-
Few clinical situations place intensive care practitioners in a more uncomfortable position than does treating patients of the Jehovahs Witness faith. The faith-based refusal of autogenous or allogenic blood transfusions conflicts with the typical life-saving intent implicit in the critical care environment. However, it is our obligation to have a basic level of understanding of the set of beliefs that leads to the choice to refuse this specific set of life-saving therapies, while accepting other aspects of modern medical care.
-
Antibiotics Associated With Cancer Risk; Topiramate Effective Against Migraine; Statin Therapy For Heart Failure; FDA Actions.
-
-
It appears safe to conclude that patients with mild-to-moderate angina can be safely managed with continued medical therapy, but percutaneous coronary intervention is certainly indicated and appropriate if anginal symptoms are not controlled by maximum, aggressive medical management.
-
Sleep and headache have a long and complex relationship. Morning (or awakening) headache has been linked to sleep disorders, especially obstructive sleep apnea syndrome, but this association is controversial.
-
There is an association between long-distance air flights and venous thromboembolism, but the role of traditional risk factors and prophylactic measures requires more study.
-
A small subset of patients with evidence of pericardial constriction, perhaps 1 in 6, experience spontaneous resolution without surgical intervention.
-
The risk of new AF or HF in subjects older than 65 with echocardiographic evidence of abnormal relaxation increased linearly with the degree of LA enlargement.
-
Kahn and colleagues preformed a randomized trial of CPB vs off-pump coronary artery surgery in 104 patients with multivessel disease; Cavendish and associates report on 5 cases in which the Symmetry Bypass Connector was used, who developed acute coronary syndromes 2-5 months after surgery.
-