catching sensation under the patella.
A 15-year-old male reports dull pain in both knees. Sometimes one or both knees click, and the patient describes a catching sensation under the patella. In determining the causes of the knee pain, what additional history do you need? What categories can you use to differentiate knee pain? What are your specific differential diagnoses for knee pain? What physical examination will you perform? What anatomic structures are you assessing as part of the physical examination? What special maneuvers will you perform?
With regard to the case study you were assigned:
• Review this week's Learning Resources, and consider the insights they provide about the case study.
• Consider what history would be necessary to collect from the patient in the case study you were assigned.
• Consider what physical exams and diagnostic tests would be appropriate to gather more information about the patient's condition. How would the results be used to make a diagnosis?
• Identify at least five possible conditions that may be considered in a differential diagnosis for the patient.
By Day 3 of Week 8
Post an episodic/focused note about the patient in the case study to which you were assigned using the episodic/focused note template provided in the Week 5 resources. Provide evidence from the literature to support diagnostic tests that would be appropriate for each case. List five different possible conditions for the patient's differential diagnosis, and justify why you selected each.
al aspect it can be seen that in organic amnesia the memory disorder seems to preserve personal identity, basic semantic knowledge and procedural skills, while psychogenic amnesia includes the loss of personal identity and very basic semantic and procedural abilities (Serra, Fadda, Buccione, Caltagirone, and Carlesimo, 2007). In the neuroradiological sense, organic amnesia seems to have a physical cause that is consistent with cerebral damage affecting cortical and/or subcortical areas known to be important in memory, while in psychogenic amnesia damage to the cerebral areas important in memory does not have a clinical or neuroradiological basis (Serra, Fadda, Buccione, Caltagirone, and Carlesimo, 2007). Looking at the neuropsychological aspect it is easy to see that in organic amnesia there is documented impairment in declarative episodic memory with preservation of other memory functions and general intelligence, while in psychogenic amnesia declarative episodic memory is affected along with general intellectual dysfunction (Serra, Fadda, Buccione, Caltagirone, and Carlesimo, 2007). In the psychopathological sense, organic amnesia shows no predisposing psychiatric conditions before the onset of the condition, while in psychogenic amnesia a psychopathological condition is existent before the onset of the condition (Serra, Fadda, Buccione, Caltagirone, and Carlesimo, 2007). Although psychogenic and organic amnesia are on opposite sides of the same spectrum it is easy to see that they revolve around the same concepts.
Regardless of what type of amnesia a patient may have it all has to start somewhere. The cause of amnesia seems to have a wide range and is unique to each patient. It can range from a traumatic event in psychogenic amnesia to traumatic brain injury in organic amnesia. In one article it was outlined that amnesia could be caused by various circumstances including aneurysms, anoxia, cerebrovascular accidents, herpes simplex encephalitis, and even Wernicke-Korasakoff syndrome in the case of organic amnesia (Duff, Wszalek, Tranel, and Cohen, 2008). Another article even mentions how amnesia in various patients have been caused by fencing accidents, bilateral lesions, car accidents, and even lesions of other cortical areas (Siegert and Warrington, 1996). It has also been documented that psychological trauma can trigger the onset of amnesia in a psychogenic sense. In this case the fear of not being able to pay a friend back on an agreed date lead to the loss of memory for a 38-year-old man in which he was unable to remember any event after that date (Kumar, Rao, Sunny, and Gangadhar, 2007). It was later found that he had no evidence of brain injury, but showed psychological stress immediately before his problems revealed itself (Kumar, Rao, Sunny, and Gangadhar, 2007). Moving forward into various case studies and the depiction of Anterograde Amnesia in Before I Go To Sleep, it is important to understand all of the topics encompassed in amnesia that has been discussed.