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Question

A 40-year old lady comes to outdoor clinic with complaints of sudden onset chest pain. The chest X-ray shows bilateral Pneumothorax. Examination reveals abnormalities of body habitus-including long arms, legs and finger (arachnodactyly), scoliosis, high arched palate, joint hypermobility, and a pansystolic murmur at cardiac apex. Which one of the following diseases is most likely?

The correct answer is
Marfan's syndrome

Marfan Syndrome Diagnosis: Key Clinical Features

The patient presents with a constellation of symptoms and physical findings highly suggestive of a specific connective tissue disorder.

  • Cardiovascular & Pulmonary Issues: Sudden chest pain accompanied by bilateral pneumothorax points towards potential complications in the lungs or aorta. A pansystolic murmur at the cardiac apex often indicates mitral valve dysfunction, such as mitral valve prolapse or regurgitation, which is common in certain genetic conditions.
  • Skeletal and Habitus Abnormalities: The described features - long arms, legs, and fingers (arachnodactyly), scoliosis, a high arched palate, and joint hypermobility - are classic physical markers of a systemic connective tissue disease.

Identifying the Most Likely Disease

Evaluating the options against the patient's presentation:

  • Takayasu's arteritis primarily affects large arteries and typically presents with symptoms like claudication or unequal blood pressures, not the characteristic skeletal features seen here.
  • Raynaud's syndrome involves episodic vasospasm in the extremities and does not explain the systemic skeletal and cardiac findings.
  • Marfan's syndrome is a genetic disorder of connective tissue characterized by tall stature, long limbs, arachnodactyly, joint hypermobility, scoliosis, and cardiovascular problems including mitral valve prolapse and aortic root dilatation. Pneumothorax is also a known complication. This diagnosis aligns well with all the patient's findings.
  • Rheumatic heart disease, while causing mitral regurgitation, does not typically present with the pronounced skeletal abnormalities like arachnodactyly and joint hypermobility.

Therefore, the combination of cardiovascular, pulmonary, and distinct skeletal abnormalities makes Marfan's syndrome the most probable diagnosis.

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Important Questions from Congenital Disorders

  1. To prevent recurrence, expectant mothers with a previous fetus with neural tube defect should receive folic acid daily at the dose of :
  2. Consider the following statements regarding non-invasive prenatal screening (NIPS) for screening high risk pregnancies for aneuploidies: 

    1. It is carried out on maternal blood. 

    2. It is done before 10 weeks gestation. 

    3. It has a negative predictive value of about 98%. 

    4. Invasive testing is needed for confirmation of a positive test. 

    Which of the statements given above are correct?

  3. The risk of Down syndrome is 100% in the offspring, if:
  4. Which of the following are examples of genomic imprinting? 

    1. Angelman syndrome 

    2. Williams syndrome 

    3. Prader-Willi syndrome 

    4. DiGeorge syndrome 

    Select the correct answer using the code given below:

  5. To reduce the risk of neural tube defects in the baby, which of the following are recommended?
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