Viva questions May 2007

Applied Physiology

  1. How is oxygen carried in the blood?
    • What is the mechanism of binding of oxygen to haemoglobin?
    • What is this called?
    • Draw the oxygen dissociation curve?
    • What does 50% saturation mean?
    • What partial pressure does 92% saturation correspond to?
    • What partial pressure does 50% saturation correspond to?
    • What is the right shift called? (Bohr effect)
    • What are the factors determining right shift?
    • What is the physiological consequences? Why is this useful?
    • Draw the shape of the ODC for methaemoglobinaemia
    • What is the pathophysiology of methaemoglobinaemia?
    • What is the affinity ratio in methaemoglobinaemia for oxygen with respect to normal haemoglobin?
  2. What is ARDS?
    • What are the defining features? What are the criteria?
    • What are the causes of ARDS?
    • What direct lung causes do you know?
    • What systemic causes of ARDS do you know?
    • How do you manage ARDS?
    • What are the ventilatory options?
    • How do you improve lung compliance?
    • How does nitric oxide work? / prostacyclin
    • How else can you treat pulmonary hypertension?
  3. What muscle relaxants do you know?
    • What classes of muscle relaxants do you know?
    • How does suxamethonium work? What is it's structure?
    • How is suxamethonium metabolised at the neuromuscular junction?
    • What other cholinesterases do you know?
    • Why would you want to use a muscle relaxant? When is paralysis useful?
    • What is myasthenia gravis?
    • What is the deficiency in myasthenia gravis?

Critical Care

  1. What uses of central lines do you know?
    • What information can you determine from a central line?
    • How would you perform a fluid challenge? What fluid would you give? How much would you give?
    • What is the tracing of the central line waveform?
    • How is the CVP related to the right atrium? What does that mean?
    • How do you insert a CVP line?
    • What do you need to do before you use your central line (check tip, ensure tubing correct, calibrate)
    • What fluid is used for CVP transduction tubing?
    • Draw the graph for CVP change following a fluid challenge in an underfilled patient
  2. What options are there for pain control?
    • What is the pain ladder?
    • What routes of administration of analgesics do you know?
    • How can you give opiates?
    • What is the metabolism of morphine?
    • What is the bioavailabilty of morphine? How much is metabolised in the liver?
    • What is the problem with intermittent bolusing of opiates?
    • What is the analgesic effect of morphine?
    • Draw the graph of efficacy/potency of morphine analgesia with regards to its half life
    • What is PCA?
    • How is it delivered?
    • Is it safe? Why?
    • What do you know about epidurals?
    • What drugs are used in epidural analgesia?
  3. What is a pneumothorax?

Pathology

  1. What is an embolus?
    • Give examples of embolus - fat, thrombus, amniotic fluid, air, nitrogen, septic
    • What is a pulmonary embolus?
    • What is the source of the embolus?
    • What effects would a deep venous thrombosis present with?
    • What are the features of a pulmonary embolus?
    • What are the features of arterial thrombi?
    • What are the sources of arterial emboli (Left atrium/ventricle, narrowed peripheral circulation, atheromatous diease)
    • What organs are affected and what are the clinical manifestations?
    • What is a fat embolus?
    • What is the aetiology? What are the pathophysiological theories behind fat emboli?
    • What types of patients get fat emboli?
    • What are the clinical features?
    • What are the risk factors for arterial emboli?
  2. What is an ulcer?
    • What factors affect ulcer healing?
    • What is the pathophysiology of peptic ulcer disease?
    • What is helicobacter pylori?
    • How does it cause ulcerations in the stomach?
    • What are the ways in which helicobacter can be diagnosed?
    • Do you know of any blood tests?
    • What is the urease breath test?
    • What is the tissue pathological test?
    • What is the CLO test?
    • What does CLO stand for?
    • What infections cause ulcers?
    • What nutrient deficiency causes ulcers?
    • What skin tumours causes ulcers?
    • Name as many skin tumours as you can!
  3. What is hyperparathyroidism?
    • How is hyperparathyroidism classified?
    • If 85% is due to a secreting adenoma, what is the rest due to?
    • What is secondary hyperparathyroidism?
    • What are the causes?
    • Who gets secondary hyperparathyroidism?
    • What is teritiary hyperparathyroidism?
    • What are the biochemical changes in each?
    • What is the physiogical effect of parathyroid hormone?
    • What are the effects?

