Hope Medical Centre Kalamba

27/03/2023

This case is a 21-year-old female who presented to the ER with left-sided abdominal pain that started a week prior. She had no other symptoms other than a decreased appetite and was currently taking omeprazole for reflux.

A CT was done and showed a large foreign body that was filling her entire stomach. They were suspicious the foreign body was a trichobezoar (hairball).

When the patient was questioned again about her medical history, she admitted to chewing on her hair occasionally but not swallowing it.

The foreign body was too large to remove endoscopically so surgeons had to make an incision in her abdomen and stomach to remove it.

When the giant hairball was removed it was over 9 inches (23cm) wide! The lining of her stomach looked ok, so they sewed it back up and she was discharged 5 days later.

It was determined that the patient was affected by trichotillomania (pulling out hair) and trichophagia (ingesting hair) which was a result of depression and anxiety. These conditions are more common in females than males, and up to 90% of adult patients diagnosed with these disorders are female.

05/11/2022

11/08/2022

Cephalothoracopagus twinning - two
bodies, one head and one face
This is a case of conjoined twins with 4 lower and
upper limbs, and one head
Conjoined twins are identical twins joined in utero.
Cephalothoracopagus is a rare type of conjoined
twins seen in 1 in 3 million births.
It is a rare monozygotic twinning resulting in
imperfect fusion of the head, chest and upper
abdomen.
They are fused from the vertex to the umbilicus. They
share a common cranium with either a composite
face or two faces on opposite sides of the conjoined
and enlarged head or skull.
These twins have separated limbs and pelvis. The
thoraces are fused with fusion of liver, heart and the
upper gastrointestinal system upto the division at the
Meckel diverticulum. There are usually four arms and
legs, and on the face there were two eyes, one nose
and two ears.
The precise cause of conjoined twinning is
unknown

11/08/2022

Strawberry tongue seen in scarlet fever
Scarlet fever is a disease resulting from a group A streptococcus infection, also known as Streptococcus pyogenes. The signs and symptoms include a sore throat, fever, headaches, swollen lymph nodes and a characteristic rash. The rash is red and feels like sandpaper and the tongue may be red and bumpy. It most commonly affects children between 5 and 15 years of age.
Rash which has a characteristic appearance, spreading pattern, and desquamating process e.g. "Strawberry tongue": The tongue initially has a white coating on it, while the papillae of the tongue are swollen and reddened. The protrusion of the red papillae through the white coating gives the tongue a "white strawberry" appearance. A few days later, the whiteness disappears, and the red and enlarged papillae give the tongue the "red strawberry" appearance. The symptomatic appearance of the tongue is part of the rash that is characteristic of scarlet fever.

09/08/2022

Types of headache

07/08/2022

69 year old gentleman admitted with failure to thrive incidentally found to have scrotal wound + worm infestation

06/08/2022

Types of headache illustrated on a womans face