Medical triads memory aid

When studying medicine, many tips and tricks are available in order to make it some what easier to learn. One way to make pathologies easier to remember is the simple use of triads. Triads are a grouping of three signs and/or symptoms that are classically accompanied when a patient presents with a given disease or condition. Listed on the left, divided by section, are triads that may be useful to remember. You can also use this article as a memory aid by bookmarking it.  

 

Here are some of Triads that I find helpful:

 

Saint’s Triad

1. Diverticulosis of colon

2. Gallstones

3. Hiatus Hernia

 

Whipple’s Triad

Seen in insulinoma

1. Features of hypoglycemia

2. Blood sugar less than <50 mg/dl

3. Relieved by IV glucose

 

Charcot’s Triad

Seen in ascending cholangitis

1. Intermittent fever

2. Intermittent pain

3. Intermittent Jaundice

 

Virchow’s Triad

1. Change in vessel wall

2. Diminished rate of blood flow

3. Increased blood coagulability

 

Murphy’s Triad

Seen in appendicitis

1. Pain in the right iliac fossa

2. Vomiting

3. Temperature

 

Hutchinson’s Triad

Seen in late congenital syphilis

1. Interstitial keratitis

2. 8th nerve deafness

3. Hutchinson’s teeth

 

Trotter’s Triad

Seen in nasopharyngeal carcinoma

1. Conductive deafness

2. Elevation and immobility of same side soft palate

3. Pain in the side of the head

 

Tillaux’s Triad

Seen in mesenteric cysts

1. Soft fluctuant swelling in umbilical region

2. Freely mobile in direction perpendicular to mesentery

3. Zone of resonance all around

 

Portal hypertension

1. Varices

2. Splenomegaly

3. Ascites

 

Cushing's Triad

Seen in intracranial hypertension

1. Increased blood pressure

2. Decreased heart rate

3. Decreased respiratory rate

 

Renal cell carcinoma

1. Anaemia

2. Hematuria

3. Mass in the loin

 

Borchardt's Triad

Seen in gastric volvulus

1. Acute epigastric pain

2. Violent vomiting

3. Inability to pass nasogastric tube

Beck’s Triad

Seen in cardiac tamponade

1. Muffled heart sounds

2. Jugular vein distension

3. Hypotension

 

Pancoast’s Triad

Seen in Pancoast tumor

1. Excruciating pain in the arm

2. Horner's Syndrome

3. Erosion of ribs

 

Prune-Belly Triad

Seen in Prune-belly syndrome

1. Cryptorchidism

2. Abdominal wall defects

3. Genitourinary defects

 

Mackler’s Triad

Seen in Boerhaave's Syndrome

1. Vomiting

2. Chest pain

3. Subcutaneous emphysema

 

Sandbloom’s Triad

Seen in haemobilia

1. Jaudice

2. Pain

3. Melaena

 

Dieulafoy’s Triad

Seen in appendicitis

1. Hypersensitiveness of skin

2. Reflex muscular contraction

3. Mac Burney’s tenderness

 

Triad of congenital diaphragmatic hernia

1. Respiratory distress

2. Apparent dextrocardia

3. Scaphoid abdomen

 

Triad of small bowel obstruction on X-ray

1. Dilated bowel of > 3cm

2. Multiple air fluid levels in erect X-Ray

3. Paucity of air in colon