USMLE Exam Questions

A 54-year-old woman comes to the emergency department because of severe jaw pain since undergoing a painful dental procedure 1 day ago. The patient was prescribed codeine after the...

A 14-year-old girl with a 9-year history of type1 diabetes mellitus is brought to the physician by her mother for a follow-up examination. She has been admitted to the hospital twi...

A 23-year-old woman with bone marrow failure is treated with a large dose of rabbit antithymocyte globulin. Ten days later, she develops fever, lymphadenopathy, arthralgias, and er...

A 25-year-old man is brought to the emergency department because of a 6-day history of fever, severe muscle pain, and diffuse, painful swelling of his neck, underarms, and groin ar...

A 29-year-old woman is prescribed carbamazepine for trigeminal neuralgia. She has a strong family history of osteoporosis. As a result, the physician also advises her to increase h...

Over 1 year, a study is conducted to assess the antileukemic activity of a new tyrosine kinase inhibitor in patients with chronic myeloid leukemia in blast crisis. All patients enr...

A 64-year-old man with non-Hodgkin lymphoma comes to the physician because of a 3-week history of progressive numbness in his hands and feet and weakness in his legs when he stands...

During an experiment, drug X is added to a muscle bath containing a strip of guinea pig intestinal smooth muscle. Agonists are added to the bath, and the resultant effects on muscl...

A 42-year-old man comes to the physician for a follow-up examination. Four months ago, he underwent repair of a Dupuytren contracture. Physical examination shows decreased range of...

A 72-year-old woman comes to the physician because of a 2-month history of painless swelling of both ankles. She also reports shortness of breath with exertion and when lying down....

A 14-year-old boy is brought to the physician for a physical examination prior to participating in sports. He appears reluctant to remove his shirt for the examination, and says th...

A 5-year-old boy is admitted to the hospital because of a 1-week history of fever and increasingly severe abdominal discomfort. At the age of 7 months, he was treated for osteomyel...

A 22-year-old woman contacts a medical student and asks if he would like to join her for dinner. The student met the woman when he was assigned to her care during her 2-week hospit...

A 73-year-old woman comes to the physician because of a 2-month history of diffuse weakness and tingling of her arms and legs. Neurologic examination shows weakness of the extensor...

A 45-year-old man comes to the physician because of right shoulder pain that began after he chopped wood 2 days ago. Examination of the right upper extremity shows no obvious bone...

A 54-year-old man comes to the physician for a follow-up examination 10 days after undergoing a stereotactic brain operation to remove a small tumor. The operation was successful....

A placebo-controlled clinical trial is conducted to assess whether a new antihypertensive drug is more effective than standard therapy. A total of 5000 patients with essential hype...

A male stillborn is delivered at 32 weeks' gestation to a 30-year-old woman. The pregnancy was complicated by oligohydramnios. Examination of the stillborn shows the absence of a u...

A 33-year-old man undergoes a radical thyroidectomy for thyroid cancer. During the operation, moderate hemorrhaging requires ligation of several vessels in the left side of the nec...

A 42-year-old man comes to the physician for a follow-up examination 1 week after he passed a renal calculus. X-ray crystallographic analysis of the calculus showed calcium as the...

A 55-year-old man comes to the physician because of a 2-week history of recurrent, widespread blister formation. Physical examination shows lesions that are most numerous in the fl...

A 24-year-old man is brought to the emergency department 40 minutes after he was involved in a motor vehicle collision. He was the unrestrained driver. He is conscious. Physical ex...

A 55-year-old man who is a business executive is admitted to the hospital for evaluation of abdominal pain. He is polite to the physician but berates the nurses and other staff. Th...

A 3-year-old boy with chronic granulomatous disease is brought to the physician because of a 3- week history of fever and warm, red lumps under both arms. His temperature is 38°C (...

An otherwise healthy 45-year-old man comes to the physician because of a 3-week history of progressive epigastric heartburn and a 4.5-kg (10-lb) weight loss. The pain tends to be m...

