Season 2
Episode 22 - Forever
Brief Plot Summary
When Brent Mason comes back home, he finds his baby underwater in the bathtub with his wife having a seizure. Cameron thinks it could be Whipple's or vasoconstriction and all three are negative for strep. Kara, his wife, suddenly tenses up so that her back is completely arched. The baby start crashing due to a lack of oxygen. They now think meningitis, but tests are negative. Kara begins bleeding into her brain. Now Kara is seen smothering her child due to a pyschotic break. The baby later dies from organ failure. She now vomits blood meaning she is getting worse. Through an autopsy of the baby, they find that the intestines showed atrophy and conclude that the mother and child had celiac disease.
When Brent Mason comes back home, he finds his baby underwater in the bathtub with his wife having a seizure. Cameron thinks it could be Whipple's or vasoconstriction and all three are negative for strep. Kara, his wife, suddenly tenses up so that her back is completely arched. The baby start crashing due to a lack of oxygen. They now think meningitis, but tests are negative. Kara begins bleeding into her brain. Now Kara is seen smothering her child due to a pyschotic break. The baby later dies from organ failure. She now vomits blood meaning she is getting worse. Through an autopsy of the baby, they find that the intestines showed atrophy and conclude that the mother and child had celiac disease.
Diagnosed Disease: Celiac Disease - Celiac Disease is a condition where the body is unable to process gluten, which causes the villi in the small intestines to deteriorate everytime gluten is introduced because the immune system attacks them when gluten is present. Soon, they can't absorb enough minerals which leads to a niacin deficiency causing the neurological symptoms.
SymptomsAbdominal pain, bloating, diarrhea, bloody vomit, weight loss, mineral and vitamin deficiency are seen in infants and children. Anemia, fatigue, neurological symptoms, bone loss, anxiety, seizures, and canker sores are seenin adults.
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CausesThis disease is genetic and has no known cause.
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TestsBlood tests along with symptoms can help diagnose patients; however, this disease is under diagnosed because it is confused many times with other bowel disorders. An intestine biopsy however, can confirm the diagnosis.
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Treatment/CureThe treatment is simply a gluten-free diet.
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Source Links: NIH Page
Episode 23 - Who's Your Daddy?
Brief Plot Summary
Leona is on the airplane with her father when she hallucinates water gushing in to flood the cabin. Her heart begins to race and then stops, and she collapses. The team thinks it could be an arrhythmia so House ask Chase to induce one and fix it. However, she is still hallucinating. They believe she has an autoimmune disease that causes the brain to translate pain into hallucinations. With a confirmation from a PET scan, House wants to kill her entire immune system with radiation and then replace it with a bone marrow transplant. Now, she a black fluid is oozing out of ther mouth; she has reverse peristalsis and stool and blood are going in the the opposite direction due to a lower intestinal blockage meaning that it's not autoimmune. House thinks it could be hemochromatosis, a genetic disease where iron builds-up in the liver. They now think it could be fungal, and when they realize that she was in a recording studio during Hurricane Katrina, House asserts that it is mold that is affecting her.
Leona is on the airplane with her father when she hallucinates water gushing in to flood the cabin. Her heart begins to race and then stops, and she collapses. The team thinks it could be an arrhythmia so House ask Chase to induce one and fix it. However, she is still hallucinating. They believe she has an autoimmune disease that causes the brain to translate pain into hallucinations. With a confirmation from a PET scan, House wants to kill her entire immune system with radiation and then replace it with a bone marrow transplant. Now, she a black fluid is oozing out of ther mouth; she has reverse peristalsis and stool and blood are going in the the opposite direction due to a lower intestinal blockage meaning that it's not autoimmune. House thinks it could be hemochromatosis, a genetic disease where iron builds-up in the liver. They now think it could be fungal, and when they realize that she was in a recording studio during Hurricane Katrina, House asserts that it is mold that is affecting her.
Diagnosed Disease: Hemochromatosis and Zygomycosis - Hemochromatosis is a genetic disorder where too much iron accumulates in the body because the body absorbs too much iron. Zygomycosis is a fungal infection that is extremely debilitating and can involve a variety of different organ systems.
SymptomsHemochromatosis: abdominal pain, loss of hair, darkening of skin color, weight loss, fatigue.
Zygomycosis: skin ulcers, fever, cough, abdominal pain, eventually tissue necrosis of surrounding area. |
CausesHemochromatosis is a genetic disorder, but zygomycosis is caused by a fungi in soil. Usually people are exposed to it on a regular basis; however, when cuts and bruises are present or if they are immuno-deficient, they are more susceptible to infection. Leona is infect during a hurricane which can blow the fungi in the air and floods allow it a place to grow by making everything wet.
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TestsIron levels are checked for hemochromatosis and a tissue sample is analyzed to determine presence of the fungi.
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Treatment/CureUsually blood is continuously removed from the body, half-liter at a time, until after the course of several weeks, iron levels return to normal. In some cases, deferoxamine, is also used. Amphotericin B is used as an antifungal and surgery maybe required to remove necrotic tissue.
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Episode 24 - No Reason
Brief Plot Summary
Vince is admitted with a severely swollen tongue. As House is doing the differential, a man named Jack walks in and shoots House. The rest of this episode is a dream that House has in which he was given ketamine during the surgery which was used to induce a coma in an attempt to rid him of his chronic leg pain. Throughout the hallucination/dream, House is angry that the coma was induced since he think it messed with his brain, but in the end, he figures out he's hallucinating and wakes up and tells Cameron to give him ketamine during his surgery. The case with Vince is left unsolved since the medicine during his hallucination/dream is in-accurate.
Vince is admitted with a severely swollen tongue. As House is doing the differential, a man named Jack walks in and shoots House. The rest of this episode is a dream that House has in which he was given ketamine during the surgery which was used to induce a coma in an attempt to rid him of his chronic leg pain. Throughout the hallucination/dream, House is angry that the coma was induced since he think it messed with his brain, but in the end, he figures out he's hallucinating and wakes up and tells Cameron to give him ketamine during his surgery. The case with Vince is left unsolved since the medicine during his hallucination/dream is in-accurate.