[Photo: © 2009 FOX Broadcasting Co.]

Many thanks to House is Right reader Grace for calling my attention to an article about a recent AMA recommendation to ban the wearing of white coats by doctors. And today’s House-ism just seemed like the perfect tie-in for the article in Slate Magazine that tells us this:

The American Medical Association voted Tuesday on a resolution that would recommend hospitals ban doctors’ iconic white lab coats, citing evidence that the garment contributes to the spread of infection.

So, go figure, House really was Right!!

There are actually several reasons that the medical community is divided about the wearing of the coats. Doctors are split in their opinions because of these reasons.

Those in Favor of White Coats Argue:

• the coat instills docs with a humbling sense of responsibility
• puts patients at ease

Those against Use of White Coats Say:

• an alienating symbol of medical hubris
• the coats harbor potentially harmful bacteria
• may cause “white coat hypertension”

What are your opinions about the coats? do you think doctors should wear them, or not? Let us know!

[Photo: © 2009 FOX Broadcasting Co.]

Here are the medical diagnoses of note from season 5 of House:

• “Dying Changes Everything”
  Diffuse lepromatous leprosy – Also known as “pretty” leprosy, makes the skin look younger, smoother.
• “Not Cancer”
  Cancer stem cells – Resembled local cells.
• “Adverse Events”
  Interaction of multiple experimental drugs taken in pill form, which were intermittently absorbed and released by a bezoar, a mass of undigested food in the stomach.
• “Birthmarks”
  Pins in the brain left from an attempted infanticide.
• “Lucky Thirteen”
  Sjogren’s syndrome – An autoimmune disorder that attacks the exocrine glands (which produce tears and sweat), affecting multiple organs.
• “Joy”
  Familial Mediterranean fever – An inherited inflammatory disorder, originating from people in areas around the Mediterranean sea.
• “The Itch”
  Lead poisoning – Due to an old bullet wound.
• “Emancipation”
  Acute promyelocytic leukemia – A type of cancer of the blood and bone marrow; complicated by suspected arsenic poisoning from pressure-treated wood.
• “Last Resort”
  Melioidosis – An infectious disease caused by a type of bacteria that can be found in tropical regions.
• “Let Them Eat Cake”
  Coproporphyria – An inherited genetic disorder; complicated by low-carbohydrate diet.
• “Joy To The World”
  Eclampsia – A life-threatening complication of pregnancy, which occurred after delivery of the baby from hidden pregnancy and abandoned infant.
• “Painless”
  Epilepsy – Causes various forms of seizures, which spread to sensory region of the brain, causing extreme pain.
• “Big Baby”
  Patent ductus arteriosis – An artery that bypasses the lungs before birth and closes upon first breath, which failed to close; complicated by intermittent high blood pressure.
• “The Greater Good” (Episode 100)
  Endometrial cells accidentally spread through body due to prior surgery, which “menstruated,” or bled, during menstrual cycle.

[Photo: © 2009 FOX Broadcasting Co.]

Season 4 brought us the survival of the fittest docs trying to make it onto House’s new team. But it also gave us a bunch of new and amazing diagnoses. These are the diaganoses from season 4 of House:

• “Alone”
  Allergic reaction to cephalosporins, a class of antibiotics, in misidentified patient.
• “The Right Stuff”
  Von Hippel-Lindau Syndrome – An inherited genetic condition that causes small tumors.
• “97 Seconds”
  Strongyloides – A human parasitic roundworm, complicated by Spinal Muscular Atrophy.
• “Guardian Angels”
  Ergot poisoning – A type of fungus found on certain grains (patient ate organic rye).
• “Mirror, Mirror”
  Eperythrozoon (a type of bacteria) – Infection due to exposure to pig feces by selling farm equipment.
• “Whatever It Takes”
  Thallium poisoning – Given by unethical doctor.
• “Ugly”
  Lyme disease – Complicated by facial deformity.
• “You Don’t Want To Know”
  Autoimmune hemolytic anemia – Type of lupus where the body’s immune system attacks red blood cells.
• “Games”
  Measles – Complicated by rocker lifestyle.
• “It’s A Wonderful Lie”
  Breast cancer – In displaced breast tissue.
• “Frozen”
  Fat embolism – Obstruction of blood vessel from unrepaired broken toe.
• “Don’t Ever Change”
  Nephroptosis – Floating kidney, which causes intermittent symptoms based on patient’s body position.
• “No More Mr. Nice Guy”
  Chagas disease – Caused by tropical parasitic protozoa.
• “Living the Dream”
  Hypersensitivity vasculitis – Damage to blood vessels due to Quinine allergy, a common ingredient in tonic
  water.
• “House’s Head”
  Air embolism – Obstruction of blood vessel from prior dental work.
• “Wilson’s Heart”
  Poisoning by Amantadine – An antiviral drug taken for the flu, which dialysis nor failed kidneys (nor a kidney transplant) could clear; complicated by injuries sustained in accident.

