A lump in the breast is a common clinical presentation. In every case of a breast lump, in both males and females, carcinoma must be excluded. Causes Discrete lumps Malignant ● Carcinoma ( Fig. 7 ) ● Phyllodes tumour (some…
Backache is one of the most common complaints seen in general practice and orthopaedic clinics. Most causes are either traumatic or degenerative, but other causes are numerous and may occur as a result of pathology in almost any system of…
The great majority of axillary swellings are enlarged lymph nodes. Axillary nodes can be enlarged due to secondary deposits from carcinoma of the breast. Most axillary swellings are easily diagnosed from clinical examination alone. Causes Superficial ● Acute abscess ●…
Ascites is the accumulation of excess free fluid in the peritoneal cavity ( Fig. 5 ). Open full size image Figure 5 CT scan of ascites . There is free fluid throughout the peritoneal cavity (arrows) . Causes Hepatic ●…
Swelling may be localised or generalised. Localised swellings may be related to joints or fractures. Localised swellings around joints are covered in the section on Joint Disorders (p. 247). This section includes only those conditions that may cause generalised swelling…
This section deals with pain in the upper limb unrelated to joint pains, and focuses on causes related to either neurological or vascular lesions. Musculoskeletal causes of arm pain are covered in the chapter on Joint Disorders (p. 247). Causes…
Anorectal pain is a common presenting complaint. The majority of patients have an obvious cause, e.g. fissure-in-ano, perianal abscess or thrombosed haemorrhoids. Causes Acute ● Fissure-in-ano ● Perianal haematoma ● Thrombosed haemorrhoids ( Fig. 3 ) ● Anorectal abscess (i.e.…
Abdominal swellings are a common surgical problem. Abdominal swellings may be divided into generalised and localised swellings. Generalised swellings are classically described as the ‘five Fs’, namely fat, faeces, flatus, fluid or fetus. For the purpose of description of localised…
Abdominal pain is an extremely common presenting symptom. The pain may be acute (sudden onset) or chronic (lasting for more than a few days or presenting intermittently). It is important to be able to distinguish causes of abdominal pain which…
Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) is a novel coronavirus that belongs to the same family of viruses as the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus (SARS-CoV) and the Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV). It was first identified in Wuhan,…