Question

Create a case study of an imaginary patient who has Macular Degeneration. Look at example below and grading rubric. Please use your own words and cite and websites/resources used.

Case Study Example:

(1) Symptoms:

A 32 year old female reported an acute onset of severe facial pain extending from her right lower jaw region and temporomandibular joint region [area where lower jaw joins skull] as well as numbness in the lower jaw, severe headache and stabbing right eye and ear pain. She described the pain as piercing and sharp and lasting up to 30 minutes. The onset of pain was sudden and began 24 hours ago. She could not recall any injury to that area but she did some heavy lifting over the weekend and had her wisdom teeth removed four weeks ago, which made it necessary to keep her mouth open for long periods. On examination she was obviously distressed but had a good range of neck movement. The jaw joint was extremely tender on the right and she had restricted mouth opening with deviation of the lower jaw to the right. She also had increased tension in the masseter [jaw] muscle and difficulty moving her tongue and opening her throat for examination. Analgesics [pain-killers] had eased her pain by 40%, but chewing and hot and cold foods increased her pain levels.

(2) Diagnosis

This patient shows symptoms of damage to the Trigeminal Nerve (Cranial Nerve V), which serves both sensory and motor functions in the face and neck. It innervates the masseter and temporalis muscles, which explains some of the muscular symptoms such as… The nerve also carries sensory information from the eye and jaw, contributing to the symptoms of… This could be due to nerve damage caused by… or by….

(3) Treatment:

Surgery might be used to relieve… or treatment with drugs that block…  

(NOTE: you do not need to follow this exact framework in your answer, but do include as much relevant detail as possible in your diagnosis and treatment suggestions. Also, do not use Cranial Nerve V as the subject of your essay.)

Grading Rubric
	of	5	Multiple symptoms are provided that are appropriate for the system and disorder
	of	10	The underlying cause of the disorder is clearly described and addresses all of the symptoms
	of	5	The treatment is reasonable, given the level of understanding obtained in this course
	of	5	The essay is organized, clear, has an appropriate level of detail, and indicates understanding of the system in question.
	of	25

Answer 1

Symptoms - A 70 year old male patient presents with blurring of central vision and objects appearing distorted since past six months in both eyes . He is able to see things in his peripheral vision. He desribed the condition as gardual and slowly progressive with distortion coming first and then diminution of vision. On examination his vision was 6/60 in both eyes .Amslers grid testing was done . The pupillary recations was fine and a dilated and detailed retina examination was performed.

Diagnosis - amsler grid testing showed gross metamorphopsia . Retina exmaintaion showed macular degeneration in both eyes . An oct scan was done which showed major disruption of retinal pigment epithelrium and atrophy . A diagnosis of age related macular degeneration dry thpe was made . Retina is the neural kayer of the eye  and macula is the sight of central vision with maximum number of cones .

Treatment - The gravity of the disease was explained to the patient .the patient was advised antioxidants as per AREDs studies and some low vision aids . He was called for six monthly follow up and early if there is any further detrioration