Medical cartoons

-
Sometimes I get bored studying and end up illustrating on MS Paint. These are the ones I made for my current exam.
Myelofibrosis. Hematopoiesis is shifted away from the one marrow to areas such as the spleen, liver and lymph nodes. However, not all hematopoietic cells leave the marrow. About 10% remain but are abnormal. Megakaryocytes secrete fibroblast stimulating factor, resulting in the progression of diseases such as Polycythemia Rubra Vera to myelofibrosis. Red blood cells that remain in the bone marrow are now trapped by all the fibrous strands and are unable to get out of the marrow. Having squeezed through the fibrous strands, they end up damaged in a form called 'tear-drop cells' and these can be seen circulating in the peripheral blood.

Caput medusae. My sister had this book on Greek mythology when we were kids. 'Caput medusae' has always reminded me of the namesake of this sign (associated with liver disease).

The spleen is where red blood cells, white blood cells and platelets are removed from the circulation. In a healthy person, only damaged or old cells are removed by phagocytes that reside there. However, in some haematological diseases you get abnormal cells (spherocytes, sickle cell) and these are unable to squeeze through the sinusoids back out into the circulation. They end up being removed by the phagocyte.

Vaso-occlusive crisis. This is a medical condition that afflicts people with sickle cell disease. Abnormal cells form plugs that occlude small blood vessels causing pain due to the subsequent ischemia.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Brugada Syndrome

-
Image
I don't think I will ever be a plastic surgeon. Not because I like plastics any less but because I cannot let cardiology go. Today I started studying cardiology cases for my exams and came across a segment on Brugada syndrome and the ECG patterns that are typical to this condition. I was surprised to see that this condition was discovered and described as recently as 1992 by a family of Spanish Catalan doctors (the Brugada doctors). I love finding 'new' cardiology information because the problem with being so interested in something is that I sometimes run out of novel 'findings' to keep me interested in the field. Lately I have been reading about microvascular dysfunction (related to womens cardiac conditions) and today Brugada ECGs. I think I could do this forever.
Read more

Reflections

-
The number of times I have felt slighted because of my gender has been countless. The number of times my male (and female) counterparts have silenced me, or taken me less seriously, are many. People will not acknowledge a problem that exists, if it does not exist in their world. If they do not experience the slights because they are any combination of rich, white, or male. We have come to a point where people will accept the presence of 'White Privilege' as a concept, but they do not truly believe that their accomplishments are any easier to come by as a result. And they do not care. Why would they when the establishment is in their favour? I have come to learn many things about being female. I have learnt that some times we play a role in our own destruction. We wait to be rescued, or to be handed a hall pass, because for many years we have not been expected to excel on our own merit. We wait for mentors, without realising that mentors pick people in whom they see something
Read more

Reflections - On whether I am on the right path in life.

-
I have spent the past 3 months working with a particular resident at my hospital. Some times when you walk around the hospital it is like walking in a Marcs/Country Road/CUE showroom. Many of our doctors come from affluent backgrounds - whose fathers, and sometimes mothers are doctors, university chancellors, business-people, lawyers, politicians. I often wonder if they have ever had difficulties in life. If they know what it means to earn your keep, and to actually have to work for their 'achievements'. Many of them live at home, or in homes paid for by their wealthy and protective parents. Their biggest problems is probably divorce between those parents. They travel extensively, with numerous photos of their exotic exploits posted onto Facebook. They are athletic, intelligent and beautiful. They will often go on to marry other wealthy individuals, usually surgeons, cardiologists, lawyers. They have massive impractical heirlooms on their ring fingers. They are entitled. They w
Read more