Medicine Flashcard Collection 🏥

• Epigastric pain (often described as 'burning' and may radiate to the back)
• Epigastric tenderness (gives rise to 'pointing sign' (patient able to point to the precise site of pain using finger)
• Nausea ± vomiting
• Improvement of symptoms with use of antacids 
• Changes to weight
• Signs of gastrointestinal bleeding 

Tip: Gastric ulcers typically cause increased pain shortly after eating, whereas duodenal ulcers are associated with pain relief after eating.

Link: Peptic ulcer disease 

• Dermatoscopy: aids differentiation between early stages of melanoma from benign melanocytic lesions; allows clinicians to determine the need for biopsy
• Biopsy: full-thickness excision of the entire lesion if melanoma is suspected, will show abnormal melanocytic proliferation if melanoma

Link: Melanoma 

• Warm compression of the eyelids with cotton wool dipped in hot water to loosen debris
• Eyelid massage to empty glands of debris
• Cleaning eyelids with cotton wool to remove debris
• Consider antibiotics (e.g. chloramphenicol) if symptoms do not improve despite lid hygiene

• Usually a rapidly progressive and fatal disease (median survival is two to four years)
• Respiratory failure is the most common cause of morbidity and mortality
• 5-10% of patients survive for a decade or more

Link: Motor neurone disease