need help with your account or subscription? click here to email us (or see the contact page)
join telegramNEW! discord
jump to exam page:
search for anything ⋅ score predictor (โ€œpredict me!โ€)

NBME 23 Answers

nbme23/Block 3/Question#19 (reveal difficulty score)
A previously healthy 32-year-old man is ...
Toxicology screening ๐Ÿ” / ๐Ÿ“บ / ๐ŸŒณ / ๐Ÿ“–
tags:

 Login (or register) to see more


 +14  upvote downvote
submitted by โˆ—seagull(1933)
get full access to all contentpick a username

This patient is tripping balls. Better do a drug screen which seems obvious.

get full access to all contentpick a username
sympathetikey  When the answer is so obvious that you pick a stupid answer instead of it. DOH +49
jooceman739  Funny thing I noticed is "he is alert and cooperative. He appears to be in pain" So he was so high that he was alert and cooperative during the basal ganglia hemorrhage +5
yotsubato  @sympathetikey That fucking guy who drinks 2 six packs a day with liver failure got me like that. +2
yogi  probably the "drug" have to be a stimulant or a hallucinogen which causes HTN & Tachycardia. +3
charcot_bouchard  Lol. I got the right answer but took long time +
goodkarmaonly  The patient's B.P. and pulse are raised + Bilateral dilated pupils = Most likely use of a stimulant Thats how I reasoned it anyways +1
llamastep1  Bilateraly messed up pupils = Drugs (most of the time) +1
targetmle  why is there basal ganglia hemorrhage? +
dul071  Wait! doesn't it take like a week or two to get the results back!?!? i chose to measure catecholamine levels because that may be more timely. but clearly i'm wrong +1
usmile1  basal ganglia hemorrhage is an intraparenchymal hemorrhage secondary to hypertension. according to FA, this occurs most commonly at the Basal Ganglia (FA19 pg 501) +3
fatboyslim  I think this is cocaine intoxication which raised his blood pressure too high and it popped an arteriole in the basal ganglia. +



 +10  upvote downvote
submitted by โˆ—hhsuperhigh(49)
get full access to all contentpick a username

"His friends believe there may have been drugs at the party", period. lmao...

get full access to all contentpick a username
aisel1787  ahahaha +
qball  What a snitch +12
bend_nbme_over  Good thing they were at the ED cause that friend is gonna need some stitches +2



 +2  upvote downvote
submitted by โˆ—thotcandy(131)
get full access to all contentpick a username

i figured it was cocaine or amphetamines so I picked plasma free metanephrines. Why is this not correct?

According to this:

Sympathomimetics: Ephedrine, Pseudoephedrine (Sudafed), Amphetamines, Albuterol (Proventil) can cause positive results in serum metanephrines.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK278970/table/pheochromocytoma.table4drug/

get full access to all contentpick a username
drzed  Because a toxicology screen would both answer your question (e.g. that it could be amphetamine abuse) and would also pick up any other drugs that the patient might have been using. So even though the pre-test probability is high for amphetamine use, lets say it was something else, well then the tox screen would pick that up as well. Or lets say that it was simultaneous use of two drugs, same scenario. +4



 +1  upvote downvote
submitted by โˆ—diabetes(31)
get full access to all contentpick a username

pupillary dilation ,hypertesion ,tachycardia,seisure ,wakefulness are typical for amphetamines intoxication.

get full access to all contentpick a username



Must-See Comments from nbme23

ferrero on Precapillary resistance
yotsubato on 99%
sne on Triglyceride
sajaqua1 on Area labeled โ€˜Dโ€™ (Spinothalamic tract, right)
stinkysulfaeggs on Hypoglycemia
hayayah on Iris
soph on Peak inspiratory pressure (alveolar): ...
seagull on Area labeled โ€˜Cโ€™ (Cranial nerve 8: ...
water on Dietary change
wired-in on 28.8
beeip on Binding of permeable ligand to nuclear ...
thomasalterman on Hypoglycemia
yotsubato on Inhibition of the cytochrome P450-dependent ...
seagull on Decreased sodium bicarbonate reabsorption in ...

search for anything NEW!