[Photo: © 2009 FOX Broadcasting Co.]

Here’s the continuation of the medical diaganoses that have been tackled by House and his team. These are from season 3:

• “Meaning”
  Addison’s disease (Richard) – Causes adrenals to shut down. Scurvy (Caren) – A disease resulting from a deficiency of vitamin C, which is required for the synthesis of collagen in humans. The chemical name for vitamin C, ascorbic acid, is derived from the Latin name of scurvy, scorbutus.
• “Cane and Able”
  Chimerism – Absorption of twin in the womb, causes left-over clumps of cells with foreign DNA. Treatment is removing twin’s cells.
• “Informed Consent”
  Amyloidosis – Congestive heart failure secondary to senile cardiac amyloidosis. Refers to a variety of conditions in which amyloid proteins are abnormally deposited in organs and/or tissues, causing disease.
• “Lines In The Sand”
  Baylisascaris raccoon roundworms – Treat with benzimidazole to kill worms and laser photocoagulation to fix eye.
• “Fools For Love”
  Hereditary Angioedema – Defective DNA keeps the body from making a critical protein.
• “Que Sera Sera”
  Carcinoma – A malignant cancer that arises from epithelial cells. Carcinomas invade surrounding tissues and organs and may metastasize, or spread, to lymph nodes and other sites.
• “Son of Coma Guy”
  MERRF Syndrome – Myoclonic Epilepsy with Ragged Red Fibers syndrome is a mitochondrial, an inherited condition that causes muscle weakness and poor night vision.
• “Whac-A-Mole”
  Chronic Granulomatous disease – Genetic disease. Body is unable to fight off certain bacterial and fungal infections.
• “Finding Judas”
  Erythropoietic Protoporphyria (EPP) – A common symptom is very painful photosensitivity, manifesting itself
  as a burning sensation on the surface of the skin, or simply, allergic to light.
• “Merry Little Christmas”
  Langerhans cell histiocytosis – A rare disease involving abnormal cells deriving from bone marrow and capable of migrating from skin to lymph nodes. Clinically, its manifestations range from isolated bone lesions to multi-systemic disease.
• “Words and Deeds”
  Spinal meningioma – Obstructing blood flow to brain causing false memories. Meningioma primary tumor of the central nervous system.
• “One Day, One Room”
  Chlamydia and pregnancy due to rape.
• “Needle In A Haystack”
  Swallowed toothpick, traveled through body, punctured organs.
• “Insensitive”
  Diphyllobothrium latum – A fish tape worm found in humans, absorbs vitamin B12, causing symptoms including abdominal discomfort, diarrhea, vomiting and weight loss.
• “Half-Wit”
  Takayasu syndrome – Takayasu’s arteritis is an inflammatory disease of unknown etiology that affects the aorta and its branches. It is an autoimmune disease normally found in Asian women. Treat with steroids.
• “Top Secret”
  Hereditary hemorrhagic telangiectasia – A genetic disorder by definition, it is inherited in an autosomal dominant manner.
• “Fetal Position”
  Mirror syndrome (Emma) – A rare disorder affecting pregnant women. Its name reflects the fact that symptoms in the mother reflect symptoms in the fetus, and it presents significant risk to both. Congenital Cystic Adenomatoid Malformation (CCAM) – Usually an entire lobe of lung is replaced by a non-working cystic piece of abnormal lung tissue (Emma’s baby).

Read more

[Photo: © 2009 FOX Broadcasting Co.]

Since House has been named the world’s most popular TV series, there is obviously a very good reason for it. It has a lot to do with the amazing writing, the well-developed characters that fascinate us and the medical mysteries that House and the team solve each week. Here are the diseases that the show covered in season 2:

