Jeannette Y. Wick, RPh, MBA, FASCP

Rising healthcare costs are at the forefront of the national conscience.

Local recurrence is common after patients with solid tumors undergo surgery.

Dying with dignity and autonomy is on Canada's agenda today with proposed legislation to legalize physician-assisted suicide.

Post-transplantation diabetes (PTDM) is a common occurrence after solid-organ transplantation. Between 4 and 25% of transplant recipients develop this problem.

Patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) are at risk of developing high blood pressure, which can cause renal and cardiovascular complications. Thus, a T2DM treatment plan must include blood pressure treatment.

Obese individuals often struggle to lose weight, and once they do, sustaining the weight loss is very difficult.

Atypical height is a common reason for parents to bring children to pediatric endocrinologists.

Cancer patients identified fertility as a key survivorship concern.

Only a handful of medications carry an FDA indication for obesity, but metformin (which currently does not) has weighty evidence supporting its use.

Animal studies have shown melatonin reduces body weight, plasma leptin, adiponectin, triglycerides, cholesterol, insulin, and glucose levels beyond its effects on circadian rhythm.

Low-dose weekly chloroquine is lipid modulating, although to a smaller extent than high-dose therapy. Study results suggest that low-dose chloroquine is an inexpensive and well-tolerated agent for dyslipidemia patients.

Half of diabetic patients experience diabetic neuropathies, and the total number of cases will increase annually alongside the ever-increasing diabetes incidence rate.

Researchers report that St. John’s Wort produces persistent glucose intolerance via decreased beta-cell function. St. John’s Wort may increase risk of type 2 diabetes in the already at-risk depressed population.

In 2006, Massachusetts passed a healthcare insurance reform law that resembled the federal Affordable Care Act (ACA) in many ways.

Roux-en-Y gastric bypass (RYGB) is a common bariatric procedure.

Most patients with coronary artery disease receive aspirin for primary or secondary prevention of myocardial infarction, stroke, and death.

Pediatric splenectomy is performed frequently for various indications, with hereditary spherocytosis, idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura, sickle cell anemia, and malignant hematologic diseases the most common causes.

For some of the 4.4 million American children and adolescents who are severely obese, bariatric surgery may be an option for weight reduction.

Although generally the most effective intervention for morbid obesity, bariatric surgery does not result in predictable weight loss patterns.

Bariatric surgery is rapidly becoming a favorable gastrointestinal procedure, and surgeons have performed more than 500,000 procedures annually worldwide.

Since one-third of patients with diabetes develop neuropathy, prevention and management are top concerns for endocrinologists.

Four years have passed since the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant accident occurred pursuant to an earthquake.

Many trainers recommend intermittent high-intensity exercise (IHE) – bouts of periodic supramaximal effort during low-to-moderate intensity activity for the general population.

Patients who undergo solid organ transplant are at increased risk of pneumocystis pneumonia, caused by Pneumocystis jirovecii, due to their compromised immune status.

Researchers have been interested for quite some time in the influence of high body mass index (BMI) on the risk for postsurgical complications following open gastrointestinal surgery.

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that approximately 600 American women die in or shortly after childbirth every year. Roughly half of maternal deaths occur in women who have undergone cesarean section.

Many patients contract MRSA during their ICU stays, and it can progress to serious infections and chronic colonization with a high likelihood of recurrent infection. The leading intervention is primary precautions, including contact precautions and active surveillance testing.

1 in 25 patients acquire a health care-related infection while hospitalized, which translates to 75,000 unnecessary deaths annually. Hand washing and alternative hand sanitation are documented, effective preventive interventions.

The Endocrine Society released a new clinical practice guideline covering diagnosis and treatment of primary adrenal insufficiency in January 2016. The European Society of Endocrinology and the American Association for Clinical Chemistry co-sponsored this document.

Teenagers can be tricky patients to treat. Parents know that, patients who progress through the adolescent years and reflect on their teen years know that, and increasingly, organized medicine is acknowledging it with structured specialties in adolescent medicine. Endocrinologists who treat adolescents need unique communication skills and plenty of patience.