Internal Medicine Alert – September 30, 2008
September 30, 2008
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What to Use for Acute Gout—NSAIDs or Steroids?
A randomized controlled trial in the Netherlands showed that oral prednisolone and naproxen were equivalent in the treatment of acute gout with no difference in side effects. -
To Cath or Not to Cath? Gender Is the Question
Strategies to determine treatment of acute coronary syndromes need to take gender into account. -
Lifestyle Changes and Lipids
Lifestyle changes plus red yeast rice and fish oil resulted in similar beneficial effects on LDL cholesterol as moderate-dose statin therapy in patients meeting criteria for drug therapy for high LDL cholesterol. -
Predicting the Need for Hospice Care in Heart Failure
Using blood pressure, BUN, serum sodium, and presence of peripheral arterial disease as predictors of mortality in heart failure patients, 67% who had 3 or more factors died within 6 months and would qualify for the Medicare hospice benefit. -
COURAGE and Management of Stable CAD
Optimizing medical and lifestyle change therapy rather than performing PCI is appropriate as the initial management strategy for most patients with known CAD who do not have unstable or disabling symptoms. -
Clinical Briefs by Louis Kuritzky, MD
There are no disease-modifying pharmacotherapies for COPD. That is, although bronchodilators, anticholinergic agents, and inhaled corticosteroids improve FEV1 and reduce symptoms, decline in pulmonary function continues unabated and lung function returns promptly to pretreatment status once medication is stopped.