• “Acceptance”
  Methanol poisoning – Methanol (also known as methyl alcohol, carbinol, wood alcohol, wood naphtha or wood spirits), is a chemical compound. It is the simplest alcohol, and is a light, volatile, colorless, flammable, toxic liquid with a distinctive odor that is somewhat milder and sweeter than ethanol. Pheochromocytoma – A neuroendocrine tumor of the medulla of the adrenal glands.
• “Autopsy”
  Thrombosis – The formation of a blood clot (thrombus) inside a blood vessel, obstructing the flow of blood through the circulatory system.
• “Humpty Dumpty”
  Endocarditis due to psittacosis – Endocarditis is an inflammation of the inner layer of the heart, the endocardium. Psittacosis also known as parrot disease, parrot fever, and ornithosis – is an infection that is spread by birds (parrots, sparrows, pigeons, etc.).
• “TB or Not TB”
  Nesidioblastoma – A uncommon cancer of the endocrine pancreas. Tuberculosis – A common and often deadly disease caused by mycobacteria.
• “Daddy’s Boy”
  Cavernous angioma – Also known as cerebral cavernous malformation (CCM); a vascular disorder of the central nervous system that may appear either sporadically or exhibit autosomal dominant inheritance. It can also occur in other locations, such as the thyroid gland or the liver. Radiation poisoning – Damage to the organs due to excessive exposure to radiation within a short period of time.
• “Spin”
  Air embolism – A gas bubble in the blood stream. Pure red cell aplasia – a type of anemia. Thymoma – a tumor in the thymus. Myasthenia gravis – Causes severe muscle weakness.

Read more

[Photo: © 2009 FOX Broadcasting Co.]

One of the more fascinating things about the House series is the amount of medical research that must go into the creation of each episode. The docs on House track down the most rare and difficult illnesses anywhere each week. We love the characters, but the medical “zebra diseases” are engrossing too. Here are the medical diagnoses that House and the team made during season one:

• “Everybody Lies” (pilot)
  Neurocysticercosis – A parasite infestation of the nervous system.
• “Paternity”
  Subacute sclerosing panencephalitis – A progressive encephalitis that affects primarily children and young
  adults, caused by a persistent infection of immune resistant measles virus.
• “Occam’s Razor”
  Colchicine poisoning – Colchicine is a highly poisonous natural product, has been used to treat gout.
  Colchicine poisoning has been compared to arsenic poisoning.
• “Maternity”
  Echovirus 11 – Echoviruses are found in the gastrointestinal tract. Exposure to the virus causes other
  opportunistic infections and diseases.
• “Damned if you Do”
  Copper allergy – A severe long-term allergic reaction to a copper IUD left in patient.

Read more

ABC just released the news that Hugh Laurie has officially been confirmed as one of the award presenters at this year’s Emmy Awards.

He has been nominated three years in a row for Best Actor in a TV Drama and has yet to win (I hope this is his year!) House is also nominated for its second year as Best TV Drama.

No word yet as to which award he’ll be presenting, but I’ll keep you posted.

Phil Thompson lives in Avondale, Arizona and offers us up this great article about the show House. Hang on, because this one is extremely well researched and written! He is on MySpace too.

“…Teardrop on the fire, feathers on my breath…”

If the title credits theme song (Massive Attack’s “Teardrop”) should include any lyrics, it should be these few. A teardrop on a fire represents not only an insignificant effort to fix a problem, but the frustration of your futility (hence the tears) Also, there’s a medical reference there: Before the great advances of medical technology, doctors would place a feather over the mouth of a patient to see if they were still alive. If the feather did not move, it was determined that the patient was dead. (Side note: the vocals were recorded after the singer learned that her boyfriend, Jeff Buckley, had drowned. Jeff Buckley’s “Hallelujah” was used in the Season 2 premiere.) Also, if you really read into the title credits (as a genius would) you would notice the pictures of anatomy accompanying each actor/actress, Jennifer Morrison being the exception. This may also be a statement about her character being inconsistent–the writers admit that they have trouble with her character.

It’s no wonder that Mensa places House, M.D. among the top 10 smartest shows of all time. But I have to disagree with their reasoning for doing so: “…it’s high level type of show; it’s the personality that makes it a winner, plus it deals with science.”

Of course, the writers seem to love being subtle in their genius, placing references and one-liners deep in the context of each episode for those fans of a higher intellect to understand. There have been many bloggers uncovering some of the more obvious references (Stacy’s reference to Oscar Wilde and Noel Coward, among many others). A self-proclaimed elitist among House fans as well as a self-proclaimed genius, I wanted to share a few of the treasures I’ve uncovered… All without mentioning Sherlock Holmes.

Consider the episode titles. Yes, some of them are simple and basic. “Humpty Dumpty” was about a patient who fell and could not be completely fixed. “Skin Deep” is about a patient who is not what (s)he appears to be. “Insensitive” is about a patient who can’t feel pain. The list goes on, but consider all of the other titles catered to the higher IQ: “The Socratic Method” and “Occam’s Razor” are obvious choices; “TB or Not TB” is a plain-as-day reference to Shakespear’s “Hamlet” (the actual line is from dialogue in which Hamlet contemplates suicide, but decides that the “dread of something after death” is unknown and not worth the risk, and he’d rather “suffer the slings and arrows” of the living life.) But how about “Cane and Able?” I wonder how many fans understood the second meaning to the double entendre–the patient living with two sets of DNA in different parts of his body, one killing the other. (Speaking of titles, I think “Human Error” could have easily been called, “House vs. God: The Re-match.”)

