Endocrinology

Patients with gastroparesis may be helped with a combination of gastric electrical stimulation and surgery to widen the pylorus, a Texas team reports.

Patients who are obese may have a genetic makeup that causes their stomachs to empty faster than those of normal-weight people. Investigators say there is a drug that can help.

Edward Damiano, PhD, Professor of Biomedical Engineering, Boston University shared his 2013-2015 research results surrounding the acclaimed bionic pancreas at the 24th American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists Nashville, TN.

More than 13,000 physicians and cardiovascular team members attended the ACC 2015 meeting in San Diego on March 14-16, 2015. In this issue of Cardiology Review, we focus on 6 important studies presented at ACC 2015: LEGACY, OSLER, PEGASUS, EMBRACE-STEMI, MATRIX, and CoreValve.

Mortality in patients with type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM) is higher than in the general population, and whether mortality improves or alters with glycemic control is unknown.

Testosterone Replacement Therapy may be the way to go for some patients, but for others bioidenticals and other medications may provide better treatment over a shorter period of time.

Men may not always want to go to the doctor but for an issue like low testosterone seeking treatment can make a considerable difference in their daily quality of life.

While the research being done in endocrinology using genetics is only done in a few select locations, that work can make a big difference in helping a patient answer some of their most pressing questions.

Sometimes even the most seasoned endocrinologists will encounter a patient who they have trouble finding a diagnosis. There is now an effort to use advances in science to help find answers for some of the field's most troubling questions

For younger male patients with low testosterone traditional treatments may not be the best method for what could be a temporary condition.

When doctors diagnose patients with diabetes they are only at the beginning stages of treatment which will last patients for many years if not the rest of their lives. How they handle that process is just as important as the process itself.

For diabetes patients being diagnosed with the disease is a life altering event. How they are informed about their condition can make a world of difference in how they approach their treatment.

The use of genetic testing in endocrinology may be new, but in the future it could prove to be a valuable tool as the medical community looks to move beyond gastric bypass and other treatments for obesity and other conditions.

Patients with inflammatory bowel diseases are sometimes treated with immunosuppressive drugs, particularly if they have a significant co-morbidity. A Boston team of researchers found that when that co-morbidity is diabetes, patients are at greater risk of coming down with infections.

In early testing the bionic pancreas has shown strong results for treating patients with type 1 diabetes. Over the next two years more work will go into streamlining the device and further testing in hopes of receiving FDA approval.

The final version of the bionic pancreas will be a more compact device but the first version is a combination mobile technology and existing glucose monitors and insulin pumps.

Patients with type 1 diabetes could get a powerful new treatment tool as work continues on the development of a bionic pancreas. The device is still undergoing testing and tweaking but initial results have shown promise from an early model.

There are several reasonable options for intensifying this patient's blood pressure treatment. Which one is optimal, though, given his labs and concomitant meds?

In the era of progressive technology, the diagnostic modalities for stable coronary artery disease are various. The original cardiac stress test has been used in the past for many purposes, including diagnosis of obstructive coronary artery disease in a patient with chest pain as well as risk stratification for ischemia. More recently, coronary computed tomographic angiography (CCTA) has emerged as a great tool to diagnose anatomically obstructive coronary lesions. However, for the past few years, obtaining functional and physiologic data such as comparative fractional flow reserve (FFR) has become the gold standard for evidence of ischemia on CCTA similar to invasive angiography.

Timothy Garvey, MD, FACE, Professor at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, and Chair of the AACE Obesity Scientific Committee, provided an overview of the AACE Module and Tool Kit for Obesity Medicine at the 24th Annual Scientific & Clinical Congress in Nashville, TN.

The use of the antimalarial drug hydroxychloroquine may be linked to a lower risk of hyperlipidemia among early rheumatoid arthritis patients when compared to the use of methotrexate.

Allergy sufferers may refrain from voicing sniffle complaints once they hear the benefits associated with the warmer weather.

China's type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) epidemic continues to be a pervasive, costly health care issue, with proportions surpassed only by epidemic here in the US. The majority of T2DM treatment guidelines recommend metformin as the first-line anti-hyperglycemic agent for diabetes management due to its relative safety, tolerability, and cost-effectiveness.

The American Diabetes Association published its revised Standards of Medical Care in Diabetes in April 2015. The American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists (AACE) also issued an updated guideline in April 2015.

As P4P strategies gain popularity, the need for accurate assessment tools becomes more and more apparent-many physicians support PCP but believe that current measures are inaccurate. A common problem is that physicians appear to be penalized if they treat the elderly or patients who have reduced access to care or drug treatment.

Studies show that nutrient-dense yogurt may benefit individuals with lactose intolerance, constipation and diarrheal diseases, hypertension, cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, and certain types of cancer.

For more than a decade, it has been an annual ritual to read headlines about a crisis brewing in Congress as it struggled to avert a looming Medicare disaster stemming from the imminent pay cut to Medicare physicians mandated by the "SGR". Like a broken record each time, spurred by warnings of physician groups of the dire consequences the slash in Medicare fees would have on medical practices and Medicare patients, Congress scrambled at the 12th hour to put off the mandated cuts for another year.

There have been demonstrated benefits to implementing antimicrobial stewardship programs in medical facilities of all sizes. While they have become more popular, there are several factors that need to be considered before making that move.

When a patient goes to see their primary care physician they often do so with the hopes of getting the care they need with their doctor. Whether they need to be seen by a specialist is often a more subjective decision by their healthcare provider.