Medical Exam Questions (PDF)

16. A 35-year-old male presents with sudden onset of severe back pain and weakness in his legs. An MRI reveals a herniated disc at the L4-L5 level. Which of the following nerve roots is most likely compressed, leading to his symptoms? (A) L3 (B) L4 (C) L5 (D) S1 17. A 60-year-old female compl...

16. A 35-year-old male presents with sudden onset of severe back pain and weakness in his legs. An MRI reveals a herniated disc at the L4-L5 level. Which of the following nerve roots is most likely compressed, leading to his symptoms? (A) L3 (B) L4 (C) L5 (D) S1 17. A 60-year-old female complains of numbness and tingling in her hands and feet, along with difficulty walking. She has a history of poorly controlled diabetes. Which of the following is the most likely cause of her symptoms? (A) Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) (B) Multiple Sclerosis (C) Diabetic Neuropathy (D) Spinal cord tumor 18. A 20-year-old male is involved in a motor vehicle accident and sustains a spinal cord injury at the level of T6. Which of the following clinical manifestations would you expect to see in this patient? (A) Paraplegia and loss of sensation below the waist (B) Quadriplegia and loss of sensation in all four limbs (C) Loss of bladder and bowel control (D) Both A and C 19. A 45-year-old male presents with progressive muscle weakness and atrophy, particularly in his hands and arms. He also experiences fasciculations (muscle twitching). An EMG (electromyography) shows signs of denervation. Which of the following is the most likely diagnosis? (A) Myasthenia Gravis (B) Guillain-Barre Syndrome (C) Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) (D) Peripheral Neuropathy 20. During a surgical procedure, the surgeon accidentally damages the right dorsal root of the T4 spinal nerve. Which of the following deficits would the patient most likely experience? (A) Loss of motor function in the right arm (B) Loss of sensation in the left leg (C) Loss of sensation in a dermatome on the right side of the chest (D) Loss of sympathetic function in the right hand Answer Guide 16. C 17. C 18. D 19. C 20. C Attempting to do a backflip with his bicycle off a high ramp at the finish line of a race, a 24-year-old professional BMX rider fell from a height of 20 ft and attempted to land on his feet. A sagittal CT reveals a burst fracture of the L1 vertebral body with a posterior displaced fracture fragment compressing the medullary cone (conus medullaris). Which of the following spinal cord segments would most likely be compressed by the bone fragment in this injury? (A) T7 (B) T9 (C) T11 (D) L2 (E) S1 Answer: e Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS; Lou Gehrig’s disease) is a progressive, fatal neurodegenerative disease caused by degeneration of the motor neurons controlling skeletal (voluntary) muscle movement. Postmortem analysis of which of the following structures would show the cell bodies of neurons affected by this disease? (A) Anterior gray horn of the spinal cord (B) Lateral gray horn of the spinal cord (C) Posterior gray horn of the spinal cord (D) Spinal ganglia (E) Lateral column of spinal cord white matter Answer: a