P.S. This article has been attempted to make learning difficult signs simpler. It is in no way targeted to hurt anyone’s sentiments.
Thanks to the study of medicine, now I cannot eat Apple, Banana, Berry, Blueberry, Cherry, Grapes, Lemon, Mulberry and Strawberry. How can I look at a disease that bears resemblance to a fruit and still eat it? “It” here refers to the fruit ;)
Once upon a time I loved strawberries. Now I don't. Ever since I looked at Strawberry gallbladder, aka Cholesterolosis (cholesterol deposition in GB wall) my love turned into hatred. But the pain did come with the gain of easily remembering how in gallbladder looks like.
To add more loath to my hatred, there are four more signs named after my favorite fruit.
Strawberry nevus (reminds of Neville Longbottom from Harry Potter) , hemangioma in the face of infants.
Strawberry skull looks more like an alien and is seen in the antenatal ultrasound of a fetus with 18 Trisomy, aka Edward syndrome.
Strawberry tongue is seen in Scarlet fever and Kawasaki’s disease.
Strawberry cervix is cervix infected with Trichomonas vaginalis (One will have to experience three times coma to remember this name… “Tri” “C(h)oma(o)”).
In school we studied about differential calculus. In med school we learnt about Mulberry calculus, calcium oxalate stones in the urinary tract.
Additionally, enamel erosion of molar teeth due to congenital syphilis is strikingly similar to the fruit and hence named Mulberry molars. (There is a pinch of SARCASM here!)
As part of medical study we not only absorb the knowledge about human body but we also master the structure of the mulberry. The fruit contains Mulberry spots that bear resemblance to endometriosis.
At some point of time scientists who were responsible for naming the diseased structure probably forgot the names of different berries and hence named an aneurysm as Berry aneurysm, which is saccular aneurysm of cerebral artery.
Furthermore, the fictional scientists probably forgot that only diseased structures must be named after fruits and ended up naming a normal anatomical structure after berry, the Berry ligament aka lateral thyrohyoid ligament.
Cherry rhymes with berry and it also seems to be a victim of being a name for a structural malady. They are called the Cherry red spots. It is a well known fact that bright red spots occur in sights of occlusion and hence cherry red spots occur most commonly in Retinal artery occlusion. For other diseases associated with cherry red spots kindly view the post titled "Causes of cherry red spots in retina"
The funniest of all signs named after fruits is the Pear shaped bladder found in Pelvic hematoma. I feel that it actually resembles a light bulb.
Light as well as Lemon start with a letter that has two lines, the letter “L”.
A fruit which is often mistaken to be a vegetable has been given the privilege of describing two diseases Chiarri II malformation and spina bifida with Lemon sign in antenatal ultrasound.
Chiarri malformation can also be related by the Banana cerebellum found in antenatal ultrasound.
Banana fracture on the other hand is found in Paget disease due to disorganised bone remodelling.
Although naming diseased structures after fruits is intolerable, few signs actually make them a bit easily digestable. They are:
Apple peel sign found in intestinal atresia. I sometimes get confused whether it is an apple or orange peel, but at least it resembles some sort of a peel.
Apple core sign found in colorectal Ca due to obstruction and synovial chondromatosis of femur.
Apple jelly appearance in TB of the skin visible in a diascopy.
Peau d’orange sign found in Breast Ca.
Bunch of grapes sign found in Hydatiform mole.
How much ever I rant about hating these signs, I do agree that these names have helped me a lot in remembering the features of several diseases without much agony.
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