Dr. AK ๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡ณ Profile picture
M.D General Medicine๐Ÿฉบ Patriot๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡ณ Ex Army Docโš•๏ธ ๐ŸšซTweets are not medical advice.
Jul 31 โ€ข 12 tweets โ€ข 2 min read
A 21-year-old woman took all 5 anti-rabies injections and rabies immunoglobulin after a dog bite. Still she died of rabies.

Here are the real reasons why the vaccine sometimes fails and what we must fix.

1. Stitching the bite wound Image 1. Wound was stitched too early

Stitching a dog bite without first injecting serum ( Rabies immunoglobulin/RIG) inside can trap the virus. Doctors should avoid stitching deep dog bites whenever possible.
Jul 29 โ€ข 10 tweets โ€ข 2 min read
Shocking!

7000+ cases among 18โ€“25 age group diagnosed with HIV in karnataka in 2026.

This is how it happened.

1. Outbreaks inside college hostels 1. Outbreaks inside college hostels

Several clusters have been linked to student hostels. Shared living spaces + limited awareness allowed local transmission to accelerate among 18โ€“25-year-olds living away from home.
Jul 4 โ€ข 11 tweets โ€ข 2 min read
A previously healthy 19 year old girl died upon arriving at the ER.

For 3 days she had fever, severe headache, body aches & crushing weakness. No cough. No vomiting. No rash. Initially doctors had no clue.

She lived with pets. Three days before she died she seemed fine. Then fever hit. Then headache. Then aching muscles and a weakness so bad she could barely move. No one thought much of it. It looked like a bad flu. It was not.
Jan 26 โ€ข 4 tweets โ€ข 6 min read
"Doctor, my vitamin D levels are only 9. I am always tired"

Frequent scenario in my clinic and this is how I approach this . A๐Ÿงต

1,25(OH)2 VitD is the active form of vitD in our body. But the levels of 1,25(OH)2 is almost always normal in vitD deficiency. This is why we doctors always recommend checking serum levels of 25(OH) vitamin D to evaluate vitamin D deficiency.

You see, 25(OH) vitamin D is the primary form that circulates and gets stored in your body. On the other hand, levels of 1,25(OH)2 vitamin D, which is the active form, are seldom requested by physicians because they're not meant for diagnosing deficiency. Instead, they're useful for investigating elevated calcium levels due to conditions like granulomatous diseases, but let's keep our focus on vitamin D deficiency for now. Most crucially, remember that 1,25(OH)2 assays are available in labs, so avoid mistakenly ordering them just to screen for vitamin D deficiency.

I want to ascertain something here. There are myriad causes of tiredness, and I will not jump the gun here just by seeing a low serum vitamin D report and calling it. I would definitely rule out other causes of fatigue, but now will stick to vitamin D deficiency for the sake of our discussion here. Read onโ€ฆ.

Vitamin D deficiency is mainly diagnosed by measuring serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25(OH)D), the key biomarker for vitamin D status, as it reflects skin production, diet, and supplementation effects.
Thresholds generally classify deficiency below 20 ng/mL (50 nmol/L), insufficiency at 20-30 ng/mL (50-75 nmol/L), and sufficiency at 30-50 ng/mL (75-125 nmol/L), though these lack full agreement and stem from observational studies rather than trials.

Routine checking isn't recommended for symptom-free people, but it's advised for high-risk groups like those with malabsorption, chronic kidney disease, obesity (BMI >30 kg/mยฒ), dark skin, low sun exposure, or symptoms such as bone/muscle pain.

๐Ÿ”ธWhy is vitamin D important to our body?
Vitamin D plays a pivotal role in regulating calcium and phosphorus homeostasis by enhancing their intestinal absorption, promoting renal reabsorption, and supporting bone mineralization, which helps prevent conditions like rickets in children or osteomalacia/osteoporosis in adults. It also modulates your immune response by fine-tuning immunity, potentially reducing susceptibility to infections and chronic inflammation. On top of that, its pleiotropic effects extend to cardiovascular protection and lowering all-cause mortality, while optimizing maternal-fetal outcomes during pregnancy through various signaling pathways in cells.

๐Ÿ”ธWhat causes vitamin D deficiency?
There are many causes of low vitamin D levels in the body. Here, I am strictly sticking to nutritional and lifestyle-related causes to avoid the risk of overwhelming you.

