OHCEPS - The Abdomen Flashcards
Principal symptom of esophageal disease?
Dysphagia
Dysphagia - what to know?
- Level of obstruction
- Onset
- Course
- Solids/Liquids
- Associated symptoms
Course of dysphagia?
- Intermittent?
- Present for only the first few shallows (lower esophageal ring, spasm)?
- Progressive (cancer, stricture, achalasia)?
Dysphagia - associates symptoms?
- Heartburn –> leads to esophageal strictures.
- Weight loss, wasting, fatigue –> perhaps cancer.
- Coughing ang choking suggest “pharyngeal dysphagia” due to motor dysfunction –> Motor neuron disease causing bulbar or pseudobulbar palsy.
Odynophagia?
PAIN on shallowing.
Substernal sensation DURING shallowing –> Esophageal inflammation –> Candida, Herpes, CMV, peptic ulceration, caustic damage, esophageal perforation.
Remember ask about drugs.
GERD - typical features?
Site –> mid-line, retrosternal.
Radiation –> Throat, occasionally infra-scapular regions
Nature –> burning
Aggravating factors –> Worse after meals, when performing postures which raise the intra-abdominal pressure (bending, stooping, lying supine) + pregnancy.
Associated symptoms –> Acid/bitter taste (acid regurgitation), or sudden filling of the mouth with saliva (“waterbrash”).
Foods that worsen GERD?
Chocolate, alcohol, caffeine, fatty meals.
Drugs that worsen GERD?
CCBs
Anticholinergics
which act to lower the GOJ sphincter pressure.
Dyspepsia?
- Upper abdominal discomfort
- Bloating
- Belching
Dyspepsia - be alert for features suggestive of a serious pathology?
- Anemia
- Weight loss
- Dysphagia
- PR blood loss
- Melena
- Abdominal masses
Dysphagia - oral causes?
- Painful mouth ulceration
2. Oral/throat infections
Dysphagia - Neurological causes?
- Cerebrovascular event
- Bulbar and pseudobulbar palsies
- Myasthenia gravis
Dysphagia - Dysmotility?
- Achalasia
- Systemic sclerosis
- Presbyesophagus
Dysphagia - Mechanical causes?
- Pharyngeal pouch
- Esophageal cancer
- Peptic stricture
- Other benign strictures
- Extrinsic compression of the esophagus (large lung or thyroid tumor)
Vomiting - timing?
- Vomiting delayed >1h after meal –> Gastro-esophageal obstruction or gastroparesis.
- Early morning vomiting is typical of pregnancy or raised intracranial pressure.
Hematemesis - ask specifically?
- Amount of blood + exact nature.
- Previous bleeding episodes + treatment + outcome (previous surgery?).
- Smoking
- Drugs –> aspirin, NSAIDs, warfarin.
Remember –> Weight loss, dysphagia, abdominal pain and melena (consider cancer possibility)
Nature of vomitus - Bile?
Assess the presence/absence of bile.
Bile comes largely in 2 colors:
1. Green (biliverdin) often seen to color the vomitus in the absence of UNdigested food.
2. Yellow pigment (bilirubin) appears as orange, often occurring in small lumps.
Vomiting - acute etiology?
- GI infections
- Systemic bacterial infections
- Mechanical bowel obstruction
- Alcohol intoxication
- Acute upper GI bleed
- Urinary tract infection
Vomiting - chronic causes?
- Pregnancy
- Uremia
- Drugs
- Gastroparesis
Drugs that cause chronic vomiting?
- Narcotics
- Digitalis
- Aminophylline
- Cancer chemo
Vomiting - other causes?
- PUD
- Motor disorders (post-surgery or autonomic dysfunction).
- Hepatobiliary disease
- Alcoholism
- Cancer
Upper GI bleeding - etiology?
- Peptic ulceration
- Erosive or ulcerative esophagitis
- Gastritis
- Varices (esophageal/gastric)
- Gastric/esophageal tumors)
- Mallory-Weiss tear
- Dieulafoy’s lesion
- Vascular anomalies - angiodysplasia, AV malformation
- Hereditary hemorrhagic telangiectasia
- Connective tissue disorders
- Vasculitis
- Bleeding disorders
Nature of hematemesis?
- Large volume of fresh, red blood.
- Small streaks –> Minor trauma at the GEJ (Mallory-Weiss tear)
- Coffee-ground –> Blood that has been altered by exposure to stomach acid - appears brown and in small lumps.
Sites of abdominal pain and embryologic origin?
- Epigastric (foregut) –> Stomach, duodenum, liver, pancreas, gallbladder.
- Periumbilical (midgut) –> Small and large intestines including appendix.
- Suprapubic (hindgut) –> Rectum and urogenital organs.