RedScrubs
The Resource for Medical Professionals

If anyone has ever been to the Mutter Museum of Medical Curiosities in Philadelphia, they will know what I am talking about when I mention “The Windbag Man“. This individual was marketed as a “sideshow freak” during the 19th century. He had a massively protuberant abdomen - much like a balloon or “windbag”. The cause? Probably chronic Colonic Pseudo-obstruction or Ogilvie’s Syndrome- where the colon becomes massively dilated in the absence of mechanical obstruction. Now, in the windbag man’s case, he moved his bowels once a month and when he died about age 30, his enormous colon was removed at autopsy and permanently put on display in the museum! It was 9 feet long and contained 40 POUNDS of stool! Holy Mag Citrate!(excerpt from blog) This blog describes an oddly interesting case similar in presentation to “The Windbag Man” where a woman came into the ER looking malnourished, yet similar to a flotation device in presentation! Read this one to determine the diagnosis and what was ordered.

A fierce discussion on why news reporters are ignoring the recent statement by the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force on the risks of using CT scans in lieu of colonoscopy. Part of the problem seems to be bias on the part of the Wall Street Journal article that discusses the benefits and popularity of the CT scan without mention at all of the Task Force recommendations, cautions and warnings against potential harm from substituting CT scans for colonoscopy.