You are a diagnostic dunderhead. But only on this occasion and, hey, we all have bad days!

DIAGNOSIS IS MESENTERIC ISCHAEMIA

Clinical moral:

Mesenteric ischaemia is a rare cause of recurrent abdominal pain. It is very easy to overlook, and not just because of its obscurity. The diagnostic approach tends to be heavily weighted towards detecting structural lesions visible on scans, scopes and so on. And the hands-off, fast-turnover, narrow-focus approach in some secondary care departments can leave GPs either with a false sense of security (that there is nothing wrong) or with a feeling of clinical confusion (that there is something wrong but that it is difficult to know where to go with it). So it’s always worth bearing in mind that ‘no significant abnormality’ on hospital tests should not always be the end of the story, that there are some obscure but important causes of abdominal pain and that ‘being afraid to eat’ is a red flag.

Stuck on how to proceed with a patient’s presenting symptoms? Help is at hand with Pulse’s fantastic and GP-written new resource: Pulse Reference. It covers all the symptoms which GPs commonly see, giving information on likely diagnoses, pointers to relevant investigations, plus handy tips and red flag warnings. There’s something for everyone, whether you’re feeling a diagnostic genius or dunderhead.

Visit the site now by going to https://pulsereference.com

Stuck on how to proceed with a patient’s presenting symptoms? Help is at hand with Pulse’s fantastic and GP-written new resource: Pulse Reference. It covers all the symptoms which GPs commonly see, giving information on likely diagnoses, pointers to relevant investigations, plus handy tips and red flag warnings. There’s something for everyone, whether you’re feeling a diagnostic genius or dunderhead.

Visit the site now by going to https://pulsereference.com