Tricks of the Trade: Diagnosing retinal detachment with ultrasound

In a sneak peek of my ACEP News’ Tricks of the Trade column, Dr. Patrick Lenaghan, Dr. Ralph Wang, and I will discuss how bedside ultrasonography can significantly improve your ocular exam.

Here is a classic example. A patient presents with acute onset right eye pain and blurry vision. She possibly has a field cut in her vision. Her pupils are a teeny 2 mm in size in the brightly-lit Emergency Department. You are having a hard time getting a good fundoscopic exam to comfortably rule-out a retinal detachment.

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By Michelle Lin, MD|2019-01-28T23:53:04-08:00Dec 9, 2009|Ophthalmology, Tricks of the Trade, Ultrasound|

A radiology pearl: A subtle orthopedic diagnosis

A man recently presents with knee pain after pivoting and torquing his knee while falling. He complains of concurrent mild ankle pain. He presents with this tib-fib xray. Realizing that a proximal fibular fracture can present concurrently with a medial malleolus fracture or deltoid ligament rupture, we obtained xrays of the ankle. We were looking for a Maisonneuve fracture.

Do you see an ankle injury in these four images?

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By Michelle Lin, MD|2016-11-11T19:01:52-08:00Nov 13, 2009|Orthopedic, Radiology|

Article review: CT irradiation exposure and risk

I’m still working on my 2009 ACEP Scientific Assembly handout for the LLSA exam test prep session (which were actually due yesterday!). Even though the conference isn’t until mid-October, the handouts are always due a few months earlier. And every year, it sneaks up on me! One of the articles I’m reviewing is about the risks of CT irradiation, published in the New England Journal of Medicine in 2007.

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By Michelle Lin, MD|2016-11-11T19:01:58-08:00Aug 4, 2009|Radiology|