Essay Example on Diagnosing Burns: Possible Health Disorders

Not every health problem can be diagnosed using a simplified laboratory test. Following the signs and symptoms presented in the case of Burns, it is possible that she could be suffering from several health disorders due to the similarity in the symptoms and signs. These disorders may include pyogenic vertebral osteomyelitis (VO), osteoporosis tuberculosis, lymphoma, recurring breast cancer or another type of cancer, acute pancreatitis, and bacterial infection (Granville, Berti, & Jacobson, 2017). The above differential diagnosis is attributed to the presence of symptoms such as night sweats, back pain, and across a majority of the possible problems.

Is your time best spent reading someone else’s essay? Get a 100% original essay FROM A CERTIFIED WRITER!

Save 25%

When the signs and symptoms presented by Burns have been thoroughly and systemically analyzed, and especially the most presenting symptom which is lower back pain, the final diagnosis is VO (Schattner, Adi, & Ben-Galim, 2014). The physical examination of the patient, including things such as the unexplained weight loss, the presentation of night sweats even with the absence of fever, fatigue, and most importantly lower back pain are all indicators of the onset of VO, a condition that is increasingly becoming prevalent in the older population (Schattner, Adi, & Ben-Galim, 2014).

Problems such as foot drop with weakness and pain overlying the lumbar spine coupled with paraspinal muscle spasms and tenderness are not so uncommon. However, other findings such as the discomfort Burns experiences with light palpation on her vertebrae around L3-L5 & her imaging shows a compression fracture at L4 is abnormal. This is because, compression fractures are only familiar with patients with a history of lumbar surgery (Granville, Berti, & Jacobson, 2017) which Burns does not have. Also, the palpability of Burns' liver indicates a medical complication.

Pyogenic VO, as a spinal infection, affects the intervertebral disk, the vertebral body, including the adjacent paraspinal tissue (Granville, Berti, & Jacobson, 2017). The systemic symptoms associated with lower back pain such as night sweats and unexplained weight loss, a suspicious pattern of pain, a history of cancer, and pain radiating through the leg all lead to the final diagnosis of VO (Schattner, Adi, & Ben-Galim, 2014). The administration of antibiotics for acute pain control is an effective pharmacological treatment therapy because most cases are sensitive, and improvement is noted (Wong, & McGirt, 2013).

References

Granville, M., Berti, A., & Jacobson, R. E. (2017). Vertebral Compression Fractures after Lumbar Instrumentation. Cureus, 9(9), e1729. doi:10.7759/cureus.1729

Schattner, A., Adi, M., & Ben-Galim, P. (2014). Low-back pain, lassitude, and loss of appetite. JRSM Open, 5(6), 2054270414523409. doi:10.1177/2054270414523409

Wong, C. C., & McGirt, M. J. (2013). Vertebral compression fractures: a review of current management and multimodal therapy. Journal of multidisciplinary healthcare, 6, 205-214. doi:10.2147/JMDH.S31659