Table of Contents
Editorial
- Health quality data: Are flawed data better than none?
Comments on the critique of quality assessment by Vogel and Topol in this issue. A Cleveland project highlights the promise and peril of quality measurements.
Interpreting Key Trials
- Therapy for acute ischemic stroke: the door opens
Finally, a successful trial of treatment for acute stroke. Now, a major effort is needed to reduce time from onset to treatment.
- Cholesterol lowering: perspectives on the 4S and West of Scotland studies
Recent studies have resolved lingering doubts about cholesterol-lowering therapy, but questions on lipid management remain.
Medical Grand Rounds
- Colon polyps: diagnosis, treatment, surveillance
Current screening methods, though imperfect, can reduce colon cancer mortality.
- Is fibromyalgia a useful diagnostic label?
Fibromyalgia is a harmful diagnosis that magnifies everyday complaints into a full-blown syndrome.
Editorial
- Fibromyalgia: more than a label
Fibromyalgia is a useful diagnosis that can reduce wasteful testing and treatment.
Clinical Decision-Making
- Acute myelogenous leukemia in first complete remission
Outcomes can be predicted by, and therapy tailored to, specific prognostic factors, such as age and karyotype.
Clinical Reviews
- Outpatient management of systemic lupus erythematosus
Common problems in the treatment of lupus and suggested management strategies.
- Managing lupus nephritis: algorithms for conservative use of renal biopsy
Despite the widespread use of renal biopsy, lupus nephritis can usually be managed on the basis of clinical presentation alone.
- Cardiac rehabilitation: not just exercise anymore
The treatment of sicker patients and shorter hospital stays are forcing a rethinking of approaches to cardiac rehabilitation.
Cardiology Dialogues
- Practice guidelines and physician scorecards: grading the graders
A discussion of the pros and cons of different tools to assess the quality of medical care.
Internal Medicine Board Review
- A 36-year-old woman with progressive shortness of breath and chylous pleural effusion
A self-test of clinical recognition.
