Medicine Hack

 PENETRATION  Penetration is one of the five technical factors that help you in determining whether a radiograph is technically adequate.  ADEQUATE PENETRATION  If a frontal chest radiograph is adequately penetrated, you should be able to see the thoracic spine through the heart shadow. In the radiograph above, we can see the thoracic spine through the heart shadow (solid white line).  UNDER PENETRATION  It means that the penetration is inadequate. The radiograph will appear as too white. We will not be able to see the thoracic spine through the heart. This can lead us into making interpretation errors. 1) The pulmonary markings may appear more prominent and these can be mistaken for being due to a congestive heart failure or pulmonary fibrosis. 2) The left lung base will appear opaque thus obscuring the left hemidiaphragm. This can mimic or hide a true disease in the left lower lung field e.g. left lower lobe pneumonia or left pleural effusion. To avoid these misin

 DEFINITION  Obesity is a state of excess adipose tissue mass. It is often viewed as equivalent to an increased body weight. This is not true because muscular individuals may have increased body weight but are not obese. Weight follows a continuous distribution pattern in human population. The point at which mortality and morbidity becomes statistically significant is the cut-off to call a patient obese.  METHODS  Various methods have been used to measure obesity. These include: 1) Anthropometry (skin-fold thickness) 2) Densitometry (underwater weighing) 3) CT/MRI 4) Electrical impedance. Still the most common techniques used in clinical practice are: 1) BMI measurement 2) Waist-to-hip ratio measurement.  BMI  It is not an accurate measure of obesity but since it is simple to calculate, it is the most frequently measured parameter. At similar BMI, women usually have more fat than men. When the BMI > 25 Kg/m2, morbidity starts to increase and if associated with ris