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,…
Acknowledgements Ashok Adams, Consultant Neuroradiologist, for helping with the radiological images, and Rachael Mcfarlane, Senior Audiologist, for helping with the vestibular testing and audiological testing images. Introduction This chapter describes the assessment of potential diseases of the ear, nose and…
Introduction Although proportionally a greater contribution towards the diagnosis of ophthalmic disorders is made by the examination compared with the history, it is important to obtain a detailed account of the presenting complaint and associated visual symptoms from the patient…
Introduction The skin is the largest organ in the human body. Forming a major interface between man and his environment, it covers an area of approximately 2 m and weighs about 4 kg. The structure of human skin is complex…
Introduction The endocrine system is composed of the classic endocrine organs: ▪ Hypothalamus/pituitary ▪ Thyroid ▪ Parathyroid ▪ Adrenal ▪ Pancreatic islet cells ▪ Gonads The mode of presentation of endocrine disorders does not fit neatly into a system-based model,…
Introduction The following chapter covers the history, examination and investigation of the patient who presents with genital symptoms and outlines the common sexually transmitted infections (STI) and non-infective conditions encountered in the sexual health clinic. A fundamental principle in the…