Surgery: UWorld Flashcards
What form of shoulder dislocation is most common and is usually caused by a direct blow or a fall onto an outstretched arm, after which the patient holds the arm slightly abducted and externally rotated?
Anterior dislocation
What is the most common bone in the body to be affected by stress fractures?
The tibia
Stress fractures classically occur in the anterior part of the middle third of the tibia in patients involved in jumping sports and the posteromedial part of the distal third of the tibia in runners. X-rays are frequently normal during the initial evaluation.
What does a steady state respiratory quotient (RQ) close to 1.0 indicate?
A predominance of oxidation of carbohydrates and net lipogenesis
The RQ is the steady-state ratio of carbon dioxide (CO2) produced to oxygen (O2) consumed per unit time and may be used to make assessments of the metabolism taking place in particular organs or in the body as a whole. The RQ for protein and lipid as sole sources of energy are 0.8 and 0.7 respectively.
Dyspnea, hemoptysis, subcutaneous emphysema, audible crepitus on cardiac auscultation (Hamman sign), and sternal tenderness are all characteristic of what diagnosis?
Tracheobronchial tear
What is a good modality for evaluating cardiac systolic and diastolic functions, cardiac valves, and pericardial effusions?
Transthoracic echocardiography
Hip, groin, or knee pain plus an antalgic gait in a boy between age 4 and 10 is a classic presentation of what?
Legg-Calve-Perthes disease (Idiopathic avascular necrosis of the femoral capital epiphysis)
How do you confirm the diagnosis of retroperitoneal hemorrhage from an extension of a local vascular hematoma secondary to cardiac catheterization?
Non-contrast abdominal CT scan
Treatment is largely supportive. Patients who develop neurologic deficits in the ipsilateral extremity require urgent decompression of the hematoma.
Postprandial abdominal cramps, weakness, light-headedness, and diaphoresis in the setting of a recent partial gastrectomy are suggestive of what diagnosis?
Dumping syndrome
This is a common post-gastrectomy complication (up to 50% of patients with partial gastrectomy may experience this syndrome). The rate is lower for patients who underwent more conservative gastric surgery (IE proximal vagotomy). The pathophysiology of this condition involves rapid emptying of hypertonic gastric content into the duodenum and small intestine. This process leads to the fluid shift from intravascular space into the small intestine, release of intestinal vasoactive polypeptides, and stimulation of autonomic reflexes.
Following splenectomy, patients are at increased risk for sepsis secondary to which 3 bacteria?
- Streptococcus pneumoniae
- Neisseria Meningitidis
- Haemophilus influenzae
Splenectomy increases the risk of sepsis secondary to encapsulated bacteria. Pneumococcal vaccine boosters are required every 5 years. The spleen plays an important role in immune surveillance. As blood flows through it, antigens are samples by dendritic cells and presented to helper T-cells, which subsequently activate B-cells to differentiate into antibody-secreting plasma cells. In the absence of specific antibodies, phagocytes are unable to recognize and engulf encapsulated organisms, thereby allowing these organisms to multiply unchecked in the circulation.
Persistent pneumothorax and significant air leak following chest tube placement in a patient who has sustained blunt chest trauma suggests what?
Tracheobronchial rupture
Other findings include pneumomediastinum and subcutaneous emphysema.
What is the first step in management of a suspected urethral injury?
Retrograde urethrogram
The procedure can be used both to determine whether damage to the urethra has occurred and to determine the location of such damage within the urethra. Foley catheterization in the presence of a urethral injury will predispose the patient to abscess formation and worsening of the urethral damage.
Patients with blunt trauma should undergo what initial evaluation for intraperitoneal hemorrhage?
Focused assessment with sonography for trauma (FAST)
FAST can be done in a few minutes and has a high sensitivity and specificity for detecting hemoperitoneum, pericardial effusion, and intraperitoneal fluid.
What classically presents with dull abdominal pain and possibly bloody diarrhea acutely following abdominal aortic aneurysm repair
Colonic ischemia
Colonic ischemia follows up to 7% of such procedures due to interference of blood flow to the distal left colon. Common causes include loss of collateral circulation, manipulation of vessels with surgical instruments, prolonged aortic clamping and impaired blood flow through the inferior mesenteric artery.
What artery is commonly injured in a supracondylar fracture of the humerus (commonly seen in children)?
Brachial artery
What is the treatment for acute mediastinitis?
Drainage, surgical debridement, and prolonged antibiotic therapy.
Antibiotics alone do not appropriately treat mediastinitis. Even with appropriate treatment, acute mediastinitis has a mortality rate of 10-50%.
What is the preferred treatment of ruptured appendicitis with a contained abscess (appear stable >5 days after onset of symptoms)?
Antibiotics, IV fluids, and bowel rest because surgery has been associated with a higher morbiditiy
A CT scan may reveal an abscess that can be percutaneously drained. Most patients will require an interval appendectomy 6-8 weeks later to prevent future appendicitis.
What is characterized by early satiety, nausea, nonbilious vomiting, and weightloss?
Gastric outlet obstruction
What are the 3 main organs injured by blunt abdominal trauma?
Spleen, liver, and kidney
Evaluation with exploratory laparotomy.
- What muscles of the leg are innervated by the tibial nerve?
- The tibial nerve provides sensation to what region of the leg?
- The muscles of the posterior compartment of the thigh and leg, and the plantar muscles of the foot. These muscles control flexion of the knee and digits, and plantar flexion of the foot
- The tibial nerve provides sensation to the leg (except medial side) and plantar foot
CT scan of the head showing numerous minute punctuate hemorrhages with blurring of the gray-white matter interface is characteristic of what?
Diffuse axonal injury
This is the most significant cause of morbidity in patients with traumatic brain injuries. It is frequently due to traumatic deceleration injury and results in vegetative state.
What most commonly results from blunt trauma to the perineum (straddle injuries) or instrumentation of the urethra, and presents with perineal tenderness or hematoma, a normal prostate, and bleeding from the urethra?
Anterior urethral injury
This is the portion of the urethra distal to the urogenital diaphragm. Patients may not complain of inability to urinate, and delayed presentations may be complicated by sepsis secondary to extravasation of urine into the scrotum, perineum and/or abdominal wall.
What effect on risk of postoperative atelectasis does moving from supine to sitting have?
Moving from supine to sitting can increase the functional residual capacity by 20-35% and thus can help prevent postoperative atelectasis
What is the final stage of compartment syndrome in which the dead muscle has been replaced by fibrous tissue?
Volkmann’s ischemic contracture
Deep lacerations to the axillary region and axillary lymphadenectomy are common causes of injury to what nerve?
Long thoracic nerve
Damage causes scapular winging.