Case study
Betty Burns is a 53-year-old white female who presents with some abnormal findings like the acute onset of low back pain, which occurred completing an everyday task of picking up a laundry basket. Betty has a history of breast cancer treated with mastectomy chemo and radiation therapy 5 years prior, she also has a palpable liver edge of 3cm normally the liver is not palpable. Betty has been fatigued, having night sweats, and unexplained weight loss. Betty’s most presenting symptom is back pain.
Betty presents with acute, severe atraumatic lower back pain that radiates down her right leg. Betty has foot drop with weakness and pain overlying the lumbar spine and she has paraspinal muscle spasms and tenderness. Additionally, Betty has discomfort with light palpation on her vertebrae around L3-L5 & her imaging shows a compression fracture at L4 which an abnormal finding. Betty also had a positive PPD.
answer the following questions:
What is your list of appropriate differential diagnoses and why?What is the final diagnosis, and what assessment findings serve to support this? Discuss normal versus abnormal findings.Describe the pathophysiology that may lead up to the final diagnoses.What pharmacology treatment would you recommend and why?