H. pylori’s rap sheet | Infectious Disease | 09-2009
Although H. pylori infection can be asymptomatic in the majority of patients, it s implicated in peptic ulcer disease, gastric carcinoma and lymphoma and antral gastritis and atrophic gastritis. The ...
Genetics of breast cancer | Oncology | 06-2009
If you re simply asking the absolute risk of a man with breast cancer s offspring developing breast cancer versus a woman s offspring, then the man is more likely ...
Pneumovax: one jab should do the trick | Infectious Disease | 06-2009
Approximately 50 of all cases of pneumonia occur in the age 65 and over group. Strep pneumonia accounts for most cases of community-acquired pneumonia. The currently available Pneumovax is a ...
Not out of the woods yet | Oncology | 05-2009
Patients with Hodgkin s disease could have been treated with chemotherapy or radiation, and different treatments have different long-term problems. The reason for follow-up of these patients is partly to ...
When to worry about eosinophilia | Allergy | 12-2008
Allergist response Peripheral eosinophilia often accompanies allergic rhinitis, asthma, eosinophilic esophagitis and atopic dermatitis. I usually accept values up to 3.0 x 109 L of blood normal being less than ...
Mantle cell lymphoma | Oncology | 01-2008
Mantle cell lymphoma is a rare form of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. It occurs predominantly in men and usually in people over age 50. Being a B-cell lymphoma, it looks low-grade but ...
Smudge cells: clarifying the diagnosis | Hematology | 02-2007
Lymphocytes-relative 0.24 means that 24 of the white blood cells are lymphocytes. Absolute lymphocyte count WBC x relative lymphocyte count, i.e. 7.0 x 0.24 1.68, or rounding up, 1.7 x ...
Pruritus in the elderly | Geriatrics | 12-2006
Pruritus isn't unusual in the elderly. It may be due to physiologic, emotional, environmental, cognitive and social factors, as well as a myriad of disease processes and medications. Xerosis, or ...
Flow cytometry: when is it useful? | Hematology | 10-2006
Flow cytometry is the measurement of numerous cell properties as the cells move in single file in a fluid column and intercept a beam of laser light. In a hematology ...
Flow cytometry: when is it useful? | Oncology | 10-2006
Flow cytometry is a means of measuring physical and chemical characteristics of cells or particles as they travel in suspension one by one past a sensing point. The instrument can ...
Can spherocytosis cause an itch? | Hematology | 07-2006
It's quite unusual to see an elderly patient with congenital spherocytosis and jaundice who hasn't had a splenectomy. If the individual did have his spleen removed, he shouldn't have high ...
Celiac disease: does diet protect against cancer? | Oncology | 04-2006
Small intestinal cancer is rare, accounting for less then 0.5 of all cancers, or 500 cases in Canada per year. Celiac disease is one of the known risk factors for ...
What are the pros and cons of pimecrolimus? | Dermatology | 11-2005
One of the biggest problems facing patients with chronic atopic dermatitis is balancing the need for optimal control against the accumulated side effects. Topical steroids are very effective in controlling ...
Should rising platelet count cause concern? | Hematology | 06-2005
Thrombocytosis can be either primary or secondary. Among the primary causes are myeloproliferative syndromes, essential thrombocythemia, polycythemia vera, chronic myelocytic leukemia and myelofibrosis. Secondary thrombocytosis may be seen in infectious ...
Shedding light on UV radiation therapy | Dermatology | 04-2005
This is a question often asked of dermatologists. I will answer in two parts why clinicians appear contradictory on UV exposure and how UV light is used therapeutically. amp lt ...
Banking stem cells with interest | Allergy | 03-2005
Collecting stem cells at birth could be beneficial if a bone marrow transplant is ever required by the infant or an HLA-matched family member or unrelated patient. Stem cells can ...
The H. pylori link | Gastroenterology | 11-2004
amp lt i amp gt H. pylori amp lt i amp gt infection and disease aren't synonymous. In fact, only a fraction of amp lt i amp gt H. pylori ...
Diagnosing non-Hodgkin's lymphoma | Oncology | 03-2004
The most common presentation of NHLs is a lymph node mass. Lymphadenopathy may cause pressure symptoms on various organs. As well, this disease often affects extranodal sites and can present ...
Diagnostic workup of acanthosis nigricans | Cardiology | 02-2004
Acanthosis nigricans is a velvety thickening and hyperpigmentation grey-brown of the skin. It's commonly seen on the skin folds of the neck, groin, axillae and antecubital areas, and may cause ...
Investigating lymphocytosis + neutropenia | Hematology | 02-2004
First, we'll have to clarify the terminology. The patient with neutropenia and normal WBC most likely doesn't have true lymphocytosis -- it's probably amp quot relative lymphocytosis amp quot due ...
Investigating axillary lumps | Imaging | 02-2004
Unilateral or asymmetrical axillary adenopathy is very common. The causes are often benign in nature, including reactive changes in the lymph nodes from regional infection lymphoid hyperplasia or those due ...
Investigating monoclonal gammopathies | Hematology | 12-2003
The three main monoclonal gammopathies MG are of IgA, IgG and IgM IgD and IgE gammopathies are very rare . Investigating IgA and IgG gammopathies is the same, and is ...
Investigating bilateral parotid swelling | ENT | 10-2003
Determine the etiology of bilateral parotid swelling by looking for clinical features such as when the swelling began on each side coincident noncoincident how long it's lasted whether there's pain, ...
