Heart and cardiology

1,642 articles · Since 2004

Articles, page 19

Is shared decision-making applicable to only a minuscule fraction of encounters?

December 21, 2018Dec 21, 20182

I recently attended a cardiology conference where a speaker proudly presented a case of shared decision-making. It involved a young female athlete who had survived a cardiac arrest and was diagnosed as having an anomaly in her heart conduction system,…

She had received an implantable cardioverter-defibrillator, and the decision in question had to do with whether she could resume sports activities or not. …

Conditions and diseases

AEDs save lives: Why more people should know how to use them

Nathan Scherer, DO

December 18, 2018Dec 18, 2018

Did you know that over 300,000 people a year visit a doctor for symptoms of anaphylaxis — yet, thankfully, between 1999-2010 only 2,458 died from anaphylaxis? Compare that with the fact that each year anywhere between 180,000 to 450,000 people…

Did you know that over 300,000 people a year visit a doctor for symptoms of anaphylaxis — yet, thankfully, between 1999-2010 only 2,458 died from anaphylaxis?

Compare that with the fact that each year anywhere between 180,000 to 450,000 people in the United States die from sudden cardiac arrest (SCA). While both anaphylaxis and SCA can be fatal, the dramatic difference in survivability between these two events is that the public …

Physician voices

What my dog taught me about my patients’ feelings

Elizabeth Rubin Ribak, MD

December 14, 2018Dec 14, 2018

My puppy looked sick. Not just any sick but “get an attending, two large bore IVs, start fluids, get her on a monitor, move her to the resuscitation bay” sick. And I was scared. “You have to take her to the vet!” I pleaded with my husband as I sprinted down the street to get home to get the keys to the car.

As I sat at home waiting for updates …

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Conditions and diseases

How youth sports might be a risk factor for heart disease

Francesca Byrne, MD

December 13, 2018Dec 13, 20182

“If only there was just one more creative way to increase my child’s sugar intake,” said no parent ever. As a pediatric cardiologist, I spend much of my day counseling parents of children with obesity, hypertension, and hyperlipidemia. I tell…

“If only there was just one more creative way to increase my child’s sugar intake,” said no parent ever.

As a pediatric cardiologist, I spend much of my day counseling parents of children with obesity, hypertension, and hyperlipidemia. I tell them to increase their physical activity. Remove all junk food from the house. Join a sports team. Cut back on refined sugars. And of course, I am always thrilled when a …

Drugs and prescribing

The recent fish oil and vitamin D studies: Go beyond the headlines

Mary Chris Jaklevic

December 1, 2018Dec 1, 20183

Results of a much-anticipated trial on fish oil and vitamin D generated conflicting headlines recently. Some stories declared good news about the popular supplements. Reuters wrote that fish oil “can dramatically reduce the odds of a heart attack while vitamin…

Results of a much-anticipated trial on fish oil and vitamin D generated conflicting headlines recently.

Some stories declared good news about the popular supplements.

Reuters wrote that fish oil “can dramatically reduce the odds of a heart attack while vitamin D’s benefits seem to come from lowering the risk of death from cancer.”

The Washingto n Post reported fish-oil medications were found “effective” in protecting …

Physician voices

Doctors overcorrect too often

Hans Duvefelt, MD

November 12, 2018Nov 12, 20183

Back when cholesterol target numbers ruled unopposed (before 2013), we all checked fasting lipids every three months. Before 2012, we also checked liver function quarterly in hapless riders on the cholesterol pill merry-go-round. That year the FDA announced there had…

I have many colleagues who still do this, and who also routinely monitor routine labs quarterly …

Read more…

Doctors overcorrect too often

Conditions and diseases

The carefully crafted way of how health misinformation spreads

Mary Chris Jaklevic

November 9, 2018Nov 9, 2018

Effective clickbait doesn’t just happen. It’s carefully crafted. Take this wildly misleading article from CNN: Not exercising worse for your health than smoking, diabetes, and heart disease, study reveals. It’s one example — among many generated daily by various news…

Effective clickbait doesn’t just happen. It’s carefully crafted.

Take this wildly misleading article from CNN: Not exercising worse for your health than smoking, diabetes, and heart disease, study reveals.

It’s one example — among many generated daily by various news outlets — of how a mundane observational study can be transformed into viral internet gold. In the days after it was published, this story was liked and …

Conditions and diseases

What we can learn from the tragic deaths of CEOs

Joel Kahn, MD

October 26, 2018Oct 26, 2018

An excerpt from Dead Execs Don't Get Bonuse$: The Ultimate Guide to Surviving Your Career With a Healthy Heart. The details of the careers and tragic deaths of these CEOs are a matter of public record, and the disruption that…

An excerpt from Dead Execs Don’t Get Bonuse$: The Ultimate Guide to Surviving Your Career With a Healthy Heart.

The details of the careers and tragic deaths of these CEOs are a matter of public record, and the disruption that followed their deaths was enormous. Take Ranjan Das, for example. At age forty-two, he was the regional CEO of SAP for the Indian subcontinent and the youngest CEO of …

Health technology

Why physicians should embrace fitness trackers

Nita K. Thingalaya, MD

October 18, 2018Oct 18, 20183

I mused while staring blankly towards the electronic tracking board, where I foresee reading the triage call "My tracker said, I have AFib." I delved into what is in my armamentarium to handle this crisis of the digital age. The…

I mused while staring blankly towards the electronic tracking board, where I foresee reading the triage call “My tracker said, I have AFib.” I delved into what is in my armamentarium to handle this crisis of the digital age. The stethoscope around my neck suddenly seemed archaic.

