Chronic pancreatitis is characterised by repeated pancreatic inflammation. This leads to the destruction of pancreatic tissue leading to irreversible loss of both endocrine and exocrine function and formation of calcifications, pseudocysts and fibrosis. Risk factors The most common causes of chronic pancreatitis are alcohol and smoking. It is estimated that alcohol causes up to 80%
Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) refers to a relapsing and remitting inflammatory disorder of the gastrointestinal (GI) tract, which may be accompanied by extra-GI manifestations. What are the main types of IBD? The term IBD encompasses two types: ulcerative colitis (UC) and Crohn’s disease (CD). CD can affect any part of the GI tract, although in
NG tubes are passed from the nose to the stomach. Depending on the material, they can stay between 2 to 6 weeks. However, they quite easily can fall out either being accidentally tugged at night or the tube might get caught. Due to this, they sometimes fall out within a week or two. Wide-bore NGT
The word stoma comes from Greek to mean “an opening”. There are many types which are formed for a variety of reasons, but here we will focus on diversions of the urinary or gastrointestinal tract to the abdominal wall. These can be temporary or permanent and their purpose is predominantly the diversion of waste products.
The advantages of AXRs are far less radiation to patients & that they’re logistically easy to organise out of hours. Unlike CTs they do not need to be discussed with the on-call radiologist but they aren’t reported as quickly therefore it is crucial you can interpret them. The most common indication for an AXR is
Diarrhoea is a very common complaint and may be the reason for a patient’s admission, or develop as a new problem during an inpatient stay. Diarrhoea related to inflammation of the stomach and small bowel is termed gastroenteritis, whilst inflammation of the large bowel is colitis. However, these are umbrella terms that describe syndromes, not
As a resident doctor, you will frequently look after patients prior to and after their operation. You may be asked to clerk patients who are admitted to hospital the night before their operations. Here are some things to consider during your clerking & whilst you’re considering pre & post-operative issues. Pre-Operative Clerking Pre-Operative Considerations Post-Operative
Patients regularly present under the acute take with gallstone disease. The aim of this article is to supplement the surgical webinar series session on gallstone disease that can be found on this website. The key learning points are to understand the background of gallstone disease, appreciate how they can present, and understand key concepts for
Pancreatitis is a condition characterised by the inflammation of the pancreas. These patients are usually managed conservatively. Your aim is to try to find out the underlying cause, optimise managing them conservatively whilst observing for complications. Signs and symptoms: Upper abdominal pain (usually described as radiating to the back) Pain that gets worse after eating
The first thing when called is to identify whether the bleeding is truly a lower GI bleed or whether it is an Upper GI Bleed as the management differs. Both can quickly become emergencies so seek senior advice. When the nurse first calls you Check the observations & their trend (urgent review for haemodynamic instability) If
