His wife said, “I couldn’t wake him from his nap.” The coroner told her he died in his sleep without moving a muscle. His family doctor told me that Parkinson’s had slowed him greatly in the past year. He was 81, and the day before, he had enjoyed the usual lunch with friends. His multi-lead […]
Reading news reports on the future–and present–of doctoring can get gloomy. The question came from the quiet one in the back. Self-reflection came upon me immediately. There were so many technical questions: AF ablation, when to use an LV lead, who gets an ICD, and how do you decide on warfarin–just to name a few. […]
Unfortunately, there are therapies in medical practice which become worse than the disease they are intended to treat. Us heart specialists are not immune from these transformative therapies. Even dumber than the ineffective rhythm drug that comes highly recommended by academia, is the LifeVest: a wearable automatic shock collar for people. He was in his […]
Education just rocks. For me, life is best when I am learning new things. It is why medicine is so fulfilling. Learning happens on a daily basis. The blogging disease has pushed out TV, except the occasional TIVO’ed News Hour. Jim Lehrer introduced me to one of the most remarkable educational websites ever. And it […]
The heart’s resilience and fixability is striking. That is, compared to the frailty of other components of the birthday-ravaged body. We cardiologists are advantaged by the attention heart disease garners in the minds of patients. We get priority over the polyp, or the bulging disc. But should we? He is an older man living a […]
I walked out of the hospital with heavy shoulders and my head held low. It was many years ago as a younger doctor. An arrhythmia arose from a difficult area to navigate to, and in trying hard to ablate this area, a terrible complication ensued. The rest of the day was spent dealing with this […]
From the drug rep of the huge pharmaceutical company promoting a new anti-arrhythmic drug: “Dr Mandrola, you are a leader in the area so we would like you to be on our speakers bureau. Of course, you are reimbursed for your time” “Really?” Maybe they know about my blog, I wonder. “Sure, we can send […]
Years ago at the time of the original cardiac defibrillator implant (ICD), he was a vibrant active man who had suffered from an arrhythmia related to scar from a remote heart attack. Things change. Life has chapters. It is amazing what can happen to a person during the 5-7 year battery life of an ICD. […]
Nearly eight weeks have passed since young Vincent Nold suddenly left us. His passage from life on Earth was as tragic as can be imagined. The grief invaded the biology of our existence bringing a palpable tension to our hearts. Such sadness was previously unknown to me. Staci and I coached Vincent in running, and […]
The sky is so blue, the sun so bright, and the people are nearly perfect. It is southern California, near the ocean and mountains. The occasion was a vacation to ride bikes with friends. Not hybrid cruiser bikes; these are carbon fibre multi-suspension machines meant to navigate rocks, dirt, sand, gravel and even mountain streams. […]
In the era of expensive and technologically advanced tests like MRI, CT and PET scans, how could a 25 dollar ECG save many lives? A recent study on the merits of adding a screening ECG to the routine screening of young athletes has created a stir, with many words written in the lay press. For […]