More articles from Medical Grand Rounds
- Resistant hypertension: Diagnostic strategies and management
A 37-year-old woman was referred for help with managing difficult-to-control hypertension. Does she have resistant hypertension? How should her condition be managed?
- Advanced heart failure: Transplantation, LVADs, and beyond
Patients with advanced heart failure far outnumber hearts available for transplantation. Mechanical devices are filling the gap.
- Atrial fibrillation: New drugs, devices, and procedures
An update on controversies in treating atrial fi brillation: new oral anticoagulants vs warfarin, rate control vs rhythm control, the safety of dronedarone, and the efficacy of ablation.
- Acute community-acquired bacterial meningitis in adults: An evidence-based review
Can we rule it out based on the history and physical examination? Is lumbar puncture needed, and should computed tomography of the head be done first? Which drugs should we start empirically?
- Geriatrics update 2012: What parts of our practice to change, what to ‘think about’
News about hypertension, preventing falls, calcium and vitamin D supplementation, osteoporosis treatment, depression, Alzheimer disease, and aortic valve stenosis.
Deep brain stimulation: What can patients expect from it?Its indications (particularly movement disorders), risks, and benefits, and what is involved before, during, and after implantation.
- New and future therapies for lupus nephritis
Clinical trials show that less-toxic drugs, such as mycophenolate mofetil, are as effective as older, more-toxic ones.
- Updates in the medical management of Parkinson disease
Most, if not all, currently available drugs for Parkinson disease address dopaminergic loss and relieve symptoms. However, their adverse effects can be limiting and they do not address disease progression. Moreover, nonmotor features of Parkinson disease such as depression, dementia, and psychosis are now recognized as important and disabling. A cure remains elusive. However, promising interventions and agents are emerging. As an example, people who exercise regularly are less likely to develop Parkinson disease, and if they develop it, they tend to have slower progression.
- Accountable care organizations, the patient-centered medical home, and health care reform: What does it all mean?
Central to fixing the broken US health care system are two concepts: the patient-centered medical home and accountable care organizations.
- 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.