April 29, 2009 |  0
In this small cohort of patients with confirmed temporal arteritis who underwent bilateral temporal artery biopsies (n=51), 13 of them had pathologic confirmation on only 1 of the 2 biopsies. This indicates that 13% of unilateral biopsies will miss the pathologic diagnosis, and that bilateral biopsies may be worth performing for the increased diagnostic yield […]
April 29, 2009 |  0
In patients with foley or condom catheters, many have asymptomatic bacteriuria. In this retrospective cohort of 280 hospitalized patients with a urinary catheter and positive urine culture (>10,000 cfu), 164 (59%) had no symptoms (fever, urgency, frequency, dysuria, suprapubic tenderness, mental status change, or low BP). Of these, 32% were inappropriately treated with antibiotics. Many inpatients […]
April 28, 2009 |  0
John Nelson writes… Which Evaluation & Management visit (E&M code, or CPT code) commonly billed by a hospitalist provides the most attractive reimbursement for the work performed?  I think follow up codes (99231, 99232, and 99232) reimburse better than most others, but from what I can tell most hospitalists see it differently.  Here is my […]
April 28, 2009 |  0
In this validation cohort of 89 patients with Cdiff, 3 clinical factorswere used to predict recurrence, including age >65, need for antibiotics after Cdiff treatment, or severe/fulminant illness (based on the 4 point Horn Index, which is a clinical judgement of severity of illness; mild, moderate, severe or fulminant). Those with 0-1 risk factors had recurrence […]
April 27, 2009 |  0
In this phase 2 trial, patients with acute CHF, HTN (SBP >125) and mild-to-moderate renal insufficiency (GFR 30-75) were randomized to placebo or several doses of relaxin (human peptide that increases vasodilation and renal function). The relaxin group had improved dyspnea scores, shorter length of stay, and reduced CV death/CHF readmissions. Serious adverse events were […]
April 27, 2009 |  0
In this retrospective cohort of patients in the ICD registry, researchers evaluated outcomes of patients with an ICD implanted as a function of the specialty of physician that performed the procedure (71% by EP, 22% by non-EP cardiology, 2% by thoracic surgery, and 6% by other specialties).  Compared to EP, adjusted in-hospital procedural complication rates […]