D-ismayed by D-readful D-ressing D-owns by your D-emonstrably D-eplorable registrar? . Join de Bloody Minded Crew for a Tour D-Force of D-Dimer D-rama as we D-issect and D-iscuss this most D-ifficult of D-iagnostic tests!

Timestamps

2:14 - What is a D-Dimer and where does it come from?
6:57 - FXIII and D-Dimer
7:49 - Fibrinolysis and other degradation products
10:18 - D-Dimer Assays - LIA
14:22 - D-Dimer Units - Important!
15:39 - D-Dimer Assays - ELISA / ELFA
16:59 - D-Dimer Assays - POCT
18:13 Comparing Assays & Analytical Factors
22:12 - D-Dimer Interpretation - Clinical listeners start here!
30:16 - D-Dimer and Cancer
32:31 - D-Dimer and DIC
34:32 - Summary and Takehomes

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“Give me a 2cc bolus of clot stat Emma. No wait - not there!” But it was too late, and Em-Bolused the 2cc of clot straight to the lungs”. Join the Bloody Minded Crew as they get to the heart… no get to the lungs of the topic of Pulmonary Embolism. VanQuish the V/Q and CriTically aPprAise the CTPA with these acronyms that are just as bad as a cardiology trial and half as useful. Sadly the Top Gun soundtrack is copyrighted but nothing will stop you playing Berlin over the background of the intro (and we’d strongly suggest it). 

Timestamps

4:55 - Types of PEs
7:14 - Risk Factors for PE
8:55 - Signs & Symptoms ft. ECGs
12:15 - Investigations
21:49 - Vibe Augmenting - Decision Scores
25:59 - Brief Recap
26:44 - Treatment
39:15 - Pregnancy
44:35 - Take Homes

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Calves, thighs, arms and more, 
Clots can form inside them all!

Join your hosts Cale, Bashar and Nick as they take a deep (hah) dive into the nitty-gritty things you should know about managing DVTs of the extremities

TIMESTAMPS

0:54 - Intro to Extremity Clots
3:49 - Veins of the Lower Limb
5:54 - History & Exam Lower Limb
10:54 - Phlegmasias
15:52 - Investigations
21:27 - Below Knee DVTs
26:41 - Proximal Lower Limb
29:40 - May-Thurner
33:04 - PTS
34:33 - Upper Limb
41:15 - How long to anticoagulate?
45:28 - Take Homes

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Rudolf the red nosed physician
Wrote a very cool triad
And if you ever saw it
you would even say ‘Egad!’

All of the other physicians
used to laugh and call him dumb
They never let poor Rudolf 
join in the MDT fun

Then one foggy clinic day
a patient came to say
 “Rudolf with your triad so smart
won’t you describe to me the pathophysiology of clotting in a way that both makes sense and fits inside the metre of this children's song”

But he couldn’t, so welcome back to our next batch of episodes on the pod as we tackle the wonderful world of venous thromboembolism. How do I ask a patient about clots? Is a provoked thromboembolism when you call it names? Join Nick, Cale and Bashar jumping into the wild world of clots...

TIMESTAMPS

0:58 - Episode Intro
2:51 - Crafting a Clot Redux - Haemostasis
7:21 - Turbo Coag Cascade
8:34 - Thrombosis History
12:17 - Why we bother with history
16:39 - Risk factors for VTE
21:41 - Major vs Minor risk factors
23:54 - Thinking about risk factors
26:04 - The Thrombosis History
32:53 - Management Overview
37:40 - Summary and Takehomes

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Philip K. Dick once wrote, “Perhaps if you know you are insane then you are not insane. Or you are becoming sane, finally. Waking up.” Waking up, that is, not to the alternative history universe where the Axis won WWII but rather, to a new bonus episode on Castleman disease! Join Cale, Bashar and Nick as we explore one of Haem’s most zebra diagnoses, and do whatever we can to put off Nick’s clot season for just a bit longer.

TIMESTAMPS:

00:53 - Holiday to Bavaria
04:12 - Basics of Castleman Disease
07:41 - Histological Subtypes
10:57 - Clinical Subtypes - Unicentric
13:05 - Clinical Subtypes - Multicentric
16:08 - Brief Recap
18:00 - Pathophysiology of Castleman
21:38 - Historical Diversions
23:54 - Investigations
25:30 - Treatment - UCD
26:44 - Treatment - MCD
31:02 - Rarer than a Zebra (POEMS/TAFRO)
37:23 - Summary and Takehomes

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Have you stumbled onto the haematology ward only to discover patients on bizarrely named BiTE & CART therapy? Why are we giving patients CARTs? Do they come with a horse?  Why does everyone freak out when these patients are febrile? Why is everyone so hung up about handwriting? What are these weird drugs? 

