House Season1 EP3

Occam's Razor

Episode 103 : 2004-11-30

Brandon, a 22-year old male, passed out after having sex with his fiancée. He had been complaining about a cough and a rash beforehand. Now he is suffering severe abdominal pain, nausea, fever and low blood pressure.

A quick scan and exam reveal nothing, so House and team look for alternate answers. Dr. Cameron points out that no condition accounts for this many symptoms. House realizes they need to control the patient's blood pressure first, and they run a core stem test and an EKG test among others.

The tests don't reveal much, but Dr. Foreman sees a result that signifies that the antibiotic treatment is shutting down Brandon's kidneys. Foreman theorizes that Brandon has a heart infection, not a stomach infection, which explains each symptom. Yet this is a 10 million to 1 shot. House, looking at a list of Brandon's symptoms, offers that two possible conditions combined -- a sinus infection and hypothyroidism -- account for all of Brandon's symptoms. And that's only a million to 1 shot. Since there's no time to wait for test results, he wants to start treating the sinus and thyroid immediately.

Foreman checks in on Brandon. The patient is feeling better but is still stuck with a cough. Foreman reports that Brandon tested negative for hypothyroidism. He insists that it can't be two illnesses and House's treatment regimen will only harm Brandon's liver. It could even kill him. House offers Foreman a $50 bet. If Brandon's white blood count goes up, Foreman is correct in presuming that he's actually fighting off an infection.

Brandon's white blood cell count drops. Both of their hypotheses were wrong. If Brandon gets so much as a cold, his body won't be able to fight it off and he will die. House has a revelation. He asks Dr. Wilson which of Brandon's symptoms came first. It was the coughing.

After a little research, House knows the answer. Brandon had visited a doctor for his cough and his prescription for cough medicine was accidentally filled with gout medicine. That medicine stops mytosis, the process in which cells divide and replace dead cells. This is not occurring, which explains each of the symptoms. But Dr. Cameron points out that Brandon did improve, but then worsen after checking into the hospital and stopping the gout medicine.

House meets with Brandon's parents and demands to know who prescribed the cough medicine which led to their son's deterioration. His mother gave it to him. She produces the pill bottle, which validates House's thinking. Chase and Brandon's mother visit the pharmacy. Brandon was indeed taking cough medicine and not gout medicine, disproving House's theory. House is incredibly annoyed that his elegant, thoughtful hypothesis wasn't proven right.

Dr. Wilson suggests exploratory surgery to find out what's in Brandon's blood. During the prep for surgery, Brandon's heart stops beating and the doctors shock him back to life. Cameron tells House about the surgery emergency and also mentions that Brandon is experiencing pain in his fingers. House has another revelation. He barges into Brandon's clean room and announces his diagnosis of colchicine poisoning. The order of Brandon's symptoms fits perfectly, which means that Brandon is doing drugs. Brandon admits that he's done ecstasy twice, which House notes is cut with colchicine. A quick fix and Brandon will be just fine.

第3集（EP03:Occam's Razor）
1.標題：Occam's Razor
奧卡姆剃刀論。
當House最初診斷Brandon Merrell也許患有2種疾病的時候，Foreman說:"Occam's Razor. The simplest explanation is always the best." （奧卡姆剃刀論：最簡單的解釋總是最好的）。
後來當House確認Brandon的病情是由醫生的一個錯誤處方，藥房拿錯了藥而引起的，他說"Occam's Razor. The simplest explanation is almost always that somebody screwed up." （奧卡姆剃刀論：最簡單的解釋就是有人搞砸了。）
Occam's Razor，也作Ockham's razor，奧卡姆剃刀論，是由14世紀邏輯學家、聖方濟各會修士奧卡姆的威廉（William of Occam）提出的一個理論。奧卡姆（Ockham）在英格蘭的薩裡郡，那是威廉出生的地方。
這個原理稱為「如無必要，勿增實體」（Entities should not be multiplied unnecessarily）。簡單的說就是「如果你有兩個類似的原理/解釋/方案，那麼你應該先選擇簡單的那個，直到發現錯誤」。威廉使用這個原理證明了許多結論，包括「通過思辨不能得出上帝存在的結論」。這使他不受羅馬教皇的歡迎。
奧卡姆剃刀論在科學，經濟，哲學等方面都有所應用。對於科學家來說，這一理論意味著：如果有2個具有競爭地位的理論或猜想，那麼選擇簡單的那個，直到之後試驗證明它是錯誤的。愛因斯坦的狹義相對論就用到了這個原理。更多的信息可以參看這裡。

2.House: The RIAA wants her to check for illegal downloads.
House: 全美唱片業協會希望她（指Cuddy）去查查是否有非法下載。
RIAA，The Recording Industry Association of America（全美唱片業協會）的縮寫。全美唱片業協會在本世紀初，因為控告青少年和電腦用戶從網上非法下載MP3歌曲而聲（臭）名遠揚。
在本集裡一個門診病人把MP3塞進直腸了（也不知道什麼原因弄進去的）。House對護士說了這句話，意思就是要Cuddy去把這個MP3挖出來...-_-!