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General Surgery Mnemonics

The best gen surgery mnemonics for medical student finals, OSCEs and MRCP

 

  • Lump examination (3S’s, 3C’s, 3T’s, 1F)

    • Site
    • Size
    • Shape
    • Contour
    • Colour
    • Consistency
    • Tenderness
    • Tethering
    • Transillumination
    • Fluctuance

 

  • Abdominal causes of clubbing (4 C’s)

    • Coeliac disease
    • Cirrhosis
    • Crohn’s
    • ulcerative Colitis

 

  • Causes of abdominal distension (6 F’s)

    • Fat
    • Fluid
    • Flatus
    • Faeces
    • Foetus
    • Fulminant mass

 

  • Causes of Pancreatitis (GET SMASHED)

    • Gallstones
    • Ethanol
    • Trauma
    • Steroids
    • Mumps
    • Autoimmune diseases e.g. SLE
    • Scorpion venom
    • Hypothermia, Hypercalcaemia, Hyperlipidaemia
    • ERCP, Emboli
    • Drugs (e.g. thiazide and loop diuretics, azathioprine)

 

  • Components of Glasgow score for pancreatitis (PANCREAS)

    • PaO2 (<8kPa)
    • Age (>55)
    • Neutrophilia (WCC > 15 x 109/L)
    • Ca2+ (<2mmol/L)
    • Renal function (urea >16mmol/L)
    • Enzymes (LDH >600 iu/L or AST >200 iu/L)
    • Albumin (<32g/L)
    • Sugar (blood glucose >10mmol/L)

 

  • Meckel’s diverticulum (Rule of 2’s)

    • 2% of population
    • 2x commoner in males
    • 2 feet proximal to ileocaecal valve
    • 2 inches in length
    • 2 types of common ectopic tissue (gastric and pancreatic)