Let’s take a look into some of the episodes and the possible historical references:

• “Needle in a Haystack” could have easily originated from the story of Sherwood Anderson (author of Winesburg, Ohio), who died in 1931 after swallowing a toothpick.
• In “97 Seconds,” House has a near-death experience. In a conversation about the afterlife, House says, “Misery is better than nothing.” While some may have simply passed this on as an existential thing to say, I was reminded of a similar quote from Nobel Prize winner William Faulkner: “Between grief and nothing I will take grief.” That Hamlet reference makes even more sense now!
• In “You Don’t Want To Know,” the patient had lupus. In this episode, we got the first big hint that Thirteen may have Huntington’s Disease, since her mother had it. Consider Flannery O’Connor, author of A Good Man is Hard to Find, who, like the patient, had lupus. Similar to Thirteen, she got it from her father. (I do suppose this is a reach, but a reach worth mentioning, at least.)
• “Half Wit” is the episode faturing Dave Matthews, playing Patrick, a 35-year old piano-playing savant. His character is much like the late great “Blind” Tom Wiggins, who could play any song after only hearing it once, and after hearing the beginning of a song would finish playing it. (House and Patrick play “I Don’t Like Mondays” together, which feature these interesting lyrics: “And the lesson today is how to die/And then the bullhorn crackles/And the captain crackles/With the problems and the how’s and why’s/And he can see no reasons/’Cause there are no reasons What reason do you need to die?”)

Of course, it should be said that House himself is to be considered a genius. This may seem obvious to some of you (it takes one to know one,) but it wasn’t obvious to one patient, who didn’t seem to understand that real genuises (from Van Gogh to Mark Twain To Einstein) don’t often care for his appearance. When he berated House for this, House replied, “I’m wearing a rumpled shirt, and forgot to brush my hair this week. You’ve got athlete’s foot in your nose… I’m ready to be judged.”

Richard Feyman, one of the 20th century’s greatest physicists, had such a simple approach solving problems. It was once said that he invented the “Feynman Problem Solving Algorithm,” which goes like this: 1–Write down the problem. 2–Think really hard. 3–Write down the solution. Hmm… Differential diagnosis, anyone?

The Princteon-Plainsborough Teaching Hospital is set in Princton, New Jersey. Interesting choise of setting, considering the fact that Einstein moved to Princeton when he moved to America and lived there until he died. Also interesting: The view of the hospital that we see in the show isn’t an actual hospital, but a part of the Princeton University campus–where Scott Fitzgerald, author of The Great Gatsby, went to school.

Well, folks, I hope I’ve helped you increase your IQ a few points. I hope that you can join the ranks of those who take time to appreciate your education and use it to catch more than just the funny quips. And of course, when shopping for DVDs this August 19th, I hope you do what a genius does when choosing a car: Go green!

The purpose of this 24-hour Blog-a-thon is to bring in support for the Actors’ Fund. You can help by making a donation here.

The show House has advisors to keep the show’s medical references accurate, but has anyone ever addressed the matter of House’s improper use of the cane? I had wondered about it myself a time or two, but didn’t pay that much attention because it’s not my area of expertise. But I just got a message from a real-life physical therapist, Dee Dee, so tells us the real scoop about proper cane usage:

I have been watching House since it premiered. I am a Physical Therapist by trade and watching House ambulate with his cane has bothered me since it first came on tv. I was taught in PT school (by lecture, by demonstration and by complicated math problelms) that you always carry your assistive device (i.e. cane) in the hand opposite the injury. House should be using the cane in his left hand NOT his right one. By using the cane that way, it applies less stress and weight on the injured limb, so less pain. Thanks.

Thanks, Dee Dee for the correct information!!

I tend to be generous with these sorts of things when watching TV shows, because without the info from professionals like Dee Dee I wouldn’t really know the difference anyway and I watch the show for the characters.

But now that we know the real cane scoop, what do you think of this information? Does it bother you to know that no one has corrected this? Does it matter to you at all? Leave a comment to share your thoughts!

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On October 8th, the cast of House went to an event to raise awareness for spinal muscular atrophy. (That was the disease that the wheelchair-bound patient suffered from in 97 Seconds.) Here’s a bit about their appearance in the October 22 issue of People Magazine:

And here’s where you can find out more about the disease and how to contribute.

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