Cardiology

Airports are bland portals scattered across the world. It's really when you step outside, walking down the cattle-chute ramp that's lined with well-wishers and people holding up hand-written signs - it's as you emerge, blinking into hot haze and the smell of moist, marinating diesel hits you, that's when you know you're somewhere else.

We had no problems, fortunately, getting into the country with all of our medicines.

If you look at the photo of what finally went into my personal bag to Haiti, it's hard to imagine how much thought and fretting and, frankly, geometric calculation was involved.

New technology may soon allow physicians to see 3-D images of the heart's arteries, simplifying and improving the diagnostic procedure.

Over the past month, we've been monitoring reports that are coming back from friends who have been in Haiti providing care to try and get to places away from the hospital and hearing what they have been taking care of.

Doctors are relatively uninformed about healthcare systems, outcomes research or healthcare economics, specifically the costs of care and cost-benefit.

Haiti trip, 5 days and counting. The overriding question, for me, has become, just how bad is it?

Our expectations have changed a lot as we continue to see, every day, hundreds of tweets about current conditions.

What's been really important is for us to connect with the volunteers who've just returned from Haiti.

Recent study results indicate that women with gout face a greater risk of acute myocardial infarction than do men who have been diagnosed with gout.

This pair of webcasts features presentations on the role of linear ablation in treating atrial fibrillation and targets for non-ionic channel therapies.

These Samsca references will be helpful for patients and physicians alike. Samsca is used as a treatment for hyponatremia, a common problem with CKD.

Both the story of getting to Haiti and the story of getting supplies has been incredibly helped by people online, especially on Twitter.

Identifying the needs of the Haitians who were affected by the earthquake, finding a place to stay and work, and getting there would be impossible for us without the help and coordinated efforts of many people.

Witness the outrageous 20-30% administrative overhead of medical insurance companies....That includes a covert and obnoxious 'cost-savings-is-more-important-than-patient-care' reward system.

The international community of epilepsy specialists is providing financial support and specialized medical equipment contributed by its manufacturer to help re-establish services to epilepsy patients in Haiti halted by the devastating earthquake.

10 days and counting to Haiti. My mind is whizzing and my days are packed with to-do lists that overflow into the next day. I keep trying to project myself into that moment when I return, and stare at my desk and try to figure out where I was and what I was doing before I left. It seems impossible to emotionally transport myself from these moments now, to there, and, then back.

When the earthquake in Haiti happened, my wife and I were at a musical, and I got an iPhone update saying "massive earthquake in Haiti." I went home and started researching and found out just how really terrible the earthquake was. I called up a friend who led a mission trip to Katrina and one following the San Diego wildfires.

Is it just me, or is everyone else out there dying to get their hands on an iPad?

This CME activity reviews the goals and challenges of effective diagnosis and treatment of ischemic heart disease.

New research indicates that catheter ablation is much more effective than drug treatments in patients with atrial fibrillation, a condition that affects more than 2 million Americans.

When our home state of New Jersey became the 14th state in the nation to legalize medical marijuana, OBTN decided to take a closer look at the herbal remedy. With help from oncologists on our advisory board, we sought to filter through the smoke and examine the realities of medical marijuana.

USA Today has published an interesting opinion piece by Kevin Pho, MD, encouraging physicians to embrace social networking tools as a way to interact with patients. For me, the comments on the article were as interesting as the article itself.

A compilation of news summaries and links to additional information about new developments in atherosclerosis research.

Apple's iPad is sleek, innovative, and should change the landscape of the tablet computer market going forward. But for all the things they got right, Apple has a few things to learn if it wants to become the the healthcare industry's tablet leader.

What if the insurance industry profited most when it did the most to enhance effectiveness, efficiency and caring even while absorbing the cost of covering the entire population (pure community-rating)--akin to universal healthcare?

HCPLive has scoured the blogosphere to find the best postings about Haiti. We've included some here.

Come join us for the latest tweets, videos, and other multimedia coverage live from San Francisco.

There's a concept in healthcare insurance where all risks in a community of interest, a market, are pooled - community rating; and then there's experience rating where the healthy are advantaged in more ways then one and the sick are marginalized, paying disproportionately more into the pool just to have a seat at the table.

Splenic artery aneurysm is the most common form of visceral artery aneurysm. Most present asymptomatically with incidental findings on CT or ultrasound which are diagnostic, although about 20% present with vague left upper quadrant abdominal pain. Treatment should be aimed at preserving splenic function whenever possible and endovascular treatments offer a less invasive option to patients than open surgical ligation or resection.