Home
| Most Common / Rapid Associations | |
|---|---|
| Finding / Disease | Most Common / Association |
| Mitochondrial inheritance | Occurs in all offspring of affected females; heteroplasmy |
| Intellectual disability | Down syndrome (sporadic) fragile X syndrome (inherited) |
| Vitamin deficiency (USA) | Folate (especially in pregnancy; low body stores) |
| Lysosomal storage disease | Gaucher disease |
| HLA-DR3 | Type 1 DM, SLE Graves, Addison< Hashimoto thyroiditis |
| HLA-DR4 | Rheumatoid arthritis Type I DM Addison disease |
| H. pylori | Gastritis, peptic ulcers gastric adenocarcinoma MALToma |
| Opportunistic respiratory infection in AIDS | Pneumocystis jirovecii |
| Viral encephalitis affecting temporal lobe | HSV-1 |
| Viral infection after blood transfusion | Hepatitis C |
| Food poisoning (exotoxin-mediated) | S. aureus B. cereus |
| Healthcare-associated pneumonia | S. aureus Pseudomonas other gram positive rods |
| Bacterial meningitis (0–6 months) | Group B Strep E. coli Listeria |
| Bacterial meningitis (>6 months) | S. pneumoniae |
| Osteomyelitis | S. aureus (most common overall) |
| Osteomyelitis in sickle cell | 1) Salmonella 2)S. aureus |
| Osteomyelitis in IVDU | S. aureus Pseudomonas Candida |
| UTI | E. coli Staph. saprophyticus |
| Bacterial STI | Chlamydia trachomatis (D–K) |
| PID | C. trachomatis (subacute) N. gonorrhoeae (acute) |
| Metastases to bone | Prostate, Breast >> lung > kidney, colon |
| Metastases to liver | Colon > breast >> pancreas, lung, prostate |
| Metastases to brain | Lung > breast >> melanoma > colon prostate |
| S3 heart sound | ↑ ventricular filling pressure (eg, MR, AR, HF, thyrotoxicosis) common in dilated ventricles |
| S4 heart sound | Stiff/hypertrophic ventricle eg, aortic stenosis, restrictive cardiomyopathy) |
| Holosystolic murmur | VSD Tricuspid regurgitation Mitral regurgitation |
| Ejection click | Aortic stenosis |
| Mitral stenosis | Rheumatic heart disease |
| Opening snap | Mitral stenosis |
| Congenital heart murmur | Mitral valve prolapse |
| Cyanotic heart disease (early) | Tetralogy of Fallot (most common,) D-TGA, PTA, TAPVR, tricuspid atresia |
| Left-to-right shunts (congenital) | VSD > ASD > PDA |
| Late cyanotic shunt | Eisenmenger syndrome |
| Secondary hypertension | Renal/renovascular disease 1° hyperaldosteronism OSA |
| Sites of atherosclerosis | Abdominal aorta > coronary artery > popliteal > carotid > circle of Willis |
| Thoracic aortic aneurysm | Marfan syndrome 3° syphilis |
| Abdominal aortic aneurysm risks | Atherosclerosis tobacco use |
| Aortic dissection | Hypertension (most important risk factor) |
| Atrial fibrillation | Irregularly irregular rhythm ↑ risk of emboli |
| Cor pulmonale | Right heart failure due to pulmonary cause |
| Endocarditis valve | Mitral > aortic > tricuspid (in IVDU) |
| Infective endocarditis organism | S. aureus (acute) viridans strep (subacute) gallolyticus (colon cancer) HACEK, Bartonella |
| Cardiac tumor (adults) | Metastasis Myxoma (if 1°) |
| Cardiac 1° tumor (children) | Rhabdomyoma (assoc. with tuberous sclerosis) |
| Hypercoagulability, endothelial damage, blood stasis | Virchow triad |
| Congenital adrenal hyperplasia | 21-hydroxylase deficiency |
| Hypopituitarism | Pituitary adenoma (mass effect) |
| Congenital hypothyroidism | Thyroid dysgenesis iodine deficiency |
| Thyroid cancer | Papillary carcinoma |
| Hypoparathyroidism | Accidental excision during thyroidectomy |
| 1° hyperparathyroidism | Adenoma or hyperplasia |
| 2° hyperparathyroidism | Hypocalcemia of CKD |
| Cushing syndrome | Exogenous steroids Adenoma Cushing disease Paraneoplastic ACTH (sclc) |
| 1° hyperaldosteronism | Bilateral adrenal hyperplasia Adenoma (Conn syndrome) |
| Adrenal tumor (children) | Neuroblastoma |
| Adrenal tumor (adults) | Pheochromocytoma |
| Refractory peptic ulcers + high gastrin | Zollinger-Ellison syndrome (MEN1) |
| Esophageal cancer | SCC (world) Adenocarcinoma (US) |
| CNS injury-related ulcer | Cushing ulcer |
| Burn-related ulcer | Curling ulcer |
| Chronic atrophic gastritis | ↑ gastric cancer risk Pernicious anemia |
| Gastric carcinoma metastasis to ovaries | Krukenberg tumor |
| Skip lesions in GI tract | Crohn disease |
| Site of diverticulosis | Sigmoid colon |
| False diverticulum (pharyngoesophageal) | Zenker diverticulum |