Older people often ask me this question: "Vitamin D deficiency was not common in our times. Why is it so common now? What changed?

Well, the short answer is nutritional choices and low sun exposure. You can understand this answer if you compare your lifestyle and food choices with the older generation.

๐Ÿ”ธHow does our body get vitamin D?
Vitamin D is more of a hormone than a vitamin if you have understood its action. The body is capable of creating its own vitamin D in the skin if it gets exposed to UV rays. When the skin is exposed to UV rays, an intermediate of cholesterol metabolism called 7-dehydrocholesterol, which is present in the skin cells, gets converted to vitamin D3 (cholecalciferol). This vitamin D3 then gets hydroxylated in the liver and finally in the kidneys to form the active form, 1,25(OH)2 vitamin D. Medical societies have come to the conclusion that merely sunlight exposure may not be enough for meeting the daily vitamin D requirements. Read on....Image The other source of vitamin D is from the diet. It is obvious that if the diet is not proper and there is low sunlight exposure, the chances of vitamin D deficiency increases, as the daily recommended intake is 600-800 IU/day. So, supplementation may be required. Image
Sep 10, 2024 โ€ข 8 tweets โ€ข 3 min read
๐Ÿ’ฅAMIODARONE is a class III antiarrhythmic drug which is widely used in ER for treating arrhythmias.

A ๐Ÿงต on situations where blind use of amiodarone in emergency can be counterproductive โš ๏ธโš ๏ธโš ๏ธ

With alternate therapeutic options

Read on...๐Ÿ‘‡
#MedTwitter #MedEd #MedX Image โŒ๏ธArrhythmias secondary to prolonged QT interval.

Amiodarone can furthur prolong QT resulting in asystole or VF.

โœ…๏ธUse DC shock in unstable , MgSO4 in stable TdP, treat underlying cause of prolonged QT.

image @LITFLblog Image
Jul 19, 2024 โ€ข 10 tweets โ€ข 3 min read
A ๐Ÿงต on chest Xray signs in pulmonary thromboembolism. Image The ๐—™๐—น๐—ฒ๐—ถ๐˜€๐—ฐ๐—ต๐—ป๐—ฒ๐—ฟ ๐˜€๐—ถ๐—ด๐—ป is a prominent central artery that can be caused either by pulmonary hypertension or by distension of the vessel by a large pulmonary embolus seen on chest x ray. Image
Jul 4, 2024 โ€ข 20 tweets โ€ข 6 min read
The BRUGADA family has contributed immensely to field of
๐Ÿซ€Cardiology & Electrophysiology

A ๐Ÿงต on

๐Ÿ’ฅ๐—•๐—ฅ๐—จ๐—š๐—”๐——๐—” ๐—˜๐—ฃ๐—ข๐—ก๐—ฌ๐— ๐—ฆ
โ˜‘๏ธBrugada Syndrome
โœ…๏ธBrugada Pattern
โ˜‘๏ธBrugada Phenocopy
โœ…๏ธBrugada Algorithm
โ˜‘๏ธBrugada Criteria
โœ…๏ธBrugada Sign

#MedTwitter #MedX
Read on๐Ÿ‘‡ Image ๐Ÿ’ฅ๐—•๐—ฟ๐˜‚๐—ด๐—ฎ๐—ฑ๐—ฎ ๐—ฆ๐˜†๐—ป๐—ฑ๐—ฟ๐—ผ๐—บ๐—ฒ (BrS)
is a rare arrhythmogenic cardiac channelopathy characterised by ECG findings of โžก๏ธ

๐Ÿ”ด โ‰ฅ0.2mV of ST segment elevation
โž•๏ธ
๐Ÿ”ด Negative T-wave in more than one anterior precordial leads (v1 v2, v3) Image
Jun 22, 2024 โ€ข 4 tweets โ€ข 3 min read
๐Ÿ’ฅSmith ๐˜ฆ๐˜ต ๐˜ข๐˜ญ. reported draining a world record of 41 ๐—น๐—ถ๐˜๐—ฟ๐—ฒ๐˜€ of ascitic fluid in a single paracentesis session of a patient with decompensated cirrhosis.