It's OK – we are here once more to demystify the acronyms – and help you know what we are giving, why we are giving it and how to manage complications of Bi-Specific and CAR-T therapy! 

TIMESTAMPS

3:48 - Intro to BiTEs  
5:26 - Intro to CAR-T  
8:27 - Examples of BiTEs  
16:36 - CAR-T Collection + Production  
18:44 - Examples of CAR-T Products  
19:35 - Similarities and Differences between BiTEs and CAR-T  
23:24 - Cytokine Release Syndrome (CRS)  
30:23 - Immune Effector Cell-Associated Neurotoxicity Syndrome (ICANS)  
39:29 - Treatments for CRS  
45:52 - Treatments for ICANS  
50:01 - Take Home Messages  

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Bamboozled by basophils bountiful booty of granules? Let’s begin brilliantly with a basophil based bonanza. Buckets and buckets of brazenly basophil related bonus banter. You beauty! But, beware the bawdy, boisterous boys babbling brobdignagian-ly about BASOPHILS. It sounds better if you read it in Hugo Weaving’s voice and it’s the 5th of November I swear. 

TIMESTAMPS

3:07 - What are basophils?  
6:54 - Snapping turtle trivia  
7:55 - Role of basophils  
9:42 - Basopenia  
10:41 - Cutoffs (arbitrary as usual)  
11:14 - Artefactual basophilia  
12:29 - Reactive basophilia  
14:27 - Haem Causes = MPNs Galore  
16:14 - CML (Again)  
19:17 - Zebras have hoofbeats too  
23:20 - Take Home Messages  

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The mighty eosinophil had triumphed. The last parasitic worm lay vanquished beneath his granule-studded pseudopodia. For years, he’d battled helminthic scourge, a hero in mucus armor. But now, with no foes left to smite, he grew restless. He turned his sharp gaze to pollen, peanuts, and pet dander. "Troublemakers," he muttered, unsheathing his cytotoxic arsenal. With righteous zeal, he charged into the sinuses and skin, sparking sneezes and wheals in his wake. “A threat is a threat,” he declared, as a baffled immunoregulatory system looked on. The worms were gone - but the war had only just begun. With more excerpts leaking from the Bloody Minded Cinematic Universe, it’s only a matter of time until our movie deal.

TIMESTAMPS

2:48 - What are eosinophils?  
4:44 - Cutoffs (arbitrary as usual)  
7:12 - The Problem with Eosinophilia  
8:32 - Infective causes  
9:32 - Medications  
10:36 - Other Secondary Causes  
12:32 - Haem Causes - CML and More  
18:08 - Quick Recap  
19:49 - Approach to eosinophilia  
24:31 - Treatment options  
25:52 - Case Study - Not Geraldine, I Promise  
28:52 - Take Home Messages  

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Put on your monocles and kimonos and hop on the monorail to our episode composed of monotonous monologues, monogamously dedicated to that most monolithic and sometimes monoclonal of mononucleated cells. We are monobviously talking about the monocyte. 

TIMESTAMPS

0:57 - Mono-Cyte!  
2:50 - What is a monocyte?  
4:20 - Monocyte subclasses  
6:00 - Role of monocytes  
8:10 - Causes of Monocytopenia  
9:43 - Hairy cell leukaemia  
12:42 - Reactive monocytosis  
15:10 - CMML - Not a Typo  
22:20 - Take Home Messages  

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Behold the field in which I grow my cells and see that it is barren. It’s out of the frying pan and into the aplastic fire with not a cell in sight. Join Nick, Cale and Bashar without two neutrophils to rub together as we talk about an approach to that most concerning of FBC features - pancytopenia. 

TIMESTAMPS

2:22 - Definition of pancytopenia  
4:23 - Spurious pancytopenia  
6:04 - Cutoffs (arbitrary as usual)  
9:43 - Acquired aplastic anaemia  
15:30 - Inherited bone marrow failure syndromes  
18:52 - Environmental toxins  
19:47 - Medications  
20:52 - Haematinic deficiencies  
25:59 - MDS/Leukaemias  
30:54 - Marrow suppression  
33:32 - Infiltrative causes  
36:45 - Viral causes  
38:05 - Approach to pancytopenia  
39:06 - History  
40:12 - Examination  
41:13 - Investigations  
42:27 - Liver failure  
44:30 - Take Home Messages  

Support the show

Check out show notes, additional references and (sometimes) extra content at www.bloodyminded.com.au