WELCOME !!

Just a few words to start off, I wouldnt' dare claim credit for ALL the mnemonics on this blog. In fact, a number of the cleverer mnemonics you see either are the good work of other doctors/students or have been shamelessly lifted out of medical books.

If you've got a medical mnemonic gem to contribute, feel free to submit it to dingydingding(at)googlemail(dot)com

Last but not least, please feel free to point out any errors or improvements that can be made in any of the mnemonics!! Otherwise, you can always click on the ad-links too if you wanna do your part =P

Tuesday, February 3, 2015

Mixed or Lobular-predominant Panniculitis

There are only a few causes of septal panniculitis, ie SEAptal
- Scleroderma
- Erythema nodoSum (the 'S' reminds you it's septal)
- a-AT deficiency 

The other big group of panniculitis is the mixed / lobular pattern.  If you read Bolognia pg1641, the authors seemed SKEPTICAL about dichotomising panniculitides as such. 

Stasis - Lipodermatosclerosis 
Kids - Sclerema neonatorum, Fat necrosis of the newborn (needle-shaped clefts within lipocytes)
Erythema induratum (a/w vasculitis of sub-Q vessels) 
Pancreatitis (necrosis is an early feature) 
Traumatic - blunt trauma, injectable substances, cold panniculitis, sclerosing lipogranuloma
Infectious 
CTDs / Autoimmune - Dermatomyositis, Lupus 
Lipodystrophies

from Dermatology 3ed, Bolognia (eds)

Causes of Erythema Nodosum

The causes of Erythema Nodosum are very very varied.

A more abbreviated mnemonic would be DISSTend

Drugs (remember "POSH", see below)
IBD / Idiopathic
Streptococcal infection
Sarcoidosis
TB
end = erythema nodosum

A longer, but still non-exhaustive mnemonic is: POSH GUNSMITH

Penicillins
OCPs
Sulfonamides
Halides

Gastroenteritis (Yersinia > Salmonella or Campylobacter)
URTI (viral)
Neutrophilic dermatosis (Behcet's, Sweet's)
Streptococcus / Sarcoidosis
Malignancy (usu Haematologic)
IBD / Idiopathic 
TB
HIV / Hep B

Monday, February 2, 2015

Drug Causes of Pseudoporphyria - FATTeND

Pseudoporphyria demonstrates identical clinical (blisters, erosions, scarring/milia on sun exposed sites) and histological (cell-poor sub-epidermal blister, dermal festooning, caterpillar bodies, eosinophilic hyaline deposits around BV, DIF+ along the BMZ and perivascularly) features to Porphyria Cutanea Tarda (defect in Uroporphyrinogen Decarboxylase).

Risk factors include:
  1. Dialysis
  2. Use of tanning beds (UVA)
  3. Drugs - FATTeND
Fluoroquinolones
Amiodarone
Tretinoin (and other Retinoids)
TEtracyclines
Naproxen and other NSAIDs
Diuretics (Loop and Thiazide)

Wednesday, September 28, 2011

Acid Base Balance Cheat Sheet


Winter's Equation: PCO2 = (1.5 × [HCO3-]) + 8 ± 2 


***Another useful tool in estimating the PCO2 in metabolic acidosis is the recognition that the pCO2 is always approximately equal to the last 2 digits of the pH.***

Saturday, July 24, 2010

How severe is your Ulcerative Colitis?


The Truelove Criteria (awesome name BTW...) grades the severity of Ulcerative Colitis based on 5 parameters:

UC Severity - She Hasn't Even Finished Pooping!

Stool frequency per day (has to be bloody stool)
Haemoglobin
ESR
Fever
Pulse rate


MILD
MODERATE
SEVERE
Stool frequency /day (bloody stools)

<4



Moderate severity are values that are in between MILD & SEVERE
>6
Haemoglobin

>11.0
<10.5
ESR

<30
>30
Fever

Afebrile
>37.8
Pulse rate

<70
>90

 

Wednesday, July 21, 2010

Myasthenia Gravis associations

Diseases associated with Myasthenia Gravis - STRAPD (read: 'strapped')

S - SLE or Sarcoid
T - Thymoma or Thyroid disease (hypo/hyper)
RA - Rheumatoid Arthritis
P - Pernicious Anaemia
D - the 2 DMs : diabetes mellitus & dermatomyositis

Tuesday, July 20, 2010

PGA - more Addison's than Tiger Woods....

Some quick notes about the group of diseases known as Polyglandular Autoimmune Syndrome (PGA).

  • 2 types exist - PGA I and PGA II (PGA II is the MORE COMMON of the two)
  • Each is a constellation of THREE diseases - but the diagnosis can be clinched by just having only 2 out of 3.
  • The common link between the two is autoimmune Addison's disease

PGA I:
Parathyroid - autoimmune HYPOparathyroidism
Gandida (boo hoo....this represents a new low in mnemonic making) - chronic mucocutaneous candidiasis
Addison's disease

Chronologically, chronic mucocutaneous candidiasis appears first, followed by hypoparathyroidism, and lastly Addison's.

PGA II - also with Addison's and 1 of the 2:
1) Type 1 DM (contrast this with candidiasis, which is common in Diabetics)
2) autoimmune THYROID disease - more commonly Hashimoto's than Graves' (contrast this with Parathyroid involvement of PGA I)