A 10-year-old girl is brought to the office by her mother because her school nurse thinks that she may have Marfan syndrome. She is at the 95 percentile for th height and 25 percen...

A previously healthy 40-year-old woman is brought to the emergency department by her husband because of a 2-day history of fever, lethargy, and confusion. Her temperature is 38°C (...

A 17-year-old girl has never had a menstrual period. Physical examination shows a normal female body habitus, normal breast development, and normal appearing external genitalia. Sh...

A 12-year-old girl is brought to the physician because of a 2-month history of intermittent yellowing of the eyes and skin. Physical examination shows no abnormalities except for j...

A 47-year-old woman comes to the emergency department because of a 2-week history of intermittent abdominal pain, nausea, and vomiting. She has had similar episodes sporadically du...

An 8-year-old boy is brought to the office by his mother because of a 3-day history of fever, sore throat, and itchy eyes. He just returned from a weeklong summer camp that include...

A 36-year-old man with profound intellectual disability is brought to the physician by staff at his facility because of increasing abdominal girth during the past 2 weeks. He is un...

A study is designed to evaluate the feasibility of acupuncture in children with chronic headaches. Sixty children with chronic headaches are recruited for the study. In addition to...

A 56-year-old man comes to the emergency department because of a 4-day history of colicky right flank pain that radiates to the groin and hematuria. Ultrasound examination of the k...

Six healthy subjects participate in a study of muscle metabolism during which hyperglycemia and hyperinsulinemia is induced. Muscle biopsy specimens obtained from the subjects duri...

A 72-year-old woman who has smoked 20 cigarettes daily for the past 38 years begins using eye drops for glaucoma. Three days later, she has a marked increase in shortness of breath...

A 54-year-old man comes to the physician because of episodes of fainting for 3 months. He also has had difficulty performing daily tasks because he is easily fatigued. He had a myo...

A 15-year-old boy is brought to the emergency department by his parents because of a 2-hour history of confusion and agitation. He also has had fever, headache, stiff neck, and vom...

A 42-year-old woman comes to the physician for a routine examination. She says that she has felt well except for occasional episodes of constipation, abdominal discomfort, and mild...

A new severe respiratory illness caused by a newly identified virus is discovered. Which of the following properties of a killed vaccine relative to a live vaccine is the most appr...

A 72-year-old woman comes to the physician because of a 3-day history of fever, shortness of breath, difficulty swallowing, chest pain, and cough. She is frail. Physical examinatio...

A 25-year-old woman comes to the office because of a 6-month history of increasingly severe low back pain and heavy menses. Her temperature is 37.1°C (98.8°F), pulse is 75/min, res...

A 72-year-old woman is brought to the emergency department by her husband because of a 1- hour history of difficulty walking and speaking. The husband says that she was well last n...

A 42-year-old woman is brought to the emergency department because of double vision that began 20 minutes after she fell from her horse and landed on the left side of her face. Exa...

A previously healthy 24-year-old woman who is a college student comes to the office because of a 6-month history of abdominal bloating, upper abdominal discomfort, and constipation...

A 32-year-old man is brought to the emergency department 30 minutes after being struck by a car while driving his motorcycle. He reports severe pelvic pain. On examination, there i...

A 2-year-old boy is brought to the office by his mother because of a 1-day history of severe pain, swelling, and redness of his left thumb. The mother does not recall any trauma to...

A 46-year-old woman with active ankylosing spondylitis comes to the office for a follow-up examination. The use of various conventional nonsteroidal anti- inflammatory drugs has be...

During a study of renal glomeruli, a healthy animal kidney is kept in a vascular bath preparation at a constant afferent arterial pressure of 100 mmHg. If the efferent arteriole is...

A 67-year-old woman is brought to the emergency department 30 minutes after she had a generalized tonic-clonic seizure. Her family says that she seemed mildly confused before her e...