What's in a Name: HUS and TTP

Hemolytic uremic syndrome often follows an infection from E. coli O157:H7. HUS should really be called H.U.T.S (hemolysis, uremia, thrombocytopenia syndrome). Questions with syndromes are tricky becuase most people miss them because instead of saying directly hemolysis, uremia, and thrombocytopenia, the stem will usually say that the patient has increased LDH and decreased haptoglobin, elevated BUN and creatinine, and petechiae.

If you add altered mental status and fever to HUTS, you get TTP.

The way that I see the "big picture" and avoid getting lost in the details of a question, I read through the stem pretty quickly, painting a picture of whats going on in the patient. If the AST/ALT is elevated, the liver is likely involved. If there is hemoptysis, the lungs are invovled.

I then do some very basic math in my head... Liver + Lung = could be alpha 1 antitrypsin deficiency in a young, non-drinker with cirrhosis and hemoptysis.