How much Albumin would be needed in this case to prevent post paracentesis circulatory dysfunction ? ๐Ÿงต Read on๐Ÿ‘‡

A ๐Ÿงต on important points to consider while performing Large Volume Paracentesis (LVP)

๐˜๐˜ฐ๐˜ธ ๐˜ฎ๐˜ถ๐˜ค๐˜ฉ ๐˜ข๐˜ญ๐˜ฃ๐˜ถ๐˜ฎ๐˜ช๐˜ฏ ๐˜ช๐˜ด ๐˜ต๐˜ฐ ๐˜ฃ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ช๐˜ฏ๐˜ง๐˜ถ๐˜ด๐˜ฆ๐˜ฅ ๐˜ฅ๐˜ถ๐˜ณ๐˜ช๐˜ฏ๐˜จ ๐˜ฑ๐˜ฆ๐˜ณ๐˜ง๐˜ฐ๐˜ณ๐˜ฎ๐˜ช๐˜ฏ๐˜จ ๐˜“๐˜๐˜—โ“๏ธ

๐˜ž๐˜ฉ๐˜ข๐˜ต ๐˜ช๐˜ด ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ฎ๐˜ข๐˜น๐˜ช๐˜ฎ๐˜ถ๐˜ฎ ๐˜ข๐˜ฎ๐˜ฐ๐˜ถ๐˜ฏ๐˜ต ๐˜ฐ๐˜ง ๐˜ข๐˜ด๐˜ค๐˜ช๐˜ต๐˜ช๐˜ค ๐˜ง๐˜ญ๐˜ถ๐˜ช๐˜ฅ ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ข๐˜ต ๐˜ค๐˜ข๐˜ฏ ๐˜ฃ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ฅ๐˜ณ๐˜ข๐˜ช๐˜ฏ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฅโ“๏ธ

๐Ÿ›‘Large Volume Paracentesis(LVP)
is arbitrarily defined as a paracentesis with >5 L of ascitic fluid drained.

In patients undergoing LVP, the use of albumin is crucial to prevent a further reduction of effective arterial blood volume, which may precipitate postparacentesis circulatory dysfunction (PPCD).

The clinical manifestations of PPCD include renal impairment, including HRS, dilutional hyponatremia, hepatic encephalopathy and death.

Albumin infusion is particularly important if more than 5 L of ascites are removed to prevent the development of PPCD.

Paracenteses of a smaller volume(<5L) are not associated with significant hemodynamic changes and albumin infusion may not be required.

Although there has not been a doseโ€response study on albumin use with LVP, the administration of 6โ€8 g of albumin per liter of ascites removed has been recommended.

๐Ÿ’ฅFor example, after the fifth liter, approximately 40 g of albumin should be infused, and after 8 L removal, the amount of albumin given should be approximately 64 g.

It has been held that there is no limit for the amount of ascites that can be removed in a single session, provided an appropriate amount of albumin is administered.

However, the risk of PPCD increases with >8 L of fluid evacuated in one single session.

A study showed that by limiting the LVP volume to <8 L per session and providing a higher than recommended dose of albumin (9.0 ยฑ 2.5 g per liter of ascites removed), renal function and survival may be better preserved over a mean period of 2 years despite the development of PPCD in 40% of patients.

In patients with hemodynamic instability (systolic blood pressure <90 mm Hg), hyponatremia (serum sodium <130 mmol/L), and/or the presence of AKI, albumin infusion should be strongly considered for paracentesis of a smaller volume.

LVP is a safe procedure even in the presence of coagulopathy. In a study that included patients with an international normalized ratio of >1.5 and a platelet count of <50 ร— 109/L, only 1% of patients experienced minimal cutaneous bleeding after LVP.

Therefore, elevated prothrombin time or thrombocytopenia is not a contraindication for paracentesis, nor is transfusion of clotting factors or platelets recommended.

Possible exceptions may include patients with disseminated intravascular coagulation or uremia with thrombocytopenia.

1/3 ๐Ÿ‘‡ ๐˜พ๐™ค๐™ฃ๐™ฉ.Image ๐Ÿ’ฅIdeal site for needle insertion in abdominal paracentesis Image
Jun 9, 2024 โ€ข 18 tweets โ€ข 6 min read
For patients with high blood pressure.

Please read !

If you have ๐™ƒ๐™”๐™‹๐™€๐™๐™๐™€๐™‰๐™Ž๐™„๐™Š๐™‰ try to make the following diet and lifestyle changes.

1. Consider ๐ŸŒบhibiscus tea, pomegranate juice, beetroot juice and cocoa as they are rich in nitrates and lowers BP.

1/16 Image 2. Alcohol consumption should be zero for the best cardiovascular health.

