Internal Medicine Vocabulary Flashcards

Vocabulary flashcards covering key clinical medical terms, syndromes, signs, and laboratory findings across internal medicine specialties.

Azotemia

The presence of abnormally high levels of nitrogenous waste products (such as urea and creatinine) in the blood, reflecting renal impairment.

Uremia

The clinical syndrome resulting from the presence and accumulation of urea and other toxic waste products in the blood due to renal failure.

Isosthenuria

A urinary condition in acute tubular necrosis (ATN) where urinary osmolality equals serum osmolality ($< 300\,\text{mOsm/L}$) due to the failure of damaged tubular cells to concentrate or dilute urine.

Rhabdomyolysis

A condition resulting from severe skeletal muscle breakdown that releases myoglobin into the circulation, presenting with myalgia, dark urine, markedly elevated CPK, hyperkalemia, and potential acute tubular necrosis.

Goodpasture Syndrome

An autoimmune disorder caused by anti-glomerular basement membrane (anti-GBM) antibodies affecting the lungs and kidneys, presenting with pulmonary hemorrhage (hemoptysis) and rapidly progressive glomerulonephritis without upper respiratory tract involvement.

RBC Cast

A microscopic urinary structure composed of red blood cells trapped in a protein matrix, pathognomonic for active glomerulonephritis or nephritic syndrome.

Henoch-Schönlein Purpura (HSP)

A systemic small-vessel IgA vasculitis most common in male children, characterized by palpable purpura on the lower extremities and buttocks, abdominal pain, melena, arthralgias, and nephritic syndrome.

DIDMOD Syndrome

A hereditary congenital syndrome characterized by Diabetes Insipidus, Diabetes Mellitus, Optic Atrophy, and Deafness.

Hashimoto's Thyroiditis

An autoimmune disorder characterized by anti-thyroid peroxidase (anti-TPO) and anti-thyroglobulin (anti-TG) antibodies, presenting with initial goiter and eventually progressing to primary hypothyroidism.

Graves' Disease

An autoimmune thyroid disorder caused by thyroid-stimulating antibodies, presenting with hyperthyroidism, diffuse goiter, pretibial myxedema, and eye signs such as exophthalmos and lid lag.

De Quervain's Thyroiditis

A subacute, post-viral inflammatory thyroid condition characterized by a tender, painful neck, elevated ESR, low radioactive iodine uptake, and transient hyperthyroidism followed by hypothyroidism.

Trousseau's Sign

A clinical indicator of latent tetany and hypocalcemia, manifested as carpal spasm after inflating a blood pressure cuff above systolic pressure for several minutes.

Chvostek's Sign

A sign of hypocalcemia characterized by involuntary twitching of facial muscles elicited by tapping over the facial nerve anterior to the ear.

Conn's Syndrome

Primary hyperaldosteronism caused by an aldosterone-producing adrenal adenoma, resulting in hypertension, hypokalemia, and metabolic alkalosis with an elevated aldosterone:renin ratio ($> 20$).

Pheochromocytoma

A catecholamine-secreting tumor of the adrenal medulla causing paroxysmal or sustained hypertension, episodic headaches, sweating, and tachycardia, diagnosed via elevated 24-hour urinary metanephrines.

Kussmaul's Respiration

A deep, rapid, and labored breathing pattern with a fruity odor, occurring as a compensatory mechanism for metabolic acidosis in diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA).

Whipple's Triad

The clinical triad diagnostic of hypoglycemia: symptoms consistent with hypoglycemia, low blood glucose ($< 55\,\text{mg/dL}$), and prompt resolution of symptoms following glucose administration.

Löfgren's Syndrome

An acute presentation of sarcoidosis carrying a favorable prognosis, characterized by the triad of bilateral hilar lymphadenopathy (BHL), erythema nodosum, fever, and polyarthralgia.

Pancoast Tumor

A malignant tumor located at the pulmonary apex that invades surrounding structures such as the cervical sympathetic chain, frequently resulting in Horner syndrome.

Pulsus Paradoxus

An exaggerated decline in systolic blood pressure ($> 10\,\text{mmHg}$) during inspiration, commonly observed in cardiac tamponade, severe asthma, and COPD.

Delta Wave

A slurring of the initial upstroke of the QRS complex with a shortened PR interval on ECG, characteristic of pre-excitation via the accessory bundle of Kent in Wolff-Parkinson-White (WPW) syndrome.

Dressler's Syndrome

An autoimmune pericarditis occurring 2 to 10 weeks post-myocardial infarction, presenting with fever, pleuritic chest pain, and pericardial friction rub, managed with NSAIDs.

Beck's Triad

The classic physical findings of cardiac tamponade: hypotension, elevated jugular venous pressure (JVP), and muffled heart sounds.

Achalasia

An esophageal motility disorder caused by degeneration of the myenteric plexus, leading to hypertonic lower esophageal sphincter (LES) failure to relax and loss of normal peristalsis, demonstrating a 'bird's beak' appearance on barium swallow.

Barrett's Esophagus

Metaplasia of the lower esophageal stratified squamous epithelium to intestinalized columnar epithelium due to chronic GERD, conferring an increased risk of esophageal adenocarcinoma.

Gilbert Syndrome

An autosomal dominant disorder caused by reduced UDP-glucuronosyl-transferase enzyme activity, resulting in mild, self-limiting unconjugated hyperbilirubinemia ($< 3\,\text{mg/dL}$) provoked by fasting, stress, or illness.

Spontaneous Bacterial Peritonitis (SBP)

An acute bacterial infection of ascitic fluid without an intra-abdominal surgical source, diagnosed by an ascitic fluid absolute neutrophil count (ANC) $\ge 250/\text{mm}^3$, most commonly caused by E. coli.

Kayser-Fleischer Ring

A brownish-green ring of copper deposition in the Descemet membrane of the cornea, characteristic of Wilson's disease.

Schistocytes

Fragmented red blood cells (helmet cells) seen on a peripheral blood smear, indicative of intravascular hemolysis and microangiopathic hemolytic anemia (MAHA).

Howell-Jolly Bodies

Basophilic nuclear remnants inside circulating erythrocytes visible on a peripheral blood smear, characteristic of hyposplenism or asplenia.

Pernicious Anemia

An autoimmune gastritis characterized by anti-parietal cell and anti-intrinsic factor antibodies, causing intrinsic factor deficiency, vitamin $B_{12}$ malabsorption, and megaloblastic anemia.

Felty's Syndrome

A severe variant of rheumatoid arthritis defined by the clinical triad of rheumatoid arthritis, splenomegaly, and neutropenia ($\text{ANC} < 2.0 \times 10^9/\text{L}$).

CREST Syndrome

A limited cutaneous form of systemic sclerosis characterized by Calcinosis, Raynaud's phenomenon, Esophageal dysmotility, Sclerodactyly, and Telangiectasia, strongly associated with anti-centromere antibodies.

Dix-Hallpike Test

A diagnostic positional maneuver for posterior canal Benign Paroxysmal Positional Vertigo (BPPV) performed by rapidly lowering a patient from sitting to supine with the head turned $45^\circ$ and neck extended, observing for rotatory nystagmus.

Jarisch-Herxheimer Reaction

A transient systemic reaction (fever, chills, headache) occurring shortly after starting antibiotic treatment for spirochetal infections (such as syphilis or Lyme disease) due to rapid bacterial lysis and endotoxin release.