Articles related to PRACTICE PEARLS

A single, unifying etiology for FMD is not yet known, and this article from Practical Neurology characterizes diagnosing the disorder as “a process involving a careful history and examination for positive signs to rule in the diagnosis, while considering the differential diagnoses of functional presentations.”

A follow-up to the discussion we recently presented, this article asks doctors to look beyond the physical health of the patient to recognize and potentially treat muscle dysmorphia, the notion in which an individual is preoccupied with the idea that his or her body build is too small or insufficiently muscular.

Recent trends in locally advanced rectal cancer treatment have focused on risk-stratification of patients and tailoring treatment to achieve the best outcome while limiting the impact on long-term quality of life. There has been increasing interest in watch-and-wait approaches to achieve organ preservation. This article provides an overview of some major developments in the multimodal treatment of locally advanced rectal cancer, reviews controversial issues of the watch-and-wait approach and opportunities to personally tailor and reduce treatment, and provides an algorithm example of how such a personalized, tailored, adaptive, and reduced treatment could look like in the future.

A commentary with perspective on the clinical practice implications of the Comparison of Outcomes of Antibiotic Drugs and Appendectomy (CODA) trial, which demonstrated short-term noninferiority of antibiotic therapy vs. surgical therapy for patients diagnosed with acute appendicitis.

Harvard assistant professor of psychiatry comments on a new trend to treat BPD by generalists using brief steps of care. This approach enables clinicians who are not specialists to diagnose the disorder and guide the patient in navigating care one step at a time — in any clinical setting.

Up to half of all patients with metastatic HER2+ breast cancer will eventually acquire brain metastases, which are associated with reduced overall survival and decreased quality of life. This comprehensive review examines current recommendations in 1st, 2nd, and later line therapies, discusses the status of novel agents, and provides recommendations to standardize care.