Internal Medicine Alert – January 15, 2024
January 15, 2024
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Atorvastatin vs. Rosuvastatin in Patients with Coronary Artery Disease
A large trial of moderate doses of rosuvastatin vs. atorvastatin in patients with coronary artery disease has shown that both drugs are equivalent at reducing major adverse cardiovascular and cerebral events, but rosuvastatin is associated with higher rates of new-onset diabetes and cataract surgery.
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Coronary CT Angiography in Patients with Type 2 MI
In an observational, single-center study of patients with type 2 myocardial infarction who underwent coronary computed tomography (CT) angiography, researchers reported fewer than half had a significant anatomic stenosis (50% or greater), but only 26% had a hemodynamically significant lesion by CT fractional flow reserve.
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Studying Patients at High Risk for Death in the ICU Can Give Them a Voice and Help Clinicians Understand Their Concerns
Using a multiple-source approach, this study showed that when given a voice, patients at high risk of dying in the intensive care unit express variable logistical, spiritual, physical, psychological, and existential concerns that clinicians should consider and address.
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Acute Vertigo Caused by Herpes Zoster Oticus
Herpes zoster oticus (HZO) and vestibular neuritis (VN) can be difficult to distinguish, but treatments may be different. Magnetic resonance imaging may help by showing inflammatory lesions in the vestibular nuclei or the proximal portions of the eighth nerves in HZO, but not VN.
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Exagamglogene Autotemcel Suspension (Casgevy)
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved the first treatment for sickle cell disease using CRISPR (clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats)/Cas9 (CRISPR associated protein 9) genome editing technology.
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What Kind of Artifact?
To emphasize the importance of recognizing the clinical finding shown in the figure, no history is given. The two most helpful leads for interpretation of these unusual ECG findings are lead I and lead V3. How would you interpret this tracing?