Dr. Jonathan Reisman writes, in the Washington Post, about his professional love affair with a body fluid: Many physicians are actively drawn to a particular bodily fluid, intrigued by its unique diagnostic mysteries. Each fluid that runs through the body is a language in which diseases speak to physicians, telling them what is wrong with […]
Tag: diagnosis
Scary blow-up and unnecessary kidney removal after oral sex
This medical report presents a cautionary story — the possibly-unnecessary removal of a body part: “Non-surgical pneumoperitoneum after oro-genital intercourse ,” Shamir O. Cawich [pictured here], Peter B. Johnson, Eric Williams, Vijay Naraynsngh, International Journal of Surgery Case Reports, epub September 25, 2013. The authors, at the University of the West Indies, Mona Campus, Jamaica, report: “A […]
Report of a lady who used her tongue to good medical effect
A new medical report suggests this limerick: A lady, by using her tongue, Distinguished (herself!) from among The medical range Of things that are strange, Swollen, or sunken, or hung. The report is: “Using the tongue to palpate a lesion in the postnasal space: a unique case of self-diagnosis,” Nora Haloob, Robert Nash, BMJ Case […]
The puzzle of rising diagnosis rates of certain nasty diseases
Marya Zilberberg [pictured here] discusses the whats and wherefores of a modern medical puzzle-that-may-not-be-all-that-much-of-a-puzzle. Certain diseases seem to be occurring more commonly — yet the percentage of the population that die from those diseases remains pretty constant. Zilberberg writes in her Health Care, Etc. blog (referring to a recent BMJ article and to her new book, both […]