Table of Contents

Understanding a patient’s culture and outlook is critical to any doctor-patient interaction, but perhaps especially so when dealing with the Gypsy population.

Since 5% to 10% of impotence cases may have an endocrine component, the workup for impotence should consider endocrine disorders, which can be diagnosed readily with laboratory tests and, in the majority of patients, can be cured.

Therapeutic options now include pharmacologic reduction of portal hypertension, endoscopic obliteration of varices, placement of decompressive shunts, and liver transplantation.

Drug treatment after a first seizure reduces the risk of recurrence by about half, but many patients find the adverse effects intolerable.

The GUSTO chairman reflects on the study’s contributions to the current understanding of how to treat acute myocardial infarction.

A look at the effect of transfers on patient outcome and on hospital mortality statistics, and how superficial review of these statistics could lead to mistaken conclusions about the quality of hospitals to which patients are transferred.

Despite advances in surgical expertise and antibiotic prophylaxis, this complication occurs in about 1% of patients with implanted heart valves, with a mortality of 30% to 50%.

Multiple sclerosis, inflammatory bowel disease, thyroid abnormalities, and possible Epstein-Barr virus infection were among the findings in 26 of 83 intermediate uveitis patients.

Drug treatment of rheumatic diseases is associated with a small but well-documented risk of hepatotoxicity. Recognizing the clinical syndromes associated with liver injury by these agents facilitates the minimization of morbidity from this complication.