Immediate adverse effects can lead to heart beat rythm disturbances, increase risk for accidents etc.

Long term consumption is associated with adverse effects on heart and liver & also can cause cancer. Image
Jun 8, 2024 โ€ข 14 tweets โ€ข 6 min read
๐ŸŒŸ MALAR RASH- A๐Ÿงต

๐Ÿ”ธ๏ธMalar rash is classically described in SLE as a "butterfly" shaped erythematous rash in the malar distribution, which includes the cheeks and crosses the nasal bridge but spares the nasolabial folds.

Let's look at the mimickers๐Ÿ‘‡

Do read the whole๐Ÿงต Image ๐ŸŒŸ Systemic Lupus Erythematosus

๐Ÿ”ธ๏ธClassic finding in SLE

๐Ÿ”ธ๏ธThe ORIGINAL Malar Rash๐Ÿฆ‹

From Kelley's Textbook of Rheumatology, 9e Image
Jun 8, 2024 โ€ข 24 tweets โ€ข 3 min read
๐ŸŒŸ SGLT2i and UTI - A ๐Ÿงต

There is โŒ๏ธ NO convincing evidence that the use of SGLT-2 inhibitors is associated with an increased risk of UTI according to this expert consensus statement. (PMID- 37153973)

Concerns about UTIs should not be a deterrent to initiating SGLT-2i...๐Ÿ‘‡ โ–ซ๏ธIn patients with T2DM and atherosclerotic risk factors, SGLT-2i should be used for its organ protective benefits such as reducing the risk of hospitalization for heart failure and kidney disease progression, regardless of glycemic control.
Jun 2, 2024 โ€ข 10 tweets โ€ข 4 min read
Honourable citizens, please read this!

A๐Ÿงต on Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation #CPR

When to start CPR in a person โ“๏ธ

How to do effective CPRโ“๏ธ

What is this๐Ÿ‘‡ deviceโ“๏ธ If you "feel" like somebody has collapsed and has a cardiac arrest, start CPR.

Before starting CPR ensure that the victim is positioned flat on ground/bed.

Ensure that you are in a safe space

Call Ambulance

Start CPR. Image
May 29, 2024 โ€ข 6 tweets โ€ข 2 min read
โ–ช๏ธ
โ–ช๏ธ
โ–ช๏ธ
A๐Ÿงต on management of hypertensive emergencies.

The ๐—•๐—”๐—ฅ๐—ž๐—› algorithm for management of hypertensive emergencies and end-organ damage

๐—• - Brain
๐—” - Arteries
๐—ฅ - Retina
๐—ž - Kidney
๐—› - Heart

#MedTwitter #MedEd #MedX

Read on ๐Ÿ‘‡ for BP Lowering rate and goals. Image Hypertensive urgency, hypertensive crisis & malignant hypertension are terms that have been used to describe severely elevated BP with no evidence of end-organ damage.

Hypertensive emergency is a clinical syndrome of significantly elevated BP that is assoc with end-organ damage.
May 28, 2024 โ€ข 28 tweets โ€ข 8 min read
If you have ๐™ƒ๐™”๐™‹๐™€๐™๐™๐™€๐™‰๐™Ž๐™„๐™Š๐™‰ try to make the following diet and lifestyle changes.

โš ๏ธ Discuss with your doctor before attempting. #hypertension

1. Consider hibiscus tea, pomegranate juice, beetroot juice and cocoa as they are rich in nitrates and lowers BP.

1/15 Image If you don't want a thorough read, just scroll through the images to get an idea.

I recommend to go through the whole ๐Ÿงต as it is an extract of recommendations from the apex global medical body on hypertension-
International Society of Hypertension ( ISH)

Let's go..
May 26, 2024 โ€ข 9 tweets โ€ข 3 min read
Pregnant lady with fever and chills.

Treated with Artesunate + Artemether

Requires radical therapy for eradication of hypnozoites.

How to give radical therapy for plasmodium vivax malaria in pregnancyโ“๏ธ

Is primaquine safe โ“๏ธ

A๐Ÿงต

#MedTwitter #MedEd #MedX Image Radical cure is given with Primaquine in P vivax and P. Ovale malaria.

Primaquine causes severe hemolysis in patients with G6PD deficiency.

So testing for G6PD is to be done before giving primaquine. Image
May 17, 2024 โ€ข 26 tweets โ€ข 4 min read
Lamotrigine, Levetiracetam & Oxcarbazepine prefered in pregnancy.

