Xanthochromia

Impress your friends by dropping the word 'xanthochromia' into your next conversation.

 

This is a sample of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF).  Normally it is clear like water; were you to taste it (no I haven't and I don't recommend it) it would taste salty.  If a spinal tap is traumatic, it will be light pink.  If it is yellow (aha! xanthochromia!), it is old blood in the CSF.  The number of probable diagnoses is very small, and in a young woman who had instantaneous onset of an excruciating headache 6 days ago and still has a stiff neck and headache? ...  This is sub-arachnoid hemorrhage, better known as a ruptured brain aneurysm.

Sometimes people have a "sentinel bleed" where the aneurysm bleeds a little bit, once, first: a warning shot across the bow.  This is fortunate, because it permits diagnosis before catastrophe; even more fortunately, her family is not poor, so she will probably be able to afford the scan and neurosurgery that will be curative.

If you read the comments & the post below, you know the word for 'tumeric' (the spice) and 'yellow' are the same in Bangla - holud.  All our food is holud.  

I guess that sounds a little more down-to-earth than "All our food is xanthochromic".


I sent R home today, better.