Table of Contents
From the Editor
- When good drugs turn weirdly bad
Even the most specific of drugs, such as interferon, can have untoward biologic effects.
Medical Grand Rounds
- Update in hospital medicine: Studies likely to affect inpatient practice in 2011
A hypothetical case scenario helps focus on anticoagulants, patient safety, quality improvement, critical care, transitions of care, and perioperative medicine.
Review
- Hypothermia after cardiac arrest: Beneficial, but slow to be adopted
Survivors of cardiac arrest due to ventricular tachycardia or ventricular fi brillation have better neurologic outcomes if they are cooled to a core body temperature of 32°C to 34°C for 24 hours as soon as possible after reaching the hospital.
Cancer Diagnosis and Management
- Managing cancer pain: Frequently asked questions
Cancer pain: its pathogenesis, how to assess it, and how to treat it—in particular, how to use opioids optimally.
Current Drug Therapy
- Vancomycin: A 50-something-yearold antibiotic we still don’t understand
To use vancomycin appropriately, we need to recognize its changing minimum inhibitory concentrations, select proper doses and dosing intervals, and know how to monitor its use.
The Clinical Picture
- Rash from hepatitis C treatment
Although the combination of interferon and ribavirin is the standard of treatment for chronic hepatitis C, some patients experience adverse reactions.
Editorial
- Bronchial thermoplasty: A promising therapy, still in its infancy
Inflammation is not the only pathophysiologic process underlying asthma. Bronchial thermoplasty takes a novel approach and offers reason for optimism.
Review
Bronchial thermoplasty: A new treatment for severe refractory asthmaAsthma has a new treatment, but it isn’t for everybody. Here, we review its indications, evidence of efficacy, and protocols.
