"Think Like a Doctor: Doubled Over in Pain Solved!"
Well readers were challenged to figure out the diagnosis for a 30-year-old man with a two-week history of severe abdominal pain. The correct diagnosis is Acute Intermittent Porphyria. Dr. Ron Palmon, the gastroenterologist who examined the patient when he was first admitted to Mount Sinai, made the difficult diagnosis after focusing first on the patient’s history and physical exam, and then the patient’s medical records where he noticed the exploratory surgery had ordered a urine porphobilinogen (PBG), which is a test for porphyria. Learn more