Clinical medicine (London, England)
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This lesson of the month highlights that certain radiology terminology may be used to report bleeding on head computerised tomography (CT) reports. On-call junior doctors should not be expected to interpret CT head images, so often their decisions will be based on the written report. The wording used can change the clinical decision and therefore the treatment given by a junior doctor. Clinical teams and junior doctors should be educated on terminology in relation to bleeding on CT head reports.
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Septic arthritis represents 8-27% of cases of monoarthritis presenting to the emergency department. Tocilizumab is an interleukin-6 blocking monoclonal antibody with the mechanistic potential to interfere with the body's normal inflammatory response to an infectious insult. We present a case of septic arthritis with a normal white cell count, C-reactive protein, erythrocyte sedimentation rate and fibrinogen in a patient treated with tocilizumab.
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The modified-SOAR (mSOAR) score is composed of the stroke subtype, Oxfordshire Community Stroke Project classification, age, pre-stroke modified Rankin score (mRS) and the National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale score. It has previously been shown to be a reliable predictor of mortality and length of -hospital stay. This study sought to identify whether the mSOAR can also be used to predict patient disability on discharge. ⋯ Each increase in mSOAR score was associated with significantly worse discharge disability (p<0.05). We conclude that the mSOAR score is an excellent tool for predicting both discharge disability and mortality. As such, it's useful for admission prognosis discussions with patients, their relatives and the multidisciplinary team and for early supported discharge decision making.