Differential Diagnoses Flashcards
What are the symptoms of pneumonia?
- Productive or non-productive cough
- Dyspnoea
- Pleuritic chest pain (sharp chest pain when breathing in deeply)
- Fever
- Coarse crackles
What are the risk factors for pneumonia?
- Smoker
- Drug abuse
- Conditions that interfere with gag reflex
- Conditions that interfere with immune system
- COPD
- Diabetes
- Infants, young children, elderly
- Cystic fibrosis
- Sickle cell disease
What are the symptoms of pleurisy/pleuritis?
- Pleuritic chest pain
- Myalgia (pain in muscle groups)
- Malaise
- Rhinorrhoea
- Dry Cough
What are the risk factors for pleurisy/pleuritis?
- If patient has been in contact with other people with infectious diseases
What are the symptoms of GORD?
- Chest pain
- Retrosternal burning after large/fatty meals
- Pain after lying supine, relieved by sitting up
What are the risk factors for GORD?
- Obesity
- Pregnancy
- Connective tissue disorders
- Infants
What are the symptoms of costochondritis?
- Focal chest wall pain that is aggravated by:
Sneezing
Coughing
Deep inspiration
Twisting of the chestWhat are the risk factors for costochondritis?
- Injury
- Physical strain
What are the symptoms of anxiety or panic disorder?
- Sharp chest pain
- Dizziness/faintness
- Palpitations
- Sweating
- Fear of dying
What are the symptoms of pulmonary embolism?
- Pleuritic chest pain (sharp chest pain when breathing in deeply)
- Dyspnoea
- Haemoptysis
- Tachycardia
- Tachypnoea
What are the risk factors for pulmonary embolism?
- Prolonged risk/inactivity
- Oral contraceptives
- Pregnancy
- Stroke
- Hx of DVT
- MI
What are the symptoms of pericarditis?
- Pleuritic chest pain (sharp chest pain when breathing in deeply)
- Chest pain that is provoked by lying supine
- Chest pain that is relieved by sitting up
- Dry cough
- Fever
- Myalgia
- May radiate to trapezius ridge/neck/shoulder
What are the risk factors for pericarditis?
- If patient has been in contact with other people with infectious diseases
- TB
- Uraemia
- Trauma
- Post-MI
- Connective tissue disease
- Hypothyroidism
What are the symptoms of cardiac tamponade?
- Dyspnoea
- Tachycardia
- Dizziness
- Fatigue
What are the risk factors for cardiac tamponade?
- MI
- Heart surgery
- Hypothyroidism
- Radiation exposure to chest
What are the symptoms of aortic dissection?
- Severe, ripping/tearing chest pain that radiates to the back
- Dyspnoea
What are the risk factors for aortic dissection?
- Collagens: Marfan’s Syndrome, Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome
- Turner’s and Noonan’s syndromes
- Pregnancy
- Syphilis
- Hypertension
- Bicuspid aortic valve
What are the symptoms of aortic stenosis?
- Progressive chest pain
- Dyspnoea
- Syncope (temporary loss of consciousness due to drop in BP)
What are the risk factors for aortic stenosis?
- > 60yrs
- Diabetes
- High BP
- High cholesterol
What are the symptoms of mitral valve prolapse?
- Commonly unsymptomatic
- Palpitations
- Chest pain
- Dyspnoea
- Fatigue
What are the risk factors for mitral valve prolapse?
- Increasing age
- Hx of rheumatic fever
- Connective tissue disorders
What are the symptoms of pneumothorax?
- Acute, pleuritic chest pain (sharp chest pain when breathing in deeply)
- Dyspnoea
- Shock
What are the risk factors for pneumothorax?
- Preexisting lung disease (COPD, asthma, cystic fibrosis, lung cancer)
- Connective tissue disorders
What are the symptoms of peptic ulcer disease?
- Gastric ulcer: epigastric pain that burns after eating
- Duodenal ulcer: epigastric pain that is relieved by eating
What are the risk factors for peptic ulcer disease?
- Smoking
- NSAIDs
- Alcoholism
What are the symptoms of acute cholecystitis?
- Right upper quadrant pain
- Pain radiates to interscapular area or right shoulder
- Nausea, vomiting
- Fever
What are the risk factors for acute cholecystitis?
- Increasing age
- Female gender
- Diabetes
- Obesity
- Losing/gaining weight rapidly
What are the symptoms of acute pancreatitis?
- Epigastric pain that radiates to the back
- Nausea, vomiting
What are the risk factors for acute pancreatitis?
- Hx of alcoholism
- Hx of gallstones
What are the symptoms of Herpes Zoster/Shingles?
- Unilateral burning, numbness or tingling pain in dermatome
may occur before rash - Fluid-filled blisters that break open and crust over
- Sensitivity to touch
What are the risk factors for Herpes Zoster/Shingles?
- Increasing age
- Weakened immune system
What is pleuritic chest pain?
- Caused by inflammation of the parietal pleura
- Exacerbated by deep breathing, coughing, sneezing, or laughing
