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)