rate 16 breaths per minute, and blood pressure 100/60 mm Hg. Cardiac and pulmonary examinations were normal.
- Acute anxiety and tachycardia in a hospitalized 59-year-old woman
The patient presented with neck pain, painful swallowing, headache, and fever. She had contracted lymphoproliferative disease after liver transplant. She had stage 3 chronic kidney disease.
- Dyspnea and cough in a lung transplant recipient
The patient developed sudden shortness of breath at rest, a decline in home spirometry values, and dry cough and fatigue.
- The devil is in the details: Approach to refractory hypokalemia
The authors illustrate a stepwise approach to the evaluation of acid-base disturbances.
- Microangiopathic hemolytic anemia in a female patient with systemic lupus erythematosus
Evaluation of a patient presenting with worsening swelling of the lips and legs, decreased oral intake, intermittent pleuritic chest pain, and exertional dyspnea.
- Recurrent anemia in a patient with chronic lymphocytic leukemia
New episodes of anemia do not automatically imply disease progression, and each should be evaluated completely.
- A painful mass in the jaw
The patient presented with a painful mass in the left side of her jaw, headache, lockjaw, painful swallowing, night sweats, and unintentional weight loss.
- Rapid cognitive decline and myoclonus in a 52-year-old woman
Symptoms also included confusion, blank staring, blurred vision, incoordination of the extremities, decreased verbal communication, and holding her left hand in a fist.
- An 86-year-old man with unexplained right-sided headache and vision loss
Steroid treatment for suspected giant cell arteritis brought no improvement in vision or headache severity.
- New bullous lesions in a 72-year-old woman
Her history included psoriasis, chronic lower-extremity edema, and hypertension.