Medical Laboratory Studies, Imagin, and Diagnostic Tests

Learn the rapid, practical use of X-ray in emergency medicine, from identifying bone fractures and chest conditions to recognizing bowel obstruction and perforation, while understanding radiation risks.

Computed tomography scans provide rapid, high-resolution images with intravenous contrast to enhance soft tissues, aiding trauma assessment, stroke evaluation, and diagnosis of appendicitis and vascular emergencies.

MRI visualizes soft tissues like the brain and spinal cord with high detail, may use IV contrast, and does not ionize, enabling early stroke detection and trauma assessment.

Explore real-time, noninvasive ultrasound in emergency medicine for trauma assessment, abdominal and gallbladder issues, pregnancy, central line guidance, and detection of deep vein thrombosis and effusions.

Learn to read ECG basics: identify P, QRS, and T waves; understand depolarization and repolarization. Interpret PR and QT intervals, assess rhythm, and note ST changes indicating ischemia or infarction.

Evaluate palpable breast mass with age-based imaging: ultrasound for younger than 30 and mammogram for older than 30. Use image-guided core biopsy for complex cysts or suspected malignancy.

Identify thyroid nodules by ordering TSH and T4, then use ultrasound. Perform FNA for cold nodules or nodules with malignant features, and assess hot nodules with radioiodine uptake.

Compare the chest x-ray nodule with prior images to distinguish fibrous tissue from malignancy; if growth or no previous x-ray exists, use CT, then biopsy or surgery.

Apply Parkland fluid resuscitation with Ringer's lactate using body surface area and weight, with half in eight hours. Use revised bow score and American Burn Association guidelines for prognosis.

Shifting the intubation tube into a right or left bronchus causes hypoxia from lung collapse, reposition to the common bronchus to restore ventilation, pneumothorax or atelectasis may follow.

Apply the CURB-65 criteria—confusion, uremia, respiratory rate, blood pressure, and age—to guide inpatient, outpatient, or ICU decisions, with penicillins, macrolides, or fluoroquinolones as appropriate.

Classify loss of consciousness as gradual or sudden and guide testing: metabolic screens (glucose, oxygen, CBC) or cardiac workup (echo, EKG, enzymes, Holter), noting aortic stenosis as a cardiogenic cause.

Learn when to order a head and neck CT after trauma by applying guidelines for high-energy mechanisms, neurological symptoms, spine tenderness, intoxication, and altered mental status.

this lecture defines sepsis as a bacterial infection with end organ dysfunction and septic shock as sepsis with vital instability and lactate over 18 mg/dl, emphasizing source control and vasopressors.

Perform thyroidectomy by incising skin and platysma, then separating strap muscles while protecting the ancestor vascularised nerve. Ligate inferior thyroid near gland; spare recurrent and superior laryngeal nerves.

Use the low-dose dexamethasone suppression test to distinguish cushing's disease from cushing's syndrome by observing ACTH and cortisol suppression.

Assess metyrapone stimulation by inhibiting 11 beta hydroxylase to reveal rising 11 deoxycortisol and falling cortisol, triggering ACTH rise in healthy individuals and divergent responses in adrenal insufficiency.

Using spirometry and dlco measurements, identify copd subtypes (emphysema, chronic bronchitis) and asthma, or restrictive diseases, by dlco values and ratios (<70% or >70%), with notes on obesity and scoliosis.

Assess tuberculosis diagnosis through PPD skin testing and IGRA, noting induration thresholds and erythema absence, alongside chest x-ray, sputum analysis, and biopsy for confirmation.

Use tuning forks to detect hearing loss and its cause, performing the Weber test on the forehead and comparing air versus bone conduction to identify conductive or sensorineural loss.

Colorectal cancer is common and often diagnosed late, with symptoms such as constipation or diarrhea, changes in stool, blood in stool, abdominal pain, fatigue, weight loss, and appetite change. It progresses from stage zero to stage four, including carcinoma in situ, invasion of the colon wall, lymph nodes, and metastasis.

Learn about screening tests for abdominal aortic aneurysm, mammography, pap smear with HPV, hepatitis C antibodies, lung cancer low-dose CT, osteoporosis Dexa, autism, depression, and vision screening.

Amplify a small amount of DNA with polymerase chain reaction by denaturing strands with heat, annealing RNA primers, and elongating new DNA for tests like HIV and HSV screening.

Explore how blotting techniques detect DNA, RNA, and proteins: southern blot for DNA, northern for mRNA, western for proteins, and southwestern for DNA-binding proteins, with HIV examples.

Use flow cytometry to detect the presence and amount of a specific protein by labeling cells with antibodies and fluorescent dye, then detecting dye signals with a laser.

Outline HIV prophylaxis by CD4 thresholds: PCP with folate inhibitors at 200, histoplasmosis with itraconazole at 150 in endemic areas, toxoplasmosis at 100 with antibodies; includes IV immunoglobulins for zoster.

Learn sterilization techniques, from autoclave high-pressure steam to alcohol, hydrogen peroxide, chlorine, chlorhexidine, ethylene oxide, iodine, and quaternary amines, including spores and poricidal considerations.

Learn to manage foreign body ingestion in children using imaging and endoscopy. Apply serial x-rays for coins, endoscopy for objects in the stomach or esophagus, and consider surgery for perforation.

start high-intensity statin therapy for patients with coronary artery disease, diabetes, or dyslipidemia, aiming for a 50% LDL reduction or LDL 70 mg/dl, with evolocumab or ezetimibe if needed.