I\'m not very good with labs yet and what excatly to expect in each one, what wo
ID: 276112 • Letter: I
Question
I'm not very good with labs yet and what excatly to expect in each one, what would I expect to see in Mr. Smith's lab results?
Case Study
Personal Information
Name: Mr. Peter Smith
Age: 45 years old
Gender: Male
Description
Mr. Peter Smith came to the medical office complaining of fatigue, asthenia, headaches, and generalized abdominal pain. Our patient tells us that he has had a high fever, but he did not take his temperature. The patient has had previous episodes of abdominal pain and arthralgia. Also, he was diagnosed with sickle cell anemia when he was a child. His father suffers from sickle cell anemia, diabetes mellitus, and essential hypertension. Our patient’s mother had a right radical mastectomy due to breast cancer a few years ago, and she suffers from sickle cell anemia, like Mr. Smith and his father. There is no other remarkable pathologic family history.
Mr. Smith drinks alcohol at least once per month and smoke cigarettes. He has no history of drug addiction. He is allergic to penicillin and iodine.
On physical examination we found:
Remarkable Signs on Physical Exam by Regions
Abdomen: Distended and painful on palpation, mostly on the left upper quadrant. Splenomegaly.
SOMA: Joint pain
Remarkable Signs on Physical Exam by Systems
Integumentary system: Yellowish skin and pale nail beds. Superficial crater-like skin lesion on the right medial ankle area. An erythematous area accompanied by edema, purulent secretion, and heat surrounds the lesion.
Respiratory system: Tachypnea
Cardiovascular system: Tachycardia
Lab Tests
Complete blood count (CBC)
Hemoglobin electrophoresis
Abdominal ultrasound
EKG
Supporting Material
In order to understand Mr. Smith's case, we need to investigate the primary concepts of homeostasis at a cellular level and explore specific conditions when homeostasis is not present. How does our body adapt to environmental toxins? We will explore this question by looking at specific outcomes when there are deviations from homeostasis in three specific areas:
Cellular adaption and neoplasia
Infection, immunity, and inflammation
Hematological disorders
Explanation / Answer
According to the information, the patient suffers from multiple pathologies and indeed the homeostasis is not maintained in his body. He is a patient of sickle-cell anemia and his body is not responding properly against the toxins. Patient is also having problem of tachycardia which can lead to hypertension under such conditions. It must be carefully noted here that the physical examinations as well as the laboratory diagnostic tests, both represent a large number of evidences which suggest that sickle-cell-anemia remains the major culprit for all the impairments. The observations of pale body and nails with fatigue and upper-chest pain further corroborate to the finding that the patient is chronically anemic in nature.
At cellular levels, it can be understood that red blood cells or RBCs are essentially required to supply optimum amount of oxygen to the various cells of the body. Under the pathologies such as sickle-cell anemia, the oxygen carrying-capacity of the RBCs decrease and hence the normal gaseous transport across the body decreases. Under severe conditions, the tissues become devoid of oxygen and begin to show signs of anemia and hence paleness persists. This is accompanied with fatigue, headache and weakness as the body is not getting enough oxygen and thus aerobic respiration gets impaired. Collectively, these data suggest that the patient is suffering from hematological disorder and hence requires immediate clinical attention.