| Testicular tumor (young men) | Seminoma |
| Testicular tumor (children) | Yolk sac tumor (Schiller-Duval bodies) (↑ AFP) |
| Benign Ovarian tumor | Serous cystadenoma |
| Malignant Ovarian tumor | Serous cystadenocarcinoma |
| Ovarian tumor (germ cell) | Dysgerminoma (↑ LDH) |
| Ovarian metastases | Krukenberg tumor (gastric origin, mucin-secreting signet cells) |
| Breast mass (premenopausal) | Fibroadenoma |
| Breast cancer (location) | Upper outer quadrant |
| Invasive breast carcinoma subtype | Invasive ductal carcinoma |
| Gynecomastia | Cirrhosis hypogonadism testicular tumors Drugs (e.g. spironolactone) |
| Sexually transmitted infection | C. trachomatis (D–K) N. gonorrhoeae |
| Pelvic inflammatory disease | C. trachomatis N. gonorrhoeae |
| Congenital infection | CMV |
| Infection in burn patients | Pseudomonas |
| Infection in neutropenic patients | Pseudomonas |
| Infection after dog/cat bite | Pasteurella multocida |
| Infection from seafood | Vibrio vulnificus |
| Infection with dirty wound and spores | Clostridium tetani |
| Infection with surgical instruments or trauma | S. aureus |
| Meningitis (neonates) | Group B Strep E. coli Listeria |
| Meningitis (children/teens) | N. meningitidis |
| Meningitis (adults/elderly) | S. pneumoniae |
| Common cause of viral meningitis | Enteroviruses (e.g. coxsackievirus) |
| Atypical pneumonia in young adults | Mycoplasma pneumoniae |
| Infective endocarditis with prosthetic valve | S. epidermidis |
| Infective endocarditis in IVDU | S. aureus |
| Infective endocarditis after dental procedure | Streptococcus viridans |
| Osteomyelitis in children | S. aureus |
| Demyelinating disease (young women) | Multiple sclerosis |
| Mixed upper/lower motor neuron disease | Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis |
| Neurodegenerative disorder | Alzheimer disease (↓ ACh; amyloid plaques, neurofibrillary tangles) |
| Early-onset dementia | Frontotemporal dementia Early-onset Alzheimer CJD |
| Chorea | Huntington disease (A-Dominant, CAG repeat on chromosome 4) |
| Dementia + Hallucinations + Parkinsonism | Lewy body Dementia |
| 1° brain tumor (adults) | Glioblastoma |
| 1° brain tumor (children) | Pilocytic astrocytoma |
| Malignant brain tumor (children) | Medulloblastoma |
| Benign brain tumor (adults) | Meningioma |
| Seizure disorder in children | Absence seizure |
| Most common site of a berry aneurysm | Anterior communicating artery |
| Hemorrhagic stroke in young person | AV malformation |
| Bleed in basal ganglia | Charcot-Bouchard aneurysm (chronic HTN) |
| Epidural hematoma | Rupture of middle meningeal artery |
| Subdural hematoma | Rupture of bridging veins |
| Subarachnoid hemorrhage | Berry aneurysm rupture |
| Bone tumor in adolescents (diaphysis) | Ewing sarcoma (t[11;22]) |
| Bone tumor in elderly | Multiple myeloma or Metastasis |
| Metabolic bone disease in elderly | Osteoporosis |
| Hepatocellular carcinoma | HBV (± cirrhosis) HCV alcohol aflatoxins |
| Conjugated hyperbilirubinemia (inherited) | Dubin-Johnson (black liver) Rotor syndrome |
| Unconjugated hyperbilirubinemia (benign) | Gilbert syndrome |
| Wilson disease | ATP7B mutation Copper buildup in liver, brain, cornea (name for corneal deposits?) |
| Hemochromatosis | HFE mutation or Transfusion overload → heart failure bronze diabetes |
| Acute pancreatitis | Gallstones alcohol |
| Chronic pancreatitis | Alcohol (adults) cystic fibrosis (children) |
| Microcytic anemia | Iron deficiency Thalassemia Lead poisoning sideroblastic anemia |
| Autosplenectomy | Sickle cell anemia (also Howell-Jolly bodies) |
| GpIb deficiency | Bernard-Soulier syndrome (↓ platelet-vWF adhesion) |
| GpIIb/IIIa deficiency | Glanzmann thrombasthenia (↓ platelet aggregation) |
| Thrombophilia with pregnancy loss | Factor V Leiden (resistant to degradation) |
| DIC triggers | Sepsis, trauma, malignancy, obstetrics heat stroke, pancreatitis |
| Malignancy with noninfectious fever | Hodgkin lymphoma (bimodal age) |
| Most common Hodgkin lymphoma type | Nodular sclerosis |
| t(14;18) | Follicular lymphoma (↑ BCL-2, anti-apoptotic) |
| t(8;14) | Burkitt lymphoma (c-MYC activation) |
| Most common non-Hodgkin lymphoma in adults | Diffuse large B-cell lymphoma |
| Leukemia by age | ALL: children CLL: >60 AML: ~65 CML: 45–85 |
| t(9;22) | Philadelphia chromosome → CML (BCR-ABL) also in ALL |