Cardiology

I thought I lost a patient a few weeks ago. No, he didn't die, but after his office visit, I had the distinct impression that he might not come back. My job is to take care of my patients' health. But sometimes I'm just the messenger.

Dr. Edward Pullen examines the ways in which Earth Day and going green can relate to medicine.

While hyperglycemia is a risk factor for microvascular complications, most patients die of macrovascular disease, which is strongly influenced by dyslipidemia.

Is there middle ground when healthcare errors are made?

There is a new drug treatment strategy coming down the pipeline for diabetes, one that targets the kidney.

Researchers at the University of California, Los Angeles, have completed a comparative review of heart bypass surgery and angioplasty that examined the safety and efficacy of each for the treatment of heart blockages.

Some health care IT industry heavyweights have gone so far as to suggest that the iPad will be greatly utilized in the healthcare setting and revolutionize the way we do business. While I do think the iPad is incredibly shiny and is great computer replacement for your grandma, I think it's a bit of an exaggeration to suggest that it will ever be fully adopted by healthcare IT shops.

Modern medicine's technological advances now allow more people to live long enough to develop chronic diseases where the mortality is low but the morbidity high. Hyperchondriacs are acutely aware of this, and perceive great threats in their aging and the future. Hyperchondriacs have similar attributes to hypochondrial patients even as they lack the attendant "symptoms" of a physiologic illness.

Google has just completed a major overhaul of Google Docs that includes redesigned spreadsheet, document, and drawing editors; group chat functionality; and the ability to collaborate with real-time character-by-character mark-up.

A nice surprise buried somewhere in the healthcare reform bill is that, starting next year, Medicare patients will be able to get annual preventative care exams that are paid for by their health insurance.

Robert Matheny, MD, discusses a technology that enables a person's own stem cells to repair damaged cardiovascular tissues by serving as scaffolding.

The highly coveted iPad was released last weekend, and those who were fortunate enough to acquire the new gadget have been quick to discuss what kind of impact it will have on just about any industry. But what kind of impact will the iPad have on healthcare?

The second in my series of trips down memory lane over the last 30 years is on the treatment of congestive heart failure (CHF).

Results from the STOP-AF trial was presented at the recent American College of Cardiology annual conference, and it sure has generated much excitement about atrial fibrillation (AF) ablation. This is a good thing.

Early this morning, President Obama announced that there is no actual need for healthcare reform, and apologized for "making such a big deal about it before."

Atrial fibrillation is independently associated with the risk for all forms of dementia, particularly in patients younger than 70.

Writing in the New England Journal of Medicine, Pamela Hartzband, MD, and Jerome Groopman, MD, explore the changes, good and bad, that the Internet has brought to the practice of medicine.

Individuals across the country are either rejoicing, cursing, or anxious over the historic passing of healthcare reform legislation and for physicians and legal experts alike the question remains: What will these changes mean for the practice of medicine and patients' rights?

Study results published in the American Journal of Infection Control found that Twitter is often used to spread misleading or false information about key healthcare topics, with incorrect information from a single tweet able to reach hundreds of thousands of patients.

Exercise alone does not seem to be effective in preventing weight gain once a woman is already heavy. The latest issue of JAMA reports on a huge study trying to see if different levels of exercise prevent weight gain in women.

HCPLive interviewed Ron Wince, president and CEO of Guidon Performance Solutions about the healthcare reform bill.

We met cute. Classic Hollywood. America caught a glimpse of healthcare reform about a year ago--but only in passing, a little flirtatious hair-toss. Couldn't really see anything, veiled and shadowy, but God did she look great.

I have stayed away from saying much about the health care reform debate so far, but based on the healthcare reform plan passed yesterday, I'd have to say, "Gosh, that doesn't look too bad."

If you've read my first three blogs you've gleaned that I complain a lot, and I think I do it fairly well... LOL. But this last week was a pretty good one, from my perspective anyway.

Sunday evening, the House of Representatives voted 219 to 212 to approve the Senate version of the health reform bill. Lost in all the hoopla surrounding backroom wheeling and dealing and arcane parliamentary procedures has been the response from the physician community, which has been decidedly mixed.

The healthcare sector will see an increase of 4 million jobs by 2018. Unfortunately, we'll continue to see shortages on the doctor's side, meaning that to take advantage of growth, doctors will need to cultivate a strong supporting cast. Here's how to do it.

A new website provides data on how healthy-or unhealthy-every county is.

During the first months of my internship at Milwaukee County Hospital, a distraught family asked me to remain with their loved one while he died. An elderly male with total pulmonary failure, his soul was tethered to earth only by IPPB-assisted respiration.

A novel mitral valve clip was proven to be as safe and effective as open-chest surgery in selected patients with mitral valve regurgitation.

Genetic testing as part of initial management of patients on warfarin reduced hospitalizations by nearly 30%.