More articles from Medical Grand Rounds
- The end of the diet debates?
The healthiest diet is a Mediterranean type that features foods that are high in omega-3 fatty acids, unsaturated fats, and fiber, and that have a low glycemic index.
- Managing short bowel syndrome: Making the most of what the patient still has
Eating and drinking are better than parenteral nutrition.
- Update on Wegener granulomatosis
Although Wegener granulomatosis is uncommon, it is relevant to internists because it is a multisystem disease that presents in a variety of ways. Current treatments induce remission and allow long-term survival.
- Treating depression in a mother of five: What to do when the first step fails
If depression does not respond to an antidepressant given in adequate doses for an adequate time, logical next steps include increasing the dose, adding a different medication, or adding nonpharmacologic therapy. Or one can reconsider the diagnosis.
- Adrenal function in critically ill patients: How to test? When to treat?
There is evidence that even partial adrenal insufficiency is associated with increased mortality. But exactly how should adrenal insufficiency be defined and diagnosed, and who should receive treatment?
- Hypertensive disorders of pregnancy: Overdiagnosis is appropriate
Since the presentation of preeclampsia is variable, a high index of suspicion is warranted.
- Advances in the treatment of hemorrhagic stroke: A possible new treatment
Recombinant factor VIIa may be the first proven treatment for intracerebral hemorrhage.
- Antiphospholipid antibody syndrome: Recent findings on managing this challenging condition
High-intensity treatment with warfarin is not better than standard-intensity warfarin treatment. Basic questions about this disease remain unanswered.
- Issues in anticoagulant therapy: Recent trials start to answer the tough questions
Three cases—an idiopathic deep venous thrombosis, a pulmonary embolism in a cancer patient, and scheduled surgery in a patient with a mechanical heart valve—introduce discussions of how evidence can be incorporated into clinical practice.
- Three rheumatologic emergencies: A sore toe, a cough, hypertension
Rheumatologic emergencies are not always obvious, be it joint pain in a healthy patient or mild blood pressure elevation in a patient with scleroderma.