by Caroline Fife, M.D. | Sep 28, 2021 | Fight the Good Fight
An adult patient with severe cerebral palsy developed several pressure ulcers after hospital admission for pneumonia. This one has persisted for many months. While it’s possible that the trauma that initiated it was a pressure injury, this is pyoderma gangrenosum....
by Caroline Fife, M.D. | Sep 27, 2021 | Fight the Good Fight
39 y.o. woman with a non-healing left anterior shin ulcer which had been present for a year after minor trauma. Her father and her daughter have autoimmune diseases but she has no such diagnosis, nor does she have joint pain or bowel problems. The wound began as a red...
by Caroline Fife, M.D. | Sep 24, 2021 | Uncategorized
I am going to post a series of patients with confirmed or presumed pyoderma gangrenosum, most of who’s biopsy findings did not confirm the diagnosis. However, their response to a trial of prednisone was dramatic and the wounds closed with prednisone (or in some cases,...
by Caroline Fife, M.D. | Sep 23, 2021 | Fight the Good Fight
I have an entire clinic full of patients with pyoderma gangrenosum. Nearly all of them were missed at other wound centers. I am going to post a series of PG cases in hopes that the information will help clinicians and patients identify this disease which is not so...
by Caroline Fife, M.D. | Sep 20, 2021 | Fight the Good Fight
Please, if you are a patient with a bad skin cancer on the shin and have been recommended to have radiation instead of surgery, get a second opinion. The shin is very unforgiving when it comes to radiation. I posted a blog about this in 2017, but the cases keep coming...
by Caroline Fife, M.D. | Sep 17, 2021 | Fight the Good Fight
I gave a talk on Massive Localized Lymphedema for the Lymphapress educational series. It’s available on their Youtube channel and it’s FREE! Thank you Lymphapress for asking me to contribute to this fantastic resource for both patients and clinicians. Caroline Fife,...
by Caroline Fife, M.D. | Aug 23, 2021 | Healthcare Payment Policy
The Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) moves slowly but once they start down a path, they don’t stop (no matter who is the President). In 2008 they started down a path to link Physician payment to patient outcome. It doesn’t seem real yet. If you do...
by Caroline Fife, M.D. | Aug 19, 2021 | Fight the Good Fight
This interview with one of my patients was filmed one day before my hospital closed to visitors at the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic. The story is so incredible I wanted the patient to tell it herself so I was thrilled when, a few days ago, the Microgen team sent me...
by Caroline Fife, M.D. | Aug 16, 2021 | Fight the Good Fight, Miscellaneous Musings
You have to watch this! Dr. Monique Abner is a Plastic Surgeon and Wound Care Physician and she’s also one of the most creative and FUN people I know. A few years ago (in the good old days when we got to physically see each other at medical meetings), a group of us...
by Caroline Fife, M.D. | Aug 16, 2021 | Miscellaneous Musings
This past Saturday morning (August 14th), a magnitude 7.2 earthquake hit southern Haiti. To make matters worse, a tropical storm is headed that way which will complicate search and rescue. If you are moved to donate money in the face of these tragedies, I’d like to...
