2/ Pts with cirrhosis are at higher risk of bleeding d/t ⬇️ factors, right? Not necessarily. In cirrhosis, there are ⬇️ in both anticoagulant and procoagulant factors in the liver. Additionally, factor VIII and VWF are usually increased.
3/ INR is only measuring a small part of the coagulation cascade, the extrinsic pathway (Factor VII). Additionally, variceal bleed is driven by ⬆️ portal pressure primarily.
4/ Study of patients with cirrhosis showed that there was no significant difference of VTE risk between INR quarterlies. ⬆️ INR was not protective against VTE.
6/ Things like thromboelastography (TEG) have been shown to ⬇️ blood product usage in variceal bleed (pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31148204/) but has not been shown to predict long-term mortality (pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32722691/) . TEG may be used more in future in defining bleeding vs vte risk.
7/ A brief review table from the below article posted by @k_vaishnani.
Summary: Pts with cirrhosis can have increased bleeding or clotting risk that is difficult to assess with standard coagulation factors.
Do you give vitamin K to pts with cirrhosis presenting with elevated INR? I would love to hear your thoughts about the topic.
Here are a few questions about Vit K in cirrhosis I wanted to answer. Please post additional articles on the topics that you know of. Question 1: Is there proof that patients with cirrhosis are Vit K deficient?
3/ It is proposed that patients w/ cirrhosis are at ⬆️ risk for Vit K def. I could find very few studies about this. This study of pediatric pts w/ cholestatic liver disease had high prevalence, but very different pop from most adults w/ cirrhosis. pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/19502999/
A pt w/ a hip fracture on POD1 has fever of 100.8. HR 90, BP 110/75, SpO2 96% ambient air. No localizing symptoms. Do you obtain blood cultures?
2/My reflex when I hear fever is to order blood cultures. It’s not wrong to make sure, right? As a resident, I remember grumbling at the ED for not ordering cultures on that CAP patient. First, what are the harms of ordering unnecessary blood cultures?
3/ Aside from the cost, there is a high rate of contamination on blood cultures from 0.6% to over 6%. In conditions with a low pretest probability of bacteremia, this represents a large prob that a + culture is contamination. ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/P…
1/ #tweetorial Next on the skeptical diagnosis series, I wanted to address cellulitis. I always feel a little angst when I am called to admit a patient w/ cellulitis. Does the patient really have cellulitis? In what % of pts diagnosed with cellulitis is the diagnosis incorrect?
2/ Here, I will focus and diagnosis and mimics. I plan to discuss mng of cellulitis later. Studies show that in 30-33% in patients diagnosed with cellulitis, the diagnosis is incorrect.
3/ Of those with an incorrect diagnosis, around 85% percent do not need hospitalization and 92% did not need antibiotics. Misdiagnosis is associated with millions in increased healthcare costs and up to 9000 nosocomial infections. pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27806170/ pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29453874/
2/ Case: A 28yM diagnosed w/uveitis about 4-5 weeks prior p/w N/V, weight loss, diffuse weakness. Most uveitis is anterior involving the iris (iritis). Anterior usually painful (front of eye in innervated). Infections commonly unilateral, autoimmune may be bilateral
3/ Up to 50% of anterior uveitis is HLA-B27+. Lymphoma is an important mimic. Because the patient is from Vietnam, TB is the first thing that came to my mind. With TB, you should also thing of histo (and other funi). Knowing an immune status is important is working-up infection
#medtwitter 1/What are the top three diagnoses of which you automatically skeptical? My top 3 are UTI, cellulitis, and CAP. Before talking more about "UTIs:, I must repeat the mantra:
PYURIA DOES NOT = UTI.
I will focus mostly on pyuria
2/ Let's consider the following scenario: A young female comes in fever. Urinalysis is obtained that shows 10WBC, - nitrite negative. Boom! You have diagnosed UTI, done. Just kidding, if only it was that easy.
3/I highly suggest listening to the @thecurbsiders episode on UTI (thecurbsiders.com/podcast/231). An important point they make is that UTI is bacteruria + signs and symptoms that localize to the urinary tract. Bacteruria alone is not enough for treatment.
1/ #medtwitter#tweetorial Raise your hand if you have ever inappropriately checked an ammonia level.🙋 1. Why is ammonia ⬆️ in liver failure and how is this connected w/ encephalopathy? 2. When should levels be checked? 3. Aside from cirrhosis, what other conditions ⬆️ammonia?
2/ Ammonia is primarily produced by bacteria w/ urease enz in intestines but is also produced in muscle and the kidneys.
3/ 85% of ammonia is cleared by the liver through the urea cycle. 15% is cleared by muscle/kidneys. If the ammonia (/other nitrogenous waste) not metabolized it passes through the blood brain barrier glutamate>glutamine> astrocyte swelling and free radicals>encephalopathy.