Priniciples of Surgery

  1. What is a subphrenic abscess?
    • Have you seen one before?
    • What are the causes?
    • What are the clinical features of a subphrenic abscess?
    • What are the nerve supplies to the diaphragm seeing as you brought it up...?
    • What are the biochemical changes?
    • Do you always get pain?
    • What features would you see on a chest x-ray?
    • What other imaging would you do apart from ultrasound?
    • How would you treat this?
    • What is the principle in treatment of an abscess?
    • What drainage options are there for subphrenic abscesses?
  2. What is mediastinitis?
    • What are the defining features?
    • How do you get mediastinitis?
    • What is rupture of the oesophagus known as (Boerhaave's phenomena)
    • What imaging modalities would you do?
    • What can you see on a chest x-ray (surgical emphysema)
    • What are the principles of treatment?
    • What would you treat? When would you treat? How would you treat?
  3. What is your approach to scrotal pain?
    • What are the causes of scrotal pain?
    • What is the nerve supply to the testicle?
    • How does it enter the scrotum?
    • What are the causes of testicular inflammation?
    • What is testicular torsion?
    • Who gets testicular torsion?
    • Why do patients have abdominal pain?

Applied Surgical Anatomy

  1. Shown a right femur
    • What is this?
    • What type of joint is the hip joint?
    • What six movements are possible at the hip joint?
    • What biochemical property of the femur allows it to be so mobile?
    • What is the blood supply to the head of the femur?
    • How does it get to the head of the femur?
    • What are the ligaments of the femur?
    • Which of these is the strongest?
    • Illustrate the attachments of the femoral capsule? Why is it important to know this?
    • What is the significance of the foveal blood supply?
    • When is the blood supply via the ligamentum teres important?
  2. Shown a saggital section of the pelvis
    • What is this? What type of scan is it? What kind of section is it?
    • What are the structures that you can see?
    • What are the limits of the peritoneal markings?
    • How far exactly does the peritoneum extend inferiorly?
    • How much of the bladder is covered by peritoneum?
    • How much of the uterus is covered by peritoneum? What is the broad ligament?
    • What is the space behind the uterus called?
  3. Shown the facial nerve
    • What is this?
    • What is this gland (the parotid)?
    • How many branches of the facial nerve are there?
    • Name them
    • How can you test the facial nerve? What muscles in particular can you test?
    • What's this (submandibular gland)?
    • What is the nerve supply to the submandibular gland?
    • If the cervical branch of the facial nerve is injured, what deficits would you expect to see?
  4. Shown the Sigmoid colon on a cadaver
    • What is this?
    • How do you know?
    • How can you tell large bowel apart from small bowel?

 

Operative Surgery

  1. A patient presents with a dorsally angulated distal radius fracture in casualty.
    • What is your approach?
    • How would you examine the patient?
    • What features would you look for?
    • What analgesia would you give?
    • How would you perform a haematoma block?
    • What anaesthetic do you use?
    • What is the appropriate dose of lignocaine?
    • What are the features of local anaesthetic toxicity?
    • Would you use anything else with the local anaesthetic (adrenaline)
    • Why would adrenaline help?
    • In what circumstances would you not use adrenaline?
    • What other local anaesthetics do you know?
    • What is special about bupivacaine? Under what circumstances have you used it?
    • What is special about marcaine? What is it's specific gravity? Why is that important to anaesthetists
  2. How do you manipulate a fracture?
    • What is Newton's third law?
    • How would you manipulate a distal radius fracture?
    • What are you doing to the fracture when you increase the tilt?
    • Why are you doing this?
    • What is dis-impaction?
    • How would you apply the plaster? How many layers of plaster?
    • Where would you plaster from and to? Why? (immobilise joint above and below) What physical property are you using?
    • What follow up would you do for this patient?
    • How long does an upper limb fracture take to heal?
  3. What is a gastrostomy?
    • When would you use it?
    • What type of patients require it?
    • What methods of insertion do you know of?

 

 

Other people on the day got asked:

  1. Surface anatomy of the foot
  2. Formation of ileostomy
  3. Function of the pancreas and cellular / biochemical effects
  4. Management of supracondylar fractures
  5. Appendicitis and appendicectomy
  6. Bones of the foot
  7. Structures around medial malleolus of the foot