Now that the ‘healthiness’ of products sold at CVS stores is a matter of public discourse, it seems a perfect time to mention the common pain relievers known as Non-Steroidal Anti-inflammatory Drugs (NSAIDs). It just so happens that two FDA advisory committees are meeting today and tomorrow to discuss the cardiovascular risks of NSAIDs. The […]
Category: General Medicine
What follows is a guest post. James Patrick Murphy, MD, MMM is board-certified in Pain, Addiction, and Anesthesiology. He is President of The Greater Louisville Medical Society and the Course Director for OPIOID — Optimal Prescribing Is Our Inherent Duty. Dr Murphy, a friend, writes on the matter of optimal prescribing of pain therapy. It’s […]
When the editors of Medscape asked me to write a Top Ten article on the best Cardiology stories in 2013, I jumped at the chance. I spent a lot of time thinking about Cardiology this year. I was invested. Plus, 2013 was a year for pivoting–big time pivoting. What made news in 2013 was not […]
Some things are hard to see until one leaves his or her normal surroundings. For American doctors, especially procedure-based doctors, it’s easy to get used to the wastefulness and largesse of delivering care. Then you travel. You go to another healthcare system and are left to gasp. An AF ablation ‘costs’ 100,000 in the US, […]
“We should be as demanding of ourselves as we are of those who challenge us.” Dr. Jerome Groopman, writing in the New Rupublic Writing about the medical decision-making surrounding vaccines proved to be sketchy. Yesterday’s post brought stinging criticism from both sides of the debate. A pediatrician felt the structure of the post was patronizing. […]
Just a few weeks before the 2013 American Heart Association Sessions, Shelley Wood, the managing news editor of theheart.org emailed to ask if I was up for going to the meeting. With trips to San Francisco, Denver, Athens and Amsterdam already in the books this year, I had counted 2013 as a win. I was […]
Part one of Progress in Cardiology was a sober look at the current lull in innovation. In part 2, as promised, I tell you what is right and optimistic about my field. There is a lot. The post touches on the return of the basics. Basics in doctoring and basics in therapeutics are huge new […]
However you see the Reverend Al Sharpton, one thing is certain: you see less of him now. His Twitter pic tells you he is proud of his 167-pound weight loss. Good for him, he should be. If you care about health, the disappearance of the Sharpton-of-old is worth mention. His story teaches us a lot, […]
Here is an edited email I received from an athletic colleague: John, Quick question…. A 50 year-old male healthy athlete has the new problem of occasional periods of premature beats. He (or she, it doesn’t matter) has visited the doctor and an ECG shows PVCs, or premature ventricular contractions. Otherwise the history, exam, ECG, ECHO […]
It’s an appropriate day to talk about stress. If you treat heart rhythm problems, you can’t miss the effects of stress. It matters so much. Both acute and chronic–though mostly chronic–stress wreaks havoc on the heart’s electrical system. And it’s not just the heart rhythm; the chronic inflammation that goes with long-lasting stress negatively impacts […]
Sorry this took most of the week to get out. (There was a good reason.) Better late than never I suppose. On Day 3 of the 2013 American College of Cardiology meeting, I woke up well rested and inspired to squeeze in as much learning as possible. The first order of business was putting the […]