16.02.2017: Bevissthetsforstyrrelser kan ha mange forklaringer, og av og til blir enkle årsaker oversett. Vi forteller her om en ung turskiløper som utviklet en alvorlig indremedisinsk tilstand med dramatiske symptomer. Ikke før betydelige prehospitale ressurser var satt inn og mannen ble undersøkt på sykehus, viste det seg at tilstanden kunne vært enkel å behandle. En mann i slutten av 20-årene var på skitur i fjellet sammen med venner. Været var fint, men snøen var våt og tung, og skituren, som varte i syv timer, ble mer strabasiøs enn de først hadde tenkt. Like før de kom frem til bestemmelsesstedet...

02.06.2015: In the critically ill, central venous oxygen saturation is often used as an indicator of whether oxygen delivery is sufficient for the patient’s needs. Low central venous saturation is common upon circulatory failure, but what might cause a very high saturation? A woman in her late 40s in very poor general condition was admitted to the surgical department of a university hospital after a week of abdominal pain, nausea and vomiting. She had a history of anorexia nervosa in childhood, low-grade asthma/chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and previous opioid abuse. She had been admitted...

25.06.2013: A man in his 60s was admitted with acute chest and neck pain and extensive neurological impairment. He had pronounced pareses in all limbs and non-functioning reflexes bilaterally, but no cranial nerve impairment. It was imperative to start treatment, but the cause of the patient's symptoms proved to be unusual. A man in his 60s was woken by the acute onset of chest and neck pain. Half an hour after the onset of pain, pronounced pareses developed in his left arm and leg, and immediately afterwards also pronounced paresis in his right arm and leg. On admission to hospital he had blood pressure...

02.10.2012: Psychiatric symptoms combined with neurological disturbances should always arouse suspicion that the cause may be organic. We describe a young patient whose examination revealed a recently described condition for which there are precise diagnostics and in many cases effective treatment. A girl of school age was admitted after left-sided facial seizures and seizures in her left arm, accompanied by reduced consciousness. In the three weeks leading up to hospitalisation she had been telling her parents that she felt «funny». Her parents and teachers had observed progressive personality and...

21.02.2012: «Admission for social reasons» and «causa socialis» are terms often used to describe hospitalisations that are assumed to be unnecessary. However, a thorough assessment of so-called unnecessarily admitted patients may often reveal medical causes that are both serious and curable. A 77-year old widow was admitted to the medical ward while waiting for a place in a nursing home, which she had been promised would be available within a few days. Her GP apologised on the telephone for having to burden the hospital with this patient during the waiting period. She had been discharged from the hospital...

28.06.2007: A bang is heard in connection with endoscopic removal of a rectal polyp from a 71 year old patient, and the endoscope is expelled from the rectum. Explosions in the rectum are a rare, but feared, complication of polypectomy that may be avoided by using new knowledge stemming from medical research. A 71 year old woman was referred to our gastroenterology laboratory as a result of a couple of episodes of fresh rectal bleeding; the most recent occurred two months earlier. She had no other abdominal problems. She was previously well and did not use acetylsalicylic acid, NSAIDs or anticoagulants...