Articles Tagged With:
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Pink Eye: Do Antibiotics Matter?
Acute infectious conjunctivitis, commonly referred to as pink eye, is common in children and is caused by bacteria more often than by viruses. Nonetheless, neither the clinical course of uncomplicated cases nor the spread of infection to peers is significantly altered by treatment with topical antibiotics or by exclusion of infected children from daycare and school settings.
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Colonic Emergencies
Abdominal pain is one of the most frequent chief complaints an emergency clinician will evaluate. Some of the most frequently encountered colonic emergencies, including large bowel obstruction, acute colonic pseudo-obstruction, diverticulitis, toxic megacolon, scybala, volvulus, hemorrhoids, rectal prolapse, and constipation, will be reviewed in this article.
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Left Atrial vs. Left Ventricular Parameters for Intervention Decisions
A one-institution study of serial echocardiograms in patients with moderate to severe or severe aortic regurgitation demonstrated that changes in left atrial size and strain changed over time in a similar fashion regardless of sex and age, and were of incremental prognostic value compared to left ventricular size and function.
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Screening Relatives of Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy Patients
A retrospective cohort study of the first-degree relatives of patients with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) seen in screening clinics in Denmark has shown that the diagnostic yield of the first visit is 26% and subsequent visits add 4%. The best predictor of the development of HCM in relatives of families with negative genetic findings was maximal left ventricular wall thickness of ≥ 10 mm.
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Benefits of Early, Aggressive Cholesterol-Lowering After Myocardial Infarction
A large national registry study of myocardial infarction patients has shown that achieving target levels of non-high-density lipoprotein cholesterol by one month and maintaining them for at least one year reduces subsequent major adverse cardiac events and argues for aggressive early cholesterol management rather than the usual stepwise approach.
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Validation of the New American Heart Association’s PREVENT Equations
An analysis of the accuracy of the new American Heart Association PREVENT Equations for predicting 10-year cardiovascular disease mortality in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey population has shown excellent discrimination with only modest underprediction and supports its use vs. the pooled cohort equation, which is the current standard.
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Benefit of TAVR in Patients with Moderate Aortic Stenosis and Systolic Dysfunction
In this multicenter randomized trial of early transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) in patients with moderate aortic stenosis, TAVR was not superior to medical surveillance, with TAVR triggered by progression to severe aortic stenosis.
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Ethicists Can Ensure Goals of Care Discussions Happen Earlier
Goals of care discussions are known to reduce invasive interventions and align patient care with patient values, but conversations often occur shortly before death.
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Ethical Considerations with DNR Orders and Anesthesia Care
Because many elements of anesthesia care constitute “resuscitation” in other settings, patients presenting for surgery with do-not-resuscitate orders or other directives limiting treatment pose some unique ethical challenges.
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Gap in End-of-Life Care in Rural Areas Is an Ethical Concern
Rural hospices have limited resources and lower Medicare reimbursement rates compared to their urban counterparts. These challenges result in disparities in end-of-life care.