© 2004 Fellowship of Postgraduate Medicine
SELF ASSESSMENT ANSWER
Digital gangrene: an unusual cause
| The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below. |
The little finger (fig 1; p 118) shows evidence of gangrene with a proper line of demarcation present. Also there is evidence of splinter haemorrhages, Osler’s nodes, Janeway’s lesions, and clubbing.
The blood culture grew Staphylococcus aureus; on further antibiotic sensitivity it showed that the organism was methicillin resistant S aureus (MRSA) positive. S aureus is a common cause of acute bacterial endocarditis, and is known to cause peripheral embolic phenomenon. The antibiotic of choice for MRSA endocarditis is vancomycin 30 mg/kg for a period of four weeks.
As the initial two dimensional echocardiography did not show any changes we went ahead with TOE; this showed a bicuspid aortic valve with vegetation (fig 2; p 118).
Few physicians will be free of the diagnostic challenges posed by endocarditis. Frequently, the presence of endocarditis is disguised, and the prominent organ involvement may vary considerably. Central to the recognition
CiteULike 
Complore 
Connotea 
Del.icio.us 
Digg 
Reddit 
Technorati What's this?
Relevant Article
- Digital gangrene: an unusual cause
- A Sharma, M E Yeolekar, N K Hase, N Ashwini
Postgrad. Med. J. 2004 80: 118.[Extract] [Full Text] [PDF]
- Full Text
- Full Text (PDF)
- Submit a response
- Alert me when this article is cited
- Alert me when eLetters are posted
- Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
- Email this link to a friend
- Similar articles in this journal
- Add article to my folders
- Download to citation manager
- Request Permissions
Citing Articles
Google Scholar
Topic Collections
Bookmark with
Register for free content
The full back archive is now available for all BMJ Journals. Institutional subscribers may access the entire archive as part of their subscription. Personal subscribers will also have access to all content when logged in. Non-subscribers who register have free access to all articles published before 2006 right back to volume 1 issue 1. Register here to access the free archive of all BMJ Journals.
Don't forget to sign up for content alerts so you keep up to date with all the articles as they are published.
