Thursday, May 10, 2007

David son of Jesse

A 28 day old male infant presents with a 2 day history of projectile vomiting (emesis reaching a distance of 3 feet). He was not born premature. He is the firstborn. Palpation of his abdomen reveals a small, but palpable 'olive' just right of his midline. To you medical folk out there, diagnosis, please? Want another clue? An upper GI series shows delayed emptying of the stomach and a narrow, stenosed pylorus. Okay, you got it: pyloric stenosis. Found in a 4:1 ratio in males: females and most commonly at the third week of life, this is the most common cause of intestinal obstruction in infants. I admitted a kid with this story to the hospital tonight. I asked what his name was. It was David. As is my practise, I asked the parents name. Dad's name was Jesse. How about that: David, son of Jesse. Mom was the way is not Bathsheeba...