We the physicians have resigned to the redundant clicks on the electronic medical records (EMR). While still recovering from this inescapable occupational hazard of …

Conditions and diseases

My brother, a physician, died. Could I have done more?

Ki Park, MD

October 11, 2018Oct 11, 20185

Healers, scientists, leaders — these are all terms that we equate with being a physician. As we spend our years if not decades in training, we strive to become all of these components. But when you miss something — the small details, the nuances of a history and these are the clues that could lead to healing it can be disheartening. When it comes to your own family member, such …

Conditions and diseases

MKSAP: 56-year-old man with a family history of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM)

mksap

October 6, 2018Oct 6, 2018

Test your medicine knowledge with the MKSAP challenge, in partnership with the American College of Physicians. A 56-year-old man is being evaluated after his 18-year-old son had a syncopal episode during a high school basketball game and was diagnosed with…

Test your medicine knowledge with the MKSAP challenge, in partnership with the American College of Physicians.

A 56-year-old man is being evaluated after his 18-year-old son had a syncopal episode during a high school basketball game and was diagnosed with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM). The patient has had no symptoms, including with physical activity such as golfing or playing tennis. Medical history is unremarkable, and a review of family history …

Conditions and diseases

A reminder that science is never settled

Brian C. Joondeph, MD

October 5, 2018Oct 5, 20185

Science is in a constant state of flux. Theories are put forth to explain natural phenomena, based on the best knowledge of the day. These theories are tested. If they correctly predict future observations, the theories become more credible. If,…

What is considered “settled science” one day may be turned upside down the next day as new data comes …

Health technology

Should the Apple Watch monitor your heart?

Anthony Pearson, MD

September 26, 2018Sep 26, 2018

The announcement that the next iteration of the Apple Watch can both monitor the wearer’s heart rhythm and, if a suspicious reading emerges, perform an electrocardiogram, could be a boon for users and their doctors. Or it could be a…

The new watch continuously monitors the wearer’s heart rate. It …

Conditions and diseases

A physician with congenital heart disease

Sweta Shah, DO

September 21, 2018Sep 21, 20182

Everyone always jokes with doctors, “What happens if you get sick?” Some of us laugh off the question. The busy schedule of health care often means our own health comes last. However, what happens when it’s a chronic disease that…

I am a family medicine physician dealing with congenital heart disease (CHD). Saying that someone has congenital heart disease …

Medical education

Music is creating beauty in the most surprising of places

Glenna Wong

September 11, 2018Sep 11, 2018

“Good morning, Mr. S! How are you feeling today?” I ask as I step into his hospital room. Yesterday, Mr. S was admitted for infective endocarditis and has been tolerating antibiotic treatment well. I am a medical student on my…

“I’m feeling fine,” he says, and I proceed to ask about how he slept, if he’s experiencing any chest pain, palpitations, shortness of breath, …

Physician voices

Moving beyond National Women Physicians Day

Lisa Sieczkowski, MD

September 11, 2018Sep 11, 2018

The supervising resident’s Voalte phone dinged: “Dr. Mel: Please meet Dr. Rosemond at room 514 for Cardiology rounds.” She scrolled up a few texts and saw that her male counterpart who had rounded the previous day had been addressed as…

The supervising resident’s Voalte phone dinged: “Dr. Mel: Please meet Dr. Rosemond at room 514 for Cardiology rounds.”

She scrolled up a few texts and saw that her male counterpart who had rounded the previous day had been addressed as “Dr. Stearnes.”

When Mel mentioned the discrepancy to Jacob Stearnes, he just shrugged and said, “The cardiology nurse probably doesn’t even know my first name.”

When Mel mentioned the discrepancy to her husband, …

Physician voices

A physician’s return to the ivory tower

Side Hustle Scrubs, MD

September 9, 2018Sep 9, 2018

I started internship July 1, 2008, as a terrified 25-year-old blank slate. Most days started with a combination of nausea and dread as I pumped myself up in the resident parking lot — conveniently located a mere 1/2 mile from…

The days were long. The nights were longer. Every month I had the chance to be a brand new idiot as a …

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A physician’s return to the ivory tower

Physician voices

Gifts given and gifts taken away

DocG, MD

September 6, 2018Sep 6, 20184

There are gifts given and gifts taken away. And Jacob’s abilities could be described as nothing less than a gift. He was a violin virtuoso. Or at least, that was the word the university professor of violin pedagogy fumbled with over and over again as she ushered the eight-year-old Jacob out of her office and cornered his parents. He was immediately enrolled in an advanced curriculum, taken out of …

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Gifts given and gifts taken away

Health technology

Is Watson the answer to all of our problems?

Jason Liebowitz, MD

August 29, 2018Aug 29, 20184

Last year, a cardiologist at my institution presented the story of a patient he had cared for and correctly diagnosed with a not uncommon condition after several other physicians had failed to do so. The patient was a 72-year-old man with near syncope after exercise for several months, with no other symptoms or clues to the diagnosis. The cardiologist asked him to discuss each episode in detail, and the man …

Conditions and diseases

The problem with telephone messages in primary care

Hans Duvefelt, MD

August 21, 2018Aug 21, 201832

Sometimes I wonder if I am wired differently from other doctors, in terms of what I remember on my own and what I need some help with. The other day I got a “medical call” that simply said, “Mr. Brown…

Sometimes I wonder if I am wired differently from other doctors, in terms of what I remember on my own and what I need some help with.

The other day I got a “medical call” that simply said, “Mr. Brown called to report his blood pressure is 120/80.”

With more than fifty calls in my inbox and no memory of what the issue was with Mr. Brown’s current blood pressure, I replied: …

Heart and cardiology

Articles, page 19

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