Articles related to Internal Medicine

The investigational agent – known as REGEN-COV (casirivimab and imdevimab) – was previously granted the Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) for the treatment of mild to moderate COVID-19. Now, those who are at high risk for progression to severe COVID-19, including hospitalization or death, have an option.

Is the debate over? The Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR) discusses this case-control study, which showed that people are twice as likely to get infected again if they are unvaccinated. The debate over vaccinations has been bitter so far, but the results present comforting news for those vaccinated but worried about the fast-spreading Delta variant…while alerting the unvaccinated of their much higher potential to become infected again.

After diagnosis during a partial mastectomy, this patient’s estimated blood loss was 58 mL, causing anemia and requiring a red blood cell transfusion along with ventriculoperitoneal drain placement. With a substantive bleeding history before the diagnosis, what would you do next with this patient? Work her up for von Willebrand disease? Do a complete blood count test to look at platelet count, a peripheral smear to look at the morphology of the platelets, and a coagulation profile? Offer genetic testing for fibrinogen disorders? What would your next steps be? Read the full case presentation and expert opinion to see how your peers responded.

Publication: Blood Key Points: The authors identified the following four prognostic indicators that could help control CNS relapse in children with ALL. 1) Prephase dexamethasone treatment, 2) delayed intrathecal therapy, 3) use of total intravenous anesthesia during intrathecal therapy, and 4) flow cytometry examination of diagnostic CSF Design: 7,640 consecutive patients treated on Chinese Children’s Cancer Group ALL-2015 protocol

Publication: JAMA Oncology Objective: With NSCLC having relatively poor outcomes and the significant data supporting the use of metformin as an antineoplastic agent, the researchers wanted to compare overall or progression-free survival in chemoradiation alone vs. chemoradiation + metformin stage III NSCLC patients. Design: Randomized clinical trial, open-label, phase 2 study; 167 eligible patients

Expecting perfection when it comes to charting? Are you overly self-critical, telling yourself you’ll never get the charts done or you’re just not good at it? Do you go too big, watching your “identity-forming” charting spiral out of control? Keep calm and listen to this KevinMD.com podcast from Dr. Gail Gazelle, an internal medicine physician and the author of the book Everyday Resilience, who shares helpful advice for doctors struggling with these three mistakes.