Should we be screening for HTLV? | Infection | 05-2003
HTLV types I and II are retroviruses that are transmitted by similar routes as HIV, but aren t associated with acquired immunodeficiency syndrome AIDS . Infection with these viruses has ...
Should HTLV tests be part of STD screening? | Infection | 04-2003
HTLV-I and -II are retroviruses that are related in many ways to the human immunodeficiency viruses HIV , but aren't associated with the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome AIDS . It's thought ...
PET imaging: not for the average Canadian | Imaging | 02-2003
PET imaging has been available for more than 30 years, but it's been evolving rather slowly from a pure research tool to a technique with great clinical potential in the ...
INVESTIGATING A HIGH PLATELET COUNT | Hematology | 09-2002
I assume that, by saying a platelet count is amp quot greater than 100,000, amp quot you actually mean greater than 100,000 mm superscript 3 or greater than 1,000 x ...
SIGNIFICANCE OF HYGROMA ON HEAD CT | Imaging | 09-2002
First of all, the amp quot hygram amp quot in your head CT report is, in fact, a typographic error. The report should have said amp quot hygroma amp quot ...
HTLV-1 OR -II INFECTION: WHAT'S THE SIGNIFICANCE? | Infection | 08-2002
The HTLV viruses are retroviruses. To date, we've identified two types in humans. HTLV-I is present in widely scattered populations and probably infects 10-20 million people globally. Rates of seropositivity ...
LOOKING FOR LEUKEMIA IN THE ELDERLY | Hematology | 07-2002
The warning signs in CBC results for the possibility of leukemia in elderly patients are the same as in younger patients. But for the majority of elderly patients with suspected ...
HTLV SCREENING IN BLOOD DONORS | Hematology | 07-2002
It's been demonstrated that HTLV can be transmitted through blood transfusion. Most HTLV carriers are asymptomatic, but about 1-5 develop adult T cell leukemia lymphoma and a smaller number get ...
Is the Monospot positive forever? | Infection | 04-2002
Monospot tests are frequently positive up to one year after infectious mononucleosis has cleared up. In addition, unrelated, subsequent acute infectious illnesses can often lead to reappearance or amp quot ...
IS PET BEST BET TO SPOT TUMOUR SPREAD? | Imaging | 02-2002
At this point in time, the answer is a definitive amp quot likely no. amp quot I believe we're right on the cusp of a new age of tumour scanning ...
CA SCREENING AFTER THYMUS IRRADIATION | Oncology | 01-2002
I'm not aware of firm guidelines for follow-up in this small group of patients. If there's a history of thymic irradiation in childhood, it would seem appropriate to follow annually ...
PUZZLED BY HIGH MMA + NORMAL B12 | Hematology | 12-2001
MMA or methylmalonyl-CoA is an intermediary product formed in the breakdown of several essential amino acids isoleucine, valine, methionine, threonine , odd-chain fatty acids and cholesterol. A form of vitamin ...
ANY FOLLOW-UP FOR HTLV-1 CARRIERS? | Hematology | 10-2001
HTLV-1-associated infection has the highest prevalence in the southwestern district of Japan. It's also endemic in the Caribbean basin, parts of Africa, Latin America, the Middle East and the Pacific ...
DIET'S THE KEY WITH CELIAC | Gastroenterology | 02-2001
I think that in order to make a firm diagnosis of celiac disease, a small bowel biopsy is necessary. Nowadays, a distal duodenal biopsy at endoscopy is a fairly easy ...
LYMPH NODE SWELLING AND LYMPHOMA WORRIES | Oncology | 05-2000
I'm not aware of lymph node swelling being a symptom of lymphoma. The phenomenon of joint pain triggered by alcohol in patients with Hodgkin's disease has been described, but it's ...
INVESTIGATING SLIGHT SPLENOMEGALY | Hematology | 04-2000
In this case, check the reticulocyte count first. If the reticulocyte count is high, work up the patient for chronic compensated hemolytic anemia. If the reticulocyte count is normal, it's ...
CAN IMMUNOCOMPROMISED KIDS TAKE THE VARICELLA SHOT? | Infection | 06-1999
The Oka Merck vaccine Varivax, Merck Frosst Canada is a live attenuated varicella vaccine that was approved for use in healthy children efficacy in this population was estimated at 95 ...
A SWEATY SWEET SIXTEEN | Dermatology | 04-1998
Unfortunately, there is no standard protocol to investigate marked diaphoresis in an otherwise healthy adolescent. Sweating is a sympathetic autonomic response and excessive sweating can be a physiological variant or ...
MARIJUANA: HEALTH EFFECTS OF THE EVIL WEED | Respirology | 09-1997
The main effects from the regular -- and even short-term -- smoking of marijuana is on the psychological and cognitive functions of the smoker. These changes are well documented in ...
ANTIBIOTIC RASH IN MONO | Infection | 06-1995
Taking ampicillin or amoxicillin during an acute infection with Epstein-Barr virus results in a pruritic maculopapular rash in 90 to 100 of cases. The cause of this reaction is still ...
NEGATIVE BIOPSY: NO MEANS MAYBE | Gastroenterology | 09-1994
In your patient the appearence at endoscopy is impressive enough to consider malignancy. Although the biopsies were negative, anything that looks sinister at endoscopy is malignant unless proven otherwise. I ...
GETTING TO THE ROOT OF URTICARIA | Infection | 07-1994
Chronic and or recurrent urticaria is frequently idiopathic but can also be associated with a variety of underlying disorders, including lymphoma, metastatic carcinoma, intestinal helminths, drugs including Aspirin , and ...
