Ishikawa diagrams are named after Professor Kaoru Ishikawa of Tokyo University, a highly regarded Japanese expert in quality management. “He first used it in 1943 to help explain to a group of engineers at Kawasaki Steel Works how a complex set of factors could be related to help understand a problem. [Cause and Effect] CE […]
Month: April 2011
PatientsLikeMe study refutes Lithium use in motorneurone disease
Case Reports usually involve just the one patient. When patients get together and join a social network their shared experiences could be used to evaluate research questions that would otherwise go unexplored or take time to answer. This is exactly what the website PatientsLikeMe claim to have done with the use of Lithium Carbonate in […]
‘Quality and Safety in Medicine’ Series: Atypical mycobacteria in a superficial femoral artery occlusion
A rare cause of superficial femoral artery occlusion is discovered in a patient who undergoes surgery for worsening claudication. The patient is young and an occasional smoker. The authors go on to research the pathophysiology of the lesion and suggest how it might have been formed. Seema Biswas Editor-in-Chief Atypical mycobacteria in a superficial femoral […]
‘Quality and Safety in Medicine’ Series: When a groin lump is more than a simple groin lump
In this case of the series we highlight attention to detail. The authors report a young footballer who presents acutely with an irreducible, painful groin lump. An incarcerated inguinal hernia is a reasonable diagnosis in spite of a combination of intriguing examination findings. The groin is explored and there is no hernia. Instead, a blood […]
‘Quality and Safety in Medicine’ Series: Faulty fetal packing
Here the authors report the birth of a baby delivered by emergency caesarian section after preterm prolonged rupture of membranes. The situation must have been tense; and, there is considerable blood loss at surgery. The baby requires extensive resuscitation and transfusion. A depression is then noted in the baby’s skull. What now? Seema Biswas Editor-in-Chief […]