-
Health care-associated infections (HAIs) have traditionally been viewed with a certain air of epidemiological inevitability, seen in many cases as the unpreventable result of keeping very sick patients alive via invasive devices and other medical interventions.
-
-
Although it is known that cigarette smoking is the most prevalent risk factor for lung cancer, other risk factors are important. It is notable that 10% of men and 20% of women with lung cancer never smoked, and that nearly half of patients are former smokers.
-
-
The stroke and death rates at one and 6 months were lower in patients with symptomatic carotid stenosis (> 60%) treated with endarterectomy versus stenting.
-
A meta-analysis of 10 studies of heparin used either for prophylaxis or for treatment suggests that venous thromboembolism related to heparin-induced thrombocytopenia occurs frequently in patients previously treated with unfractionated heparin, but uncommonly in those on low molecular weight heparin.
-
Among adults diagnosed with heart failure who had no prior statin use, incident statin use was independently associated with lower risks of death and hospitalization among patients with or without coronary heart disease.
-
RFA should be considered a first-line therapy even after the first episode of symptomatic AFL. There is a better long-term success rate, the same risk of subsequent AF, and fewer secondary effects.
-
Given its lack of benefit, possible harms, and expense, magnesium sulfate should not be used for tocolysis.
-
Clostridium difficile diarrhea and colitis have now emerged as common nosocomial infections in hospitals throughout the developed world. Alarmingly, recent epidemiological studies in ambulatory settings have documented C. difficile infection in both adults and children who lack the usual risk factors of prior antibiotic use or hospitalization.