Page 129 - JSOM Summer 2019

Without Jumping to Conclusions

Katarzyna (Kasia) Hampton, MD

our team is set up to perform a HALO jump tonight. You your teammate from jumping tonight. Without jumping to
Yobserve that one of your teammates appears very fatigued, conclusions, you decide to obtain a left upper quadrant ultra-
and he is grimacing each time he attempts to swallow. You sound, which could increase your diagnostic accuracy.
ask him what is wrong and he reports having a severe sore
throat for the past few days. On exam you note extensive 1. What findings are very clearly present in Figure 1?
tonsillar exudates, even necrotic appearing, and cervical 2. What feared complication of the condition in question
lym phadenopa thy, with the following vital signs: heart rate, disqualifies your patient from airborne jumps and contact
99 beats/min; blood pressure, 125/80mmHg; respirations, sports in the coming weeks?
18/min, Spo , 99% on room air; temperature, 37.8°C (100°F).
2
Join us at SOFsono.org for further case discussion.
You are not able to perform confirmatory lab testing. How-
ever, you suspect a certain condition that would disqualify

FIGURE 1 Left upper quadrant view of the abdomen.

Correspondence to sofsono.org@gmail.com
Dr Hampton is an emergency physician and a volunteer SME ultrasound instructor for the military medical community. She is currently practic-
ing at the Landstuhl Regional Medical Center, Germany (U.S. Army Medical Department).

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