Departments

Over the years I have accepted humor as a coping mechanism for physicians. Humor has helped me to relieve tension, defuse tense situations, counteract grim aspects of medicine, and alleviate pain.

A student physician assistant sustained blunt trauma to her right ear, hit hard in the head in the emergency department while treating a college football player who had gotten quite drunk after his school's homecoming game. The resultant drone gave the author an opportunity for an improbable diagnosis.

"I don't know exactly how to tell you my problem, Doc. I'm not old enough to have difficulty like this. And I'll tell you this much, there's no way I could discuss it with your nurse....

Can you distinguish between similar plaques? Our dermatologic look-alike may stump you.

Two women present with growing scalp nodules. One patient had a nodule that was increasing in size, though not pruritic or painful. The other patient reported unintentional weight loss....

Sun exposure is the common link between these two conditions. Can you tell them apart?

A patient presents with complaints of itchy and uncomfortable red bumps on his skin at sites of pressure, but the lesions typically dissipate after an hour.

A commonly-used topical antibiotic is applied to...

A young girl presents with a rash accompanied by itching, fatigue, and malaise. Her past medical history included....

As a health-care professional, this patient sought informal options that led to a delay in...

A number of diagnostic possibilities are raised, including allergy, asthma, postnasal drip, and reflux.

The patient's pain and swelling failed to resolve despite previous hospitalization and IV cephalosporin therapy.

An IV calcium channel blocker to reduce BP from The Medicines Company

Alvesco (ciclesonide) from Sepracor Pharmacologic is an inhaled corticosteroid with indication for maintenance treatment of asthma as prophylactic therapy.

Relistor (methylnaltrexone bromide) from Wyeth, an opioid antagonist with indication for opioid-induced constipation; for subcutaneous (SC) injection.

In the future, more and more children with cardiac risk factors, such as obesity and diabetes, will be treated in the primary-care setting.

Start with antisecretory drugs, i.e., proton-pump inhibitors, then make medication, dosage, and lifestyle changes to suit the individual patient.

The revised position statement issued by the North American Menopause Society evaluates the latest evidence and offers recommendations on who should pursue hormone therapy.

After referring his patient to a dermatologist to have a mole looked at, the clinician considered the case resolved. Not so fast.

Honesty really is the best policy, especially when it comes to taking responsibility and avoiding lawsuits.

A gridiron pro sues his team's doctor and physician assistant after repeat concussions sideline his promising career.

Annual percentage increase in new diagnoses of malignant melanoma from 1992 to 2004.

Percentage of people diagnosed with asthma who don't have the disease.

The most recent evidence on the management of influenza

The various clinical presentations of this painful form of arthritis result from tissue deposition of monosodium urate crystals.

A Cochrane review of five randomized trials compared thrombolysis vs. surgery as initial treatment in 1,283 patients with acute limb ischemia.