When you see a 10-hour-old Caucasian newborn with severe vomiting and abdominal distention who has not yet passed any stool, you confirm your diagnosis by licking the baby.
Challenge: What is the diagnosis?
Related Questions:
1. What is the vomiting, abdominal distension, and absence of stool called?
2. What did you find when you licked the baby?
Note: I decided not to take a suggestion to name this case "Lollipop."
skip to main |
skip to sidebar
I put together these medical challenges. The cases are hypothetical and do not necessarily represent actual or typical presentations of medical diseases. Disclaimer is at the bottom of this page.
Blog Archive
Labels
- Announcements (48)
- Emergency Medicine (217)
- Family Medicine (261)
- Internal Medicine (407)
- Neurology and Psychiatry (199)
- Obstetrics and Gynecology (126)
- Other (22)
- Pediatrics (208)
- Surgery (195)
- USMLE "Classic Findings" (25)
Posts
Disclaimer
The content of this site is for educational purposes only. The author of the site does not provide any medical advice and information here should not be construed or used as such. Using this site does not create a physician-patient relationship and is not intended to replace the services of a licensed, trained physician or health professional. No health or medical related decision should be based in whole or in part on anything contained here. Any opinions expressed here are not necessarily those of the author nor do they reflect the opinions of any of the author's affiliations. Content on this site may be changed without notice and is not guaranteed to be complete, correct, or up-to-date. Any comments posted to the site can be edited, modified, or removed by the author of this site.
2 comments:
1. in a baby, meconium ileus
2. sign of CF, you tasted salty stuff
therefore, this case should be called "beef jerky" or "don't lick meconium aspirate" instead of "lollipop." you had me googling for the taste of downe's, DKA, or anything sweet
One Liner
The first stool of a newborn is called the meconium and is composed of the stuff ingested while in utero. It is sterile, viscous, and has no odor. Meconium is usually passed within 6 hours after birth. If it becomes congested in the ileum, as is the case here, this is meconium ileus. This is usually a manifestation of cystic fibrosis. In cystic fibrosis patients, the sweat will taste particularly salty because of a mutation in the CFTR chloride ion channel. Cystic fibrosis is an autosomal recessive disease common among Europeans and Ashkenazi Jews that leads to pulmonary and pancreatic symptoms. There is no cure and life expectancy is 37.5 years.
Sources: Wikipedia, eMedicine.
Post a Comment