Latest Updates

Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease

    • 2020 ATS and 2019 CTS practice guidelines delineating pharmacologic management of COPD.
    • Introduced the new Global Initiative for Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease (GOLD) Combined COPD Assessment using symptoms of breathlessness, spirometric classification, and risk of exacerbation to evaluate patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and guide treatment
    • Epidemiology section updated to reflect new data suggesting a decline in the age-adjusted prevalence of COPD, likely as a result of decreased smoking rates
    • Multiple new common genetic risk factors associated with COPD described, including a recently discovered functional genetic variant
    • Discussion about the long-term care of patients with COPD extensively revised to include the most recent trials assessing indications for long-acting inhaled bronchodilators and inhaled corticosteroids, among other therapies
    • Recent evidence supporting lung cancer screening in patients with COPD reviewed

Complications Following Bariatric Surgery

    • Bariatric surgery is the most effective therapy for obesity and associated metabolic diseases
    • 200,000 bariatric procedures are performed annually in the US with an overall low complication rate  
    • Laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy and Roux-en-Y gastric bypass are the most commonly performed procedures and each have unique complication profiles

Varicose Vein Surgery

    • In an attempt to minimize postoperative discomfort while maintaining the benefits of saphenous vein ablation, RF alternating current has been employed to effect rapid thermic electrocoagulation of the vein wall and its valves. 
    • Ligation of the GSV at the saphenofemoral junction has been widely practiced in the belief that it would control gravitational reflux while preserving the vein for subsequent arterial bypass.
    • Over the years, surgical treatises have devoted a great deal of space to clinical examination of the patient with varicose veins. Numerous clinical tests have been described, many of which carry the names of famous persons intereste­d in venous pathophysiology. 

Clinical Management of Anxiety Disorders

    • Identification of major anxiety disorders observed in adults according to the DSM-5
    • Description of physiologic, cognitive, and behavioral components of anxiety and their relevance to diagnosis and treatment
    • Review of cognitive-behavioral treatments and their efficacy for anxiety disorders in adults
    • Review of pharmacologic treatments and their efficacy for anxiety disorders in adults

Parkinson Disease: Epidemiology, Pathology, and Clinical Diagnosis

    • The contribution of genetics to Parkinson disease (PD) is suggested by the increased risk of disease associated with a family history, and community-based studies that found a 1.5- to threefold increased risk of PD in persons with an affected first-degree relative. However, the most convincing evidence to date has come with the discovery of monogenic forms of PD. Highly penetrant mendelian forms of PD have now been associated with mutations in different genes but, in most populations, causative mutations in these genes have been found in fewer than 5% of patients. Nevertheless, different variants with incomplete penetrance in the LRRK2 and the GBA gene are strong risk factors for PD, and are especially prevalent in some populations. Mutations of the GBA gene are indeed the most important risk factor yet discovered for PD; the presence of a GBA mutation in homozygous or heterozygous form is associated with an approximately 20-fold increase in the risk for PD.

Sepsis

    • Sepsis syndromes have been redefined (Sepsis-3 definitions) by international experts, based on sepsis mortality data extracted large administrative databases.
    • National focus has turned to early identification of sepsis as a key determinant of outcomes. International critical care experts have recommended using the qSOFA criteria in the Emergency Department setting to identify sepsis risk in patients prior to obtaining diagnostics.
    • The Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has added a sepsis quality measure (SEP-1) as a reporting requirement for all US hospital tied to Medicare & Medicaid reimbursement. This measure has increased awareness of sepsis performance and focused quality efforts on improvement.
    • 2018 update to bundles to simplify to 1-hour bundle.

Sepsis

    • Sepsis syndromes have been redefined (Sepsis-3 definitions) by international experts, based on sepsis mortality data extracted large administrative databases.
    • National focus has turned to early identification of sepsis as a key determinant of outcomes. International critical care experts have recommended using the qSOFA criteria in the Emergency Department setting to identify sepsis risk in patients prior to obtaining diagnostics.
    • The Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has added a sepsis quality measure (SEP-1) as a reporting requirement for all US hospital tied to Medicare & Medicaid reimbursement. This measure has increased awareness of sepsis performance and focused quality efforts on improvement.
    • 2018 update to bundles to simplify to 1-hour bundle.

Sepsis

    • Sepsis syndromes have been redefined (Sepsis-3 definitions) by international experts, based on sepsis mortality data extracted large administrative databases.
    • National focus has turned to early identification of sepsis as a key determinant of outcomes. International critical care experts have recommended using the qSOFA criteria in the Emergency Department setting to identify sepsis risk in patients prior to obtaining diagnostics.
    • The Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has added a sepsis quality measure (SEP-1) as a reporting requirement for all US hospital tied to Medicare & Medicaid reimbursement. This measure has increased awareness of sepsis performance and focused quality efforts on improvement.
    • 2018 update to bundles to simplify to 1-hour bundle.
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