The female genital tract is a complex organ system, in which structural and functional abnormalities can occur.

The simplest approach to start with an overview, understand the main components, think about clinical manifestations of disease, and, finally, approach individual conditions using a logical classification system.

Approach:

• The Big Picture 
• The Main Clinical Manifestations
• The Main Pathologies (A system of approach)   

Use the buttons below to navigate these specific sections in sequence. You will also have access to the tutorial slides   from your Phase IV tutorial, as well as an interactive quiz.

Here are some of the symptoms that patients with disease of the respiratory tract can present with:

– Nasal symptoms

• Obstruction
• Leakage – rhinitis, epistaxis (epistaxis may be one of the signs of Nasopharyngeal carcinoma – there may also be associated tinnitus or ‘blocked ear’)
• Snoring (eg. obstructive sleep apnoea)

– Cough

• Dry or Productive (nature of sputum is helpful eg. purulent – think infection; bloody – think neoplasm; frothy – think heart failure etc.)

– Dyspnoea (shortness of breath)

• Many different conditions can cause this, eg. infections (pneumonia – inflammatory exudates filling alveolar spaces rather than air); respiratory distress syndrome COPD; asthma; interstitial lung disease; pneumothorax; respiratory failure; heart failure etc.

– Chest wall symptoms

• Pain – eg. pneumothorax; trauma; costochondritis; advanced tumours infiltrating parietal pleura (pain receptors present)

– Systemic symptoms

• General malaise, loss of appetite and loss of weight (tuberculosis; malignancy)
• Cyanosis (symptom or clinical sign) – Type 2 respiratory failure