Prepare for the Individual Readiness Assurance Test (iRAT) 4 in Head and Neck. Study with multiple-choice questions, comprehensive explanations, and detailed flashcards. Maximize your chances of success with thorough preparation and insightful study resources.

Multiple Choice

A 36-year-old softball coach presents with severe left arm pain after a radial head fracture; the arm is weak with atrophy; no fever. Most likely diagnosis?

Complex Regional Pain Syndrome can develop after a limb injury like a radial head fracture and is known for severe, disproportionate pain that follows an injury, along with motor changes such as weakness and muscle atrophy, and autonomic signs (color, temperature, sweating changes, edema). The absence of fever helps distinguish it from infection. In this scenario, the combination of severe arm pain after fracture plus weakness with atrophy points to CRPS rather than a simple nerve injury or tendon problem. Brachial plexus neuropathy would typically present with patterns of weakness and sensory loss in specific nerve distributions, radicular pain follows a dermatome, and tendinopathy causes pain with use at a tendon insertion without the pronounced autonomic and atrophic features seen in CRPS.

Complex Regional Pain Syndrome can develop after a limb injury like a radial head fracture and is known for severe, disproportionate pain that follows an injury, along with motor changes such as weakness and muscle atrophy, and autonomic signs (color, temperature, sweating changes, edema). The absence of fever helps distinguish it from infection. In this scenario, the combination of severe arm pain after fracture plus weakness with atrophy points to CRPS rather than a simple nerve injury or tendon problem. Brachial plexus neuropathy would typically present with patterns of weakness and sensory loss in specific nerve distributions, radicular pain follows a dermatome, and tendinopathy causes pain with use at a tendon insertion without the pronounced autonomic and atrophic features seen in CRPS.