-
Although age is a risk factor for morbidity and mortality with cardiac surgery, chronologic age does not always reflect biological age. Although frailty has been shown to predict falls, hospitalization, institutionalization, and mortality in geriatric populations in the community, it has not been systematically studied in patients undergoing surgery.
-
Superficial venous thrombosis is not a benign condition and deserves close attention.
-
Health care clinicians and organizations likely will find that the new health care reform bill's positive features outweigh its drawbacks, experts say.
-
In a prospective surveillance study, 50 HIV-positive patients who presented with febrile respiratory symptoms were evaluated for the presence of respiratory viruses by multiplex RT-PCR and a microarray assay and for atypical bacterial pathogens by PCR, in addition to sputum cultures and serologic testing. Viruses accounted for 64% of the infections. Influenza virus was identified in 22 cases, and human metapneumovirus (hMPV) was next most common, with six cases.
-
Patients presenting with ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) often have co-existing lesions in the non-infarct arteries (i.e., they have multi-vessel disease). These patients present a management dilemma.
-
In this study, 847 patients with peritonsillar abscess (PTA) admitted to Aarhus University hospitals from 2001-2006 were included in this retrospective study.
-
Natriuretic peptide levels (BNP, NT-proBNP) are of prognostic value in general populations, but whether they add information to other known risk factors for cardiovascular outcomes is less clear.
-
This non-randomized, prospective trial demonstrated that passive leg raising can be used to predict fluid responsiveness in non-intubated, spontaneously breathing patients with severe sepsis or acute pancreatitis.
-
Colistin, a 50-year-old polymyxin antibiotic that recently has been reintroduced to treat multidrug-resistant hospital-acquired Acinetobacter or Pseudomonas pneumonia, can cause acute neuromuscular weakness and precipitate acute hypercapnic respiratory failure, as illustrated by this case report.
-
Even if asymptomatic, early elective aortic valve replacement should be considered for increasingly symptomatic patients with severe aortic valve stenosis because they have a poor prognosis with a high event rate and a risk of rapid functional deterioration, especially if the peak aortic jet velocity is above 5.5 m/sec.
