Category: Hepatology

  • Mnemonic for Side Effects of Antimycobacterial Agents

    Mnemonic for Side Effects of Antimycobacterial Agents

    Here is a mnemonic that will help you remember the side effects of  antimycobacterial agents: Rifampin cause Red discoloration of urine and tears, which can lead to patient anxiety and ruined contact lenses. Patients should be counseled about this ahead of time and should be advised not to wear contact lenses while being treated with…

  • Book Review: Acing the Hepatology Questions on the GI Board Exam

    Book Review: Acing the Hepatology Questions on the GI Board Exam

    Acing the Hepatology Questions on the GI Board Exam, the Ultimate Crunch-Time Resource by Brennan M.R. Spiegel (2012)  is an excellent choice for anyone who is looking for a solid understanding of hepatic pathology, diagnostics and therapeutics. The book is vignette-driven and features most of the important and high-yield hepatic conditions including acetaminophen overdose, viral hepatitides, and dozens…

  • Toxic Hepatitis and Jaundice

    Here are some important causes of toxic hepatitis and jaundice (notorious ones are in bold): Hepatocellular (elevated ALT and AST only): acarbose, acetaminophen, allopurinol, amiodarone, aspirin (in Reye’s syndrome), baclofen, bupropion, fluoxetine, HAART drugs, isoniazid, ketoconazole, lisinopril, losartan, methotrexate, NSAIDs, omeprazole, paroxetine, pyrazinamide, rifampin, risperidone, sertraline, statins, tetracyclines, trazodone, trovafloxacin, valproic acid, Vitamin A. Herbals…

  • An Internal Medicine Approach to Abnormal Liver Chemistry Studies

    Causes of liver damage include: Toxic Acute alcoholic hepatitis (fever, leukocytosis, abnormal liver chemistry studies) acetaminophen Amanita poisoning (history of mushroom ingestion) Other drugs Infectious Viruses HAV (food-related outbreak with a relatively short incubation period) HBV HCV HEV (Pregnant patient from Southeast Asia with oro-fecally transmitted fulminant hepatitis with a very long (8 week) incubation period) CMV (teenager…