American Academy of Neurology, American Epilepsy Society, Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine -

๐—š๐—จ๐—œ๐——๐—˜๐—Ÿ๐—œ๐—ก๐—˜๐—ฆ on drug therapy of epilepsy in pregnancy just dropped.

A ๐Ÿงต on recommendations๐Ÿ‘‡

#MedTwitter Image Recommendations regarding the effects of antiseizure medications (ASMs) and folic acid supplementation on the prevalence of major congenital malformations (MCMs) & adverse perinatal outcomes in children born to people with epilepsy of childbearing potential (PWECP).

Read on.. ๐Ÿ‘‡
May 15, 2024 โ€ข 18 tweets โ€ข 5 min read
A ๐Ÿงต on recommendations on steroid therapy

First a question โ“๏ธ

45 Yr male diagnosed with Tuberculous Meningitis was started on antitubercular drugs and 60mg presnisolone daily.

How do you plan to taper and stop steroidsโ“๏ธ

#MedTwitter #MedEd #MedX #steroid Image What is steroid eqivalence โ“๏ธ

How to taper steroids โ“๏ธ

What is fast and slow taper โ“๏ธ

How to monitor if tapering is optimalโ“๏ธ

What is therapeutic taper and endocrine taper โ“๏ธ

Read on for answers ....
May 12, 2024 โ€ข 21 tweets โ€ข 6 min read
#MedTwitter #CPR #MedX

๐Ÿ’ฅ ๐—–๐—ฃ๐—ฅ

A๐Ÿงต on high quality Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation

The tempo of 1977 song "Stayin Alive" by Bee Gees has the same rate as chest compressions given during CPR

5๏ธโƒฃ main components of high-performance CPR have been identified.....Read on๐Ÿ‘‡ 5๏ธโƒฃ main components of high-performance CPR

๐Ÿ‘†Chest compression fraction (CCF)

โœŒ๏ธChest compression rate

๐ŸคŸ Chest compression depth

๐Ÿ‘Š Chest recoil

๐Ÿคš Ventilation
May 5, 2024 โ€ข 11 tweets โ€ข 2 min read
Uncomplicated Urinary Tract Infection ( UTI) in females is a spot diagnosis based on history alone.

A ๐Ÿงต on differences in approaching UTI on gender basis๐Ÿ‘‡

#MedTwitter #MedEd #MedX Image UTI in the age group <1yr is more common in males as congenital urinary anomalies are more common in โ™‚๏ธ

In age group >50yrs the gender distribution of UTI is equal for โ™‚๏ธ & โ™€๏ธ

๐Ÿ’ฅ๐Ÿ’ฅ๐Ÿ’ฅ Between 1- 50 years of age, UTI and recurrent UTI are predominantly diseases of โ™€๏ธ
Feb 26, 2024 โ€ข 21 tweets โ€ข 6 min read
A ๐Ÿงต on ๐Ÿฎ๐—›๐—ฌ๐—ฃ๐—ข๐—ฆ๐—ฃ๐—Ÿ๐—˜๐—ก๐—œ๐—ฆ๐— 

Few questions

๐Ÿ›‘ 46yrs old male patient with hypersplenism due to tropical splenomegaly is planned to undergo splenectomy.

What all vaccinations should he receiveโ“๏ธ

What should be the ideal timing for vaccinationsโ“๏ธ

#MedTwitter #MedX ๐Ÿ‘‡ Image Asplenia and hyposplenism can be either anatomic or functional.

Anatomic asplenia is most often due to surgical removal of the spleen.

Functional asplenia and hyposplenism result from conditions that lead to atrophy, infarction, engorgement, or infiltration of the spleen.
Dec 16, 2023 โ€ข 10 tweets โ€ข 2 min read
A๐Ÿงต on
5๏ธโƒฃ categories of ascitic fluid infection that can happen in long standing ASCITES
#MedTwitter #MedEd #MedX

First a question โ“๏ธ

A patient with ascites underwent difficult and traumatic paracentesis.
......contiunued in ๐Ÿงต ๐Ÿ‘‡ Image Ascitic fluid analysis had PMN count of 100/mm3 & multiple organisms were grown on culture of fluid.

Diagnosisโ“๏ธ

A.SBP
B.Secondary bacterial peritonitis
C.Polymicrobial bacterascites