Topic: Korsakoff's Psychosis
Subject: Medicine
In a patient with recent onset of alcohol amnestic disorder, the mental status test most likely to be done poorly is memory of:
Political figures of 10 years ago
Digits (forward)
His own name
Three items for 5 minutes
Correct Answer :
D. Three items for 5 minutes
Korsakoff's psychosis (Korsakoff's/alcoholic amnestic syndrome) occurs in 80% of untreated patients with Wernicke's encephalopathy. A severe or repeated attack of postalcoholic delirium tremens can trigger Korsakoff's psychosis whether or not a typical attack of Wernicke's encephalopathy has occurred first. Immediate memory is severely affected (best tested with '3 items for 5mins'); retrograde and anterograde amnesia occurs in varying degrees. Patients tend to draw on memory of remote events, which appears to be less affected than memory of recent events. Disorientation to time is common. Emotional changes are common; they include apathy, blandness, or mild euphoria with little or no response to events, even frightening ones. Spontaneity and initiative may be decreased. Confabulation is often a striking early feature; bewildered patients unconsciously fabricate imaginary or confused accounts of events they cannot recall; these fabrications may be so convincing that the underlying disorder is not detected.
Related Questions
Topic: Mini Mental Status Exam (or MMSE)
Subject: Medicine
In healthy adults, performance on the Folstein Mini-Mental State Examination is affected by which one of the following?
Educational attainment
Socioeconomic status
Gender
Race
Topic: Neurologic pain
Subject: Medicine
A 21-year-old man presented to the emergency hospital with severe abdominal pain. The pain started four hour ago. His medical history reveals Acute Intermittent Porphyria (AIP) and he used to have frequent attacks of abdominal pain and believes that this attack is no different. On examination, the patient is in acute pain and slightly feverish but not pale, jaundiced or cyanosed. However, his blood pressure is found to be high and he has tachycardia.
You should consider a diagnosis other than an AIP attack if the pain is associated with:
Constipation
Tenderness
Abdominal distension
Decreased bowel sounds
Topic: Diagnostic Investigations
Subject: Medicine
A 52 year old male with a history of psychosis presents with muscle stiffness and resting tremors, associated with difficulty in balance and initiating movements. What is the best diagnostic method for detection of the above condition?
Serum dopamine levels
Computed tomography scan
Positron emission tomography scan
Magnetic resonance imaging
Topic: Alzheimer's Disease
Subject: Medicine
A 62 year old woman has demonstrated increasing loss of recent memory over a 5 year period, now associated with reduced affect and nominal dysphasia. She dresses neatly and social amenities are preserved. There are no localizing motor or sensory findings.
Which one of the following is the most likely diagnosis?
Cerebral vascular disease
Hydrocephalus
Huntington's disease
Alzheimer's disease
Topic: Essential Tremor
Subject: Medicine
Which one of the following is most likely to be of benefit in patients with essential tremor of the hand?
Isoniazid
Diazepam
Primidone
Clonidine
Topic: Dementia
Subject: Medicine
A 60-year-old white female presents for her annual physical examination. She tells you that since her last visit she has begun taking ginkgo biloba to improve her memory. She takes no other medications. The evidence supporting a benefit from ginkgo biloba is best for which one of the following?
Tinnitus
Benign prostatic hyperplasia
Dementia
Intermittent claudication
Topic: Temporal Arteritis
Subject: Medicine
A 70-year-old woman returns to the office because of aching and weakness in her arms to the point where she cannot lift her arm to brush her hair. Physical examination shows no muscle tenderness or other evidence of joint disease in both arms. The aching improves when she takes the prescribed nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID). She also describes tenderness over the right temporal area of her scalp. Physical examination of the scalp shows no lesions.
Which of the following is the most appropriate next step?
Increase the dose of the NSAID
Order determination of erythrocyte sedimentation rate
Order determination of serum rheumatoid factor
Order x-ray films of the cervical spine
Topic: Subarachnoid Hemorrhage
Subject: Medicine
A 25-year-old male presents 5 hours after the onset of the worst headache of my life. His temperature is 37.0°C (98.6°F), blood pressure 140/90 mm Hg, respiratory rate 20/min, and pulse rate 90 beats/min. The patient is lethargic but oriented; there are no focal neurologic findings, but neck stiffness is present. Unenhanced CT of the head is negative. You elect to perform a lumbar puncture. At this time, which one of the following findings in bloody spinal fluid would indicate a diagnosis of subarachnoid hemorrhage?
