Before I even start, let me say this to my triathlete friends… I really like you all. And…I am sorry for how I feel about your sport’s pinnacle, the Ironman triathlon. But I was poked into writing this post. When asked the question of whether the Ironman is safe for the middle-aged heart, what was […]
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Thanks for getting better…
I would like to tell you the details of the patient I saw today. And she’d probably be good with it. But I can’t tell you anything specific, and that’s sad because the story approaches that too-often-used word, “epic.” It all began a couple years ago when she was first diagnosed by a nurse practitioner. […]
How could it have happened? He was strong; do you remember how he could get uphill? He was fit; can you ever recall seeing him out of shape? His blood pressure was perfect, low even. He bragged about his exemplary cholesterol levels. He was lean and mean. Wait a minute…what was that about being mean? […]
The tweet said that experts were debating the merits of a polypill? I had to click that link. Yes. I was right; there were actually “eminent†cardiologists suggesting that a pill containing 4 different medicines (a statin, aspirin, beta-blocker and an ACE-inhibitor) “might change the face of cardiovascular medicine.” The direct quote from Dr Salim […]
You can mark August 2011 as an amazing month for news in the treatment of atrial fibrillation (AF). In this post, I will attempt to share what I have learned about the two new blood-thinning drugs, apixaban and rivaroxaban–both Factor Xa inhibitors. (Disclaimer: this is not a book chapter, rather a blog post from a […]
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Breaking news in AF treatment
Good Sunday morning friends. Yesterday brought the news of yet another important breakthrough in the treatment of AF. Apixaban, another non-warfarin blood-thinner, the third all told, was found to be both superior to warfarin in preventing strokes, associated with less bleeding and had no significant side effects. There’s a lot of data to digest. I’m […]
There’s a lot about health care news that can get you down. There’s the un-insured. The obesity crisis. Stifling regulation. Adverse effects from drugs and devices. Mistakes even. Today, though, I would like to tell you about an inspiring success story here at my little hospital–a cabin in the woods of sorts. Our motto is […]
It’s Wednesday, so I would like to tell you about some cool things I learned this past week about the science of how exercise can be used as a treatment for three common ailments. First, some background about exercise: The great thing about exercising every day that you eat is that this magic potion is […]
Doctors that treat atrial fibrillation (AF) are getting close to celebrating the one-year anniversary of having a substitute for warfarin. As an early adopter of the novel new blood-thinner, I would like to share some (almost) one year-old observations on dabigatran (Pradaxa). First, the science behind dabigatran is stellar. The landmark RE-LY trial studied 18,000 […]
It may seem a little formal to say this, but I would like to start by stating my goals for today’s post: Introduce the concept of the athletic heart; Touch upon the notion of sudden death of the athlete; Explain what an ECG really is, and how it may help diagnose heart disease; Review a […]
One of the coolest things about keeping a medical blog is interacting with people. It’s immensely gratifying to hear from folks that stumble upon my site. Take this example: While cooling down after tonight’s ride, a cycling friend and ER doc mentioned that my website turned up on his Google search of the new blood-thinner […]