There are troves of books archiving Civil War medicine. It is a subject of interest for me, so this short piece in the NYT today caught my eye. In particular, it focuses more on the medical than surgical realm, so as internists the lessons should hit home. As the war interfaced between periods–horse-and-buggy and industrial, accounts […]
In this prospective analysis of 528 adults with acute respiratory illness, procalcitonin was significantly higher in those with pneumonia compared to those with COPD, asthma, or acute bronchitis. In those with indeterminate chest X-rays, procalcitonin had an AUC of 0.72, indicating moderate accuracy in predicting pneumonia. (abstract)
This large retrospective cohort of elderly patients admitted with an injury found 14 % of them were readmitted within 30 days after discharge. Risk factors for readmission included those who had a transfusion, an infection, or a patient safety indicator. Those discharged to nursing homes or with home health were more likely to be readmitted […]
In this study of patients with metastatic lung or colon cancer, about 3/4 reported not understanding that chemotherapy was not going to cure their cancer. This misunderstanding was more common in nonwhite and Hispanics, and among those who rated their physician communication as being good. Many patients with incurable cancer do not understand that chemo […]
In this large randomized trial of patients with symptomatic paroxysmal Afib, they were randomized to treatment with radiofrequency ablation, or Class IC / III anti-arrhythmics. There was no difference in rates of freedom from Afib between the groups at up to 18 months follow up, but the rates at 24 months were lower in the […]
The ACIP is now advising that all pregnant women receive Tdap, either during pregnancy or immediately after delivery, regardless of prior vaccination status. In 2012 alone, there have been >32,000 cases of pertussis including 16 deaths in the US (Story)