The Medical Media Review

An Internal Medicine Approach to Abnormal Liver Chemistry Studies

1 October, 201420 September, 2012 by Mark Yoffe, MD

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 … Read more

Electrocardiography: A Curriculum for Self-Guided Learners

12 October, 201919 September, 2012 by Mark Yoffe, MD

“If you think there’s another specialist who has all the answers, someone else who’s going to bail you out of trouble every time you have a question about ECGs, you are mistaken. That person may just as likely be wrong, so YOU must strive to become THE expert.” Amal Mattu MD, ECG Interpretation of STEMI: … Read more

Teach Yourself Radiology!

21 July, 201518 September, 2012 by Mark Yoffe, MD

Radiology is by far the most challenging specialty in all of modern medicine in terms of the sheer quantity and breadth of information one needs to acquire in order to become competent at it. You can, however, teach yourself radiology by focusing on the highest yield items: Step 1 Master radiographic anatomy. Radiologists need to know least four … Read more

How to distinguish pericarditis from STEMI

30 April, 201710 September, 2012 by Mark Yoffe, MD

The Problem Diffuse, convex (up) ST segment elevations with or without PR-segment depressions can be seen in both pericarditis or ST-segment Elevation Myocardial Infarction (STEMI), particularly if the patient has a wraparound LAD which supplies the inferior wall. So how can one reliably distinguish pericarditis from STEMI? The Solution If any of the following are present, a STEMI … Read more

“Jail Medicine” and other cool medical blogs and feeds

1 May, 20174 September, 2012 by Mark Yoffe, MD

I recently published a list of cool medical blogs and feeds. You might have heard of some of them, such the famous Dr. Smith’s ECG Blog. Others, probably not so much. For example, Dr. Mark Crislip’s infectious diseases blog Rubor, Dolor, Calor, Tumor (http://feedity.com/medscape-com/V1FUW1pV.rss) is really good, but is really hard to get as a feed. The feed provided by the … Read more

One of the most important images in all of clinical medicine: anatomy of the PA and lateral chest radiograph

4 October, 201429 August, 2012 by Mark Yoffe, MD

The image below, an artistic superimposition of a drawing of chest cardio-vasculature onto a normal PA and lateral chest radiograph is, in my view, one of the most important images in all of clinical medicine. Source PowerPoint presentation by Dr. Gillian Lieberman on radiographic chest anatomy and from the Medicine Explained blog.

A Definitive Acid-Base Disorders Worksheet

3 May, 201728 August, 2012 by Mark Yoffe, MD

This Acid-Base Disorders Worksheet is one of the best acid-base algorithms I have ever seen. It is an adaptation from Joshua Steinberg MD, sent to me today by Dr. Dontu, academic hospitalist at York Hospital, York PA.