Table of Contents
Highlights from Medical Grand Rounds
- Recognition and Treatment of Cocaine Abuse
The changing demographics of cocaine abuse and its varied manifestations require a high index of suspicion for timely diagnosis and treatment.
- Key Steps in Evaluating the Dizzy Patient
A carefully constructed history is usually adequate to diagnose vertigo from other forms of dizziness.
Bench to Bedside
- Lipoprotein abnormalities in the progression of renal disease
Animal models suggest that lipid-dowering agents may benefit patients with chronic progressive renal disease.
Managing the Diabetic Syndrome
- Visual compromise in the diabetic patient
The importance of an aggressive approach to diagnosis, management, and follow-up of diabetic retinopathy cannot be overstated.
- Managing diabetic retinopathy
A team approach involving an ophthalmologist, endocrinologist, and primary care physician is the key to successful management of diabetic retinopathy.
Contributions
- Perioperative management of 63 patients with pheochromocytoma
Pheochromocytoma patients can undergo successful surgery without preoperative profound alpha-adrenergic blockade.
- Electrocardiographic criteria for anterior myocardial infarction
Five criteria tested in 1,324 consecutive patients confirmed the diagnostic value of the standard 12-lead electrocardiogram.
- Serial electrophysiologic testing of drug therapy in supraventricular tachycardia related to accessory pathways
Serial electrophysiologic studies can identify effective drug therapies and predict clinical outcome.
Review
- Pharmacology and use of headache medications
Successful headache treatment depends on correlating the pathophysiology of the disease with drug pharmacology.
Case Report
- Metastatic carcinoma of the prostate with hypercalcemia
Hypercalcemia in a patient with advanced prostatic cancer was probably a metabolic complication.
- Pneumomediastinum and subcutaneous emphysema during laparoscopy
Pneumomediastinum and massive subcutaneous emphysema developed during a diagnostic and operative laparoscopy with laser fulguration of endometriosis.
- Parenteral nitrogen mustard for inflammatory arthritis
Intravenous nitrogen mustard may be an alternative therapy for progressive psoriatic arthritis that is refractory to methotrexate.
- The effects of steroid therapy on pulmonary hypertension secondary to fibrosing mediastinitis
Steroid therapy can be used most effectively if hemodynamic and scintigraphic studies are performed before and after a therapeutic trial.
Editorial
- Diphosphonates in the treatment of osteoporosis
Etidronate disodium has been shown to increase bone density and decrease fracture rates, but it may have more important applications in the prevention of bone loss.
- The electrocardiogram in remote myocardial infarction: reassessment of criteria
Specificity and positive predictive accuracy are more important than sensitivity in clinical electrocardiographic diagnosis.
