Test your medicine knowledge with the MKSAP challenge, in partnership with the American College of Physicians. A 32-year-old man is evaluated for an intermittent pruritic rash of 8 years’ duration. Medical history is significant for mild persiste…
Category: Conditions
How to cut avocados: tips from an orthopedic surgeon
Love avocados, but hate cutting them. They are slippery little rascals and are responsible for many nasty hand injuries. Stab wounds from using knives in the kitchen are not fun but are reported daily. Accidental self-inflicted knife injuries to digits…
How can we really stop obesity?
I met a young man in my clinic recently, who came for treatment of obesity. He was only 26, yet suffered from obesity throughout his life — now reaching a debilitating 420 pounds. His explanation for how he developed obesity was a reflection of the iss…
It’s time to update the stethoscope
Perhaps the most important aspect of a physician’s role is our diagnostic capabilities. Truly, if we cannot identify and diagnose a patient’s pathology with reasonable accuracy, we cannot effectively treat them and may even cause greater harm. Let’s lo…
Do you know why you’re having surgery?
During my third year of medical school, I completed a clinical rotation in surgery. I was certain that it would be horrible. I envisioned myself in the OR, getting lightheaded, passing out onto the sterile field and being yelled at by my attending phys…
The measles outbreak, media imagery, and the thoughtful focus of fear
A rapidly escalating measles outbreak near Portland, OR has led local health officials to declare a public health emergency, with 44 confirmed cases, almost all in unimmunized children, almost all of them in unimmunized children. Meanwhile, New York an…
Is it orthopaedic surgery or orthopedic surgery?
In 1741, a French physician named Nicolas Andre coined a new word, Orthopédie, and published a book on the topic. Andry described how physicians and families could correct or prevent skeletal abnormalities in children. At that time, the treatment metho…
MKSAP: 66-year-old man with ST-elevation myocardial infarction
Test your medicine knowledge with the MKSAP challenge, in partnership with the American College of Physicians. A 66-year-old man is evaluated in the hospital following ST-elevation myocardial infarction treated with primary percutaneous coronary interv…
The growing role of end-of-life activists
Brittany Maynard was diagnosed with grade 2 astrocytoma, a form of brain cancer on January 1, 2014, her cancer also returned in April 2014, where her diagnosis was elevated to grade 4 astrocytoma, also known as glioblastoma, with a prognosis of just si…
Are penicillin allergies fake news?
Penicillin allergies are fake news. More than 95 percent of people with penicillin allergies are not allergic. A recent article highlighted the opportunity anethesiologists have in helping evaluate beta-lactam allergies, in particular to cephalosporin…