Yellow-orange cerebrospinal fluid supernatant
A WBC:RBC ratio of 1/1000
A protein (g/L) to RBC (count/L) of 1/1000
A glucose level below 2.2 mmol/L
Topic: Dementia
Subject: Medicine
An 85 year old white male is brought to you for the first time by his son. The father has recently seen a neurologist who performed a workup for dementia and diagnosed moderate Alzheimers disease. Which one of the following is true regarding the use of a cholinesterase inhibitor in this patient?
It is too late to initiate cholinesterase therapy
Agitation is often intensified by these agents
Memory is likely to improve significantly
Nursing-home placement may be delayed a year or longer
Topic: Alzheimer's Disease
Subject: Medicine
Which one of the following tests is most useful for the initial workup of suspected Alzheimers disease?
Carotid Doppler ultrasonography
An erythrocyte sedimentation rate
A cardiac stress test
A TSH level
Topic: Tension headache.
Subject: Medicine
A woman presents with chief complaint of tightening, band-like headaches that usually occur upon rising in the morning. What is the most likely diagnosis?
Migraine headache
Premenstrual headache
Tension headache
Cluster headache
Topic: Trigeminal Neuralgia
Subject: Medicine
A man complains that recently when he shaves he has a shooting type of pain in his face. It happens once in a while and then goes away. You suspect trigeminal neuralgia.
What is the treatment of choice?
Fluoxetine
Prednisone
Acyclovir
Carbamazepine
Topic: Normal Pressure Hydrocephalus
Subject: Medicine
A 76-year-old male is brought to your office by his son. The patient complains of dizziness that has slowly been worsening over the past year. His description is vague, but he says that he notices the dizziness when he tries to walk. The review of systems is normal, except for increasing problems with his prostate in the last 6 months, with dribbling and accidents at times. The patient admits to going more often, and sometimes without warning. The son states that his father seems more forgetful, slower of speech, and not as full of life as he used to be. A neurologic examination reveals the patient to be oriented x 3, with a somewhat flat affect and a wide-based, slow, shuffling gate. The examination is otherwise normal. His Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) score is 22 out of 30. No tremor is noted. A CBC, creatinine level, TSH level, vitamin B12 level and VDRL are all normal.
Which one of the following should you do next?
Order a brain MRI
Prescribe sertraline (Zoloft)
Prescribe carbidopa/levodopa (Sinemet)
Order physical therapy
Topic: Postherpetic Neuralgia
Subject: Medicine
When given during acute herpes zoster (varicella) infection, which one of the following drugs has been shown to reduce the incidence of postherpetic neuralgia?
Imipramine (Tofranil)
Capsaicin (Zostrix)
Amitriptyline
Acyclovir (Zovirax)
Topic: Status Epilepticus
Subject: Medicine
Which one of the following should be given intravenously in the initial treatment of status epilepticus?
Propofol (Diprivan)
Phenobarbital
Lorazepam (Ativan)
Midazolam (Versed)
Topic: Temporal Arteritis
Subject: Medicine
A 75-year-old female presents with a 2-month history of bilateral headache, diffuse myalgias, and diplopia. On examination she has substantially diminished vision in her left eye, but no other neurologic findings. A moderately tender, cordlike structure is palpable just anterior to her ear and extending up to her lateral scalp. Blood tests show a markedly elevated erythrocyte sedimentation rate.
Which one of the following would be most appropriate at this point?
Clopidogrel (Plavix)
High-dose corticosteroids
NSAIDs
Dipyridamole/aspirin (Aggrenox)
Topic: Seizure
Subject: Medicine
A 36-year-old male with a history of a seizure disorder is brought to the emergency department with generalized tonic-clonic activity. Emergency medical personnel report this has been ongoing for 20 minutes.
After initial resuscitative measures, the preferred medication in this situation is:
Phenytoin (Dilantin)
Fosphenytoin (Cerebyx)
Naloxone
Lorazepam (Ativan)
Topic: Alzheimer's Disease
Subject: Medicine
Which one of the following is associated with an increased risk of developing Alzheimers disease?
A positive homozygous genotype for apolipoprotein E4
Elevated serum aluminum
Elevated serum alpha-tocopherol
Decreased serum Beta-carotene
Topic: Guillain-Barr� syndrome
Subject: Medicine
A 43-year-old man presents 2 weeks after you see him for infectious diarrhea caused by C. jejuni. He has now developed bilateral proximal lower limb weakness and bilateral distal parasthesia and decreased ankle tendon reflex.
What is the most likely diagnosis?
Guillain-Barr� syndrome
Multiple Sclerosis
Myasthenia Gravis
Systemic Lupus Erythematosus
Topic: Essential Tremor
Subject: Medicine
A 75 year old white male complains of a tremor which has been progressive over the past 2 years. The tremor interferes with writing, pouring liquids, and eating soup. He has no other medical problems. He abstains from alcohol and tobacco products. Physical examination is remarkable for an action tremor of the upper extremities and a head tremor. No rigidity or gait disorder is noted. Of the following agents, which one is most appropriate as initial drug therapy for this problem?
