TB or Not TB

House (TV series) episode
episode_name = TB or Not TB
episode_no = HOU-204
airdate = 1 November 2005
writer = David Foster
director = Peter O'Fallon
guest_star = Ron Livingston as Dr. Sebastian Charles


season = 2
diagnosis =Nesidioblastoma and tuberculosis

TB or Not TB is the fourth episode of the second season of "House", which premiered on the FOX network on November 1 2005. The title, "TB or Not TB", is an allusion to Shakespeare's Hamlet soliloquy, which starts with "to be or not to be".

Plot

Sebastian Charles is a famous doctor who works in Africa. During a presentation to persuade companies to provide more medicine to the poor, he collapses and is taken to the hospital. Charles and Cuddy thinks he has tuberculosis, but House quickly disagrees.

In Charles’s room, Charles refuses to take the pills for his resistant strain of TB, hoping to bring publicity to his story and the problem with big pharmaceutical companies. House is furious at the news.

Charles later speaks to the press from his bed as House and Wilson watch from another room. House notices that Charles is heavily sweating, even though his internal heating and ventilation should not be working. House marches into the press conference. He notices that Charles is disoriented. His heart fails and Cameron tries to shock him back. House yells into one of the cameras that this isn’t TB. House suggests a very tiny tumor and nesidioblastoma, which is an abnormal growth of the insulin secreting cells in the pancreas. This causes only intermittent secretion of insulin, usually in response to stress.

House and the team take Charles into surgery. They inject calcium into the pancreas, which will cause the beta cells to release insulin. If there are too many beta cells because of a tumor, Charles’ blood sugar will drop quickly. The blood sugar plummets and surgery is scheduled to remove the tumor.

External links

* [http://www.fox.com/house/ FOX.com-"House" official site]
* [http://televisionwithoutpity.com/show.cgi?show=151/ Television Without Pity-"House" recaps]
* [http://epguides.com/House/ House Episode Guide at epguides.com]
* [http://www.tvguide.com/tvshows/house/100213/ TVGuide's Page: Full list of House Episodes]
* [http://www.housemd-guide.com/ House M.D. Guide]
* [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0412142/ "House M.D." IMDB Profile]
* [http://politedissent.com/archives/968 Medical Reviews of House: TB or Not TB]