Table of Contents
From the Editor
- What to do with a broken heart
This issue contains papers discussing noninvasive cardiac testing, the controversy surrounding late thrombosis associated with drug-eluting stents, and how to recognize and repair an atrial septal defect or patent foramen ovale.
Review
- Differentiating bipolar disorder from depression in primary care
When physicians encounter a patient who obviously is depressed, they should not assume that the patient has unipolar depression until they have ruled out bipolar disorder, formerly called “manic-depressive illness.”
History of Medicine
- Abraham Lincoln and the ‘Lincoln sign’
Some believe that a blurry foot in a photograph suggests that our 16th president had aortic regurgitation due to Marfan syndrome.
Medical Grand Rounds
- Better glycemic control in the hospital: Beneficial and feasible
Professional societies have issued consensus guidelines urging hospitals to tackle hyperglycemia in an organized fashion, and hospitals are taking up the challenge.
Introducing A New Series
- New Series: Choosing the right coronary test
Technical advances have substantially improved the clinician’s ability to find and describe coronary disease. They also pose a bewildering array of choices.
Choosing the Right Coronary Test
- What is the best test for a patient with classic angina?
In patients with a normal resting electrocardiogram and no prior revascularization, a regular exercise stress test without imaging should suffice. However, no randomized trials have been done to determine if this strategy leads to better outcomes than empiric therapy does.
Review
- Understanding and minimizing late thrombosis of drug-eluting stents
Though late stent thrombosis is rare, the risk is real and it is greater with drug-eluting stents than with bare metal stents.
When and how to fix a ‘hole in the heart’: Approach to ASD and PFOWhile correcting some abnormalities of the atrial septum is beneficial, most other defects warrant correction only under very specific circumstances.
- Which ovarian masses need intervention?
Ovarian cancer is deadly if not detected early, but it is only one of many causes of pelvic masses, which are common.