Alprazolam (Xanax)
Clonazepam (Klonopin)
Carbamazepine (Tegretol)
Propranolol (Inderal)
Topic: Cauda Equina Syndrome
Subject: Medicine
A 65-year-old male presents with a 1-month history of problems passing urine. He says that his bladder will feel full when he needs to urinate, but the urine stream is weak and his bladder does not feel as if it has emptied completely. The symptoms have become increasingly severe over the past week. Other symptoms include upper respiratory congestion for 3 days which he has treated with an over-thecounter decongestant with some relief, constipation with no passage of stool in the past 9 days, and increasing low back pain incompletely relieved with ibuprofen, with associated weakness in both legs. Examination shows a healthy-appearing male who is moderately overweight. He is afebrile and vital signs are normal. There is no abdominal tenderness and no masses are detected. A rectal examination reveals a large amount of hard stool in the rectum; a markedly enlarged (4+), boggy, tender prostate gland; laxity of the anal sphincter; and numbness in the perianal area. Urinalysis shows trace protein and 10-20 WBCs/hpf. Ultrasonography shows a post-void residual volume of 250 mL (normal for age <100).
Which one of the following must be done urgently in this patient?
Foley catheterization
Hospitalization for intravenous antibiotics
Digital disimpaction of the rectum, and Fleet enemas until clear
MRI of the lumbosacral spine
Topic: Foot Drop
Subject: Medicine
During the physical exam of a patients foot, you notice an inability to dorsiflex. What nerve root(s) is most likely affected?
T12
L1
L2
L4 - L5
Topic: Amnesia
Subject: Medicine
Which of the following medications may cause amnesia as a side effect?
Hydroxyzine
Fluoxetine
Triazolam
Clonidine
Topic: Horner's Syndrome
Subject: Medicine
A 66-year-old diabetic man presents with constriction of the pupil, drooping of the upper lid, and anhidrosis on the left. Which one of the following nerves is most likely involved?
Oculomotor
Sympathetic
Trochlear
Trigeminal
Topic: Bell's Palsy
Subject: Medicine
A 53-year-old male accountant comes to your office with progressive facial weakness on the left side that began yesterday. He also reports pain behind the left ear and decreased lacrimation from the left eye. He has been in good health and had his yearly physical examination 1 week ago, which was normal. His lipid levels, chemistry profile, and CBC were all normal. He has not been involved in any outdoor activities, nor does he engage in any high-risk sexual behavior. On examination, there is flattening of the left nasolabial fold and decreased ability to close the left eye. The mouth appears to be drawn to the right. The remainder of his general examination and neurologic examination are normal.
Which one of the following would be the most appropriate management at this time?
Carotid ultrasonography
High-resolution CT
MRI with gadolinium enhancement
Prednisone and valacyclovir (Valtrex)
Topic: Delirium Tremens
Subject: Medicine
You see a 49-year-old man in the emergency room with a 20-year-history of alcohol abuse. He is agitated and floridly psychotic, with visual hallucinations and persecutory delusions. On examination his blood pressure, heart rate and respiratory rate are all increased. He is disoriented, sweaty, and has abdominal cramps.
What is the most likely diagnosis?
Subdural hematoma
Alcohol intoxication
Hepatic encephalopathy
Delirium tremens
Topic: Seizure
Subject: Medicine
A 32-year-old female experiences an episode of unresponsiveness associated with jerking movements of her arms and legs. Which one of the following presentations would make a diagnosis of true seizure more likely?
Post-event confusion
Eye closure during the event
A history of fibromyalgia
A history of chronic back pain
Topic: Dementia
Subject: Medicine
Clinical features of multi-infarct dementia may include all of the following, except:
Parkinsonism
Deteriorating course
Evidence of cerebrovascular disease
Focal neurologic signs
Topic: Organophosphate poisoning
Subject: Medicine
What is the mechanism of action in organophosphate poisoning?
Cholinesterase inhibition
Cholinesterase activation
Catecholamine inhibition
Catecholamine activation
Topic: Mini Mental Status Exam (or MMSE)
Subject: Medicine
A 63-year-old retired teacher shared with his primary care physician (PCP) during a routine office visit that he has noticed increasing difficulty with his memory. Otherwise he is in good health and requiring no medication.
Which one of the following psychological tests is a valuable screening device to be used by primary care physicians in this type of situation?
MMPI
WAIS
Thematic Apperception Test
Mini-Mental State Exam