Published in The Practitioner
More than 200 hereditary cancer susceptibility syndromes have been described, and it is thought that they account for 5-10% of all cancers. Many have dermatological manifestations (usually lesions, occasionally rashes) which frequently precede other systemic pathology. Dermatological signs are usually non-specific and often trivial in appearance, m...
Published in The Practitioner
Published in The Practitioner
The greatest proportional increase in the number of people with diabetes by age group is predicted to occur in those aged 60 to 79. In older people living with diabetes, geriatric syndromes, which indicate frailty, are emerging as a third category of complications in addition to the traditional microvascular and macrovascular sequelae. Frailty is d...
Published in The Practitioner
Depression and dementia are both common conditions in older people, and they frequently occur together. Late life depression affects about 3.0-4.5% of adults aged 65 and older. Depression occurs in up to 20% of patients with Alzheimer’s disease and up to 45% of patients with vascular dementia. Rather than a risk factor, depression with onset in lat...
Published in The Practitioner
Published in The Practitioner
Type 2 diabetes is a chronic, progressive, metabolic disorder caused by defects in insulin secretion and action resulting in hyperglycaemia. Fasting blood glucose, random blood glucose, the oral glucose tolerance test and glycated haemoglobin (HbA1c) tests are all used in diagnosis. In patients with impaired fasting glucose, impaired glucose tolera...
Published in The Practitioner
Motor neurone disease is a rapidly progressive and fatal neurodegenerative condition which causes progressive weakness, with normal sensation. It can occur at any age but is more frequent with increasing age. Key clinical presentations include bulbar (slurred or difficult speech, problems swallowing, tongue fasciculation), limb (typically in one li...
Published in The Practitioner
Neuropathic pain can be considered to be a clinical syndrome with multiple causes ranging from damage to peripheral nerve pathways as the level of peripheral nociceptors to abnormalities in the cortical neurons in the brain. It is defined as pain that is caused by a lesion or disease of the somatosensory nervous system and is estimated to affect 6-...
Published in The Practitioner
Published in The Practitioner
Most people experience at least one potentially traumatic event (PTE) during their life. Many will develop only transient distress and not a psychological illness. Even the most inherently horrific event does not invariably lead to the development of a psychological disorder while an individual with sufficient vulnerabilit may develop post-traumati...
