Fools, Tools, Snoops, and IDIOTS

February 1, 2011

This is not the ranting of a crazy man, it’s a mnemonic.  A mnemonic is a catchy phrase whose letters stand for categories that by themselves are hard to remember. I love mnemonics and use them liberally to help me organize the vast amount of data in orthopedics.

They are particularly useful in confusing cases in which the diagnosis is unclear. The above mnemonic, one of my favorites, helps me consider all the diagnostic possibilities.

For example, a 60 year old diabetic woman with multiple medical problems presents to the orthopedist with gradual onset of increasing hip pain. The list of possible causes is endless, ranging from a simple sprain to infection or bone cancer. We’ll use our mnemonic to explore the possibilities, with the underlined capital letters indicating the various categories to be considered: FTSAN..  IDIOTS

 

Fracture – particularly fragility fractures (see last month’s column)

Tumor – including cancer and benign bone lesions

Sepsis – another word for infection, of bone, joint, or soft tissue, including Lyme

Angio – short for blood clot (“DVT”)

Nerve –from mechanical (ruptured disc pinching a nerve) to medical neuropathies

(diabetes, MS, etc)

Inflammatory – joint (rheumatoid, gout), tendon (“bursitis”), or muscle (polymyalgia

rheumatica (“PMR”))

Degenerative – osteoarthritis and tendonopathy

Instability – in this case hip, but it can affect many joints, including spine

Osteonecrosis – or, “death of bone”, a painful condition that can target the hip

Transient – transient osteopenia or synovitis of the hip, both painful, both

temporary

Sprains – and strains of muscles, tendons, or ligaments about the hip.

 

Keeping this mnemonic in mind, we can perform a well focused history and physical, order appropriate imaging, and feel confident we can arrive at the correct diagnosis in challenging cases.