Table of Contents

In evidence-based medicine, after weighing the data, we still have to apply common sense—and include the patient in the decision-making process.

There is no cause for complacency about tuberculosis. Spinal involvement may be the first manifestation.

Cancer therapy is getting smarter, with new drugs that act specifically against cancer cells.

Some medications are best avoided in elderly patients— and pharmacists can help physicians avoid them. We discuss our experience with reducing the use of three medications: meperidine, diphenhydramine, and amitriptyline.

Spontaneous bacterial peritonitis is more common than previously thought. Cirrhotic patients with ascites are particularly susceptible. When it is discovered, something must be done quickly.

Alternatives to hormone therapy exist, but none is as effective as hormone therapy, and none is approved by the US Food and Drug Administration for this purpose.

Too many of the 8 million young athletes in the United States will undergo a preparticipation physical examination that is too cursory to be of much use.

Recommendations exist for preparticipation physical examinations, but there is no national standard, and the recommendations are not widely followed.