Question

A 60 year old obese female has come into the ER due to severe RUQ pain for the past two hours. Patient also reports increasing nausea but denies emesis. Patient states she has been told she has cholelithiasis by her family physician following a milder episode of this pain two years ago. In addition to server pain, patient displays a moderate degree of scleral jaundice. Abdominal ultrasound identified acute cholecystectomy to remove the gallbladder and all gallstones. She recovered without incident

1.Define each of the patients symptoms

2. The patient has severe RUQ pain. What organs are located in the RUQ?

3. After reading the definition of jaundice, what is most likely causing this patient to have it?

4. Describe the diagnostic imaging procedures this patient received

5. What is the difference between cholelithiasis and cholecystitis?

6. The patients gall bladder was removed laparoscopically. What does that mean?

Answer 1

1. The patient symptoms are:
• RUQ pain: It means that the patient is having pain in the right upper quadrant.
• Nausea: It is stomach discomfort and a sensation of an urge to vomit.
• Emesis: It is an act of expelling the stomach contents through mouth. It is the other name for vomiting.
• Scleral jaundice: It is the yellow discoloration of the sclera which is the white of the eye. It is a sign of any liver disease.
2. The organs in the RUQ are:
• Liver
• Gall bladder
• Duodenum
• Head of pancreas
• Right kidney and adrenal gland
• Hepatic flexure of colon
3. Causes of jaundice in this patient is due to gall stones in the boles duct. It is an obstructive jaundice.
4. The diagnostic test used here is abdominal ultrasound. It is a procedure where high frequency sound waves are used to capture images and videos of internal organs.
5. Cholecystitis is the inflammation of the gall bladder and cholelithiasis is the formation of gall stones. Cholecystitis is the complication of cholelithiasis.
6. Laparoscopic gall bladder removal is a minimal invasive surgery where the diseased gall bladder is removed through small incisions.