SMJ // June 2012, Volume 105 - Issue 6

Invited Commentary

Commentary on “Relation Between Prefracture Characteristics and Perioperative Complications in the Elderly Adult Patient With Hip Fracture”

Hip fractures in elderly adults are associated with a staggeringly high short- and long-term mortality rate that cannot be explained by a fracture alone. Furthermore, the functional limitations of survivors can be pronounced.1 Many issues, including preoperative medical evaluation, timing of surgery, perioperative management of chronic medical problems, deep venous…

Invited Commentary

Commentary on “Epidemiology of the Reported Severity of Copperhead (Agkistrodon contortrix) Snakebite”

Walter and colleagues have reviewed trends of snakebite severity as reported in the annual reports of the American Association of Poison Control Centers. Their analysis of rates in a period of 25 years leads to discussions regarding antivenom and how it has influenced treatment and affected outcomes, poison control center…

Letter to the Editor

Recurrence of Helicobacter pylori After Eradication in Patients with Peptic Ulcer

To the Editor: It was a great honor that our original article “Second-Line Levofloxacin-Based Triple Therapy’s Efficiency for Helicobacter pylori Eradication in Patients With Peptic Ulcer’’ was published in the Southern Medical Journal.1 In the study, we reported that the eradication rate of the twice per day for 7 days…

Editorial

Advance Directives to Physicians: What Every Physician Should Know

Advance care planning is the process of working with patients to consider, converse about, and write about their future healthcare plans in the event that they are no longer able to make their own decisions. A large component of this process is completing the advance directive. Advance directives are composed…

Editorial

Commentary on “Advance Directives to Physicians: What Every Physician Should Know”

Dr Klugman has nicely addressed the vitally important issue of advance care planning by patients, providing needed information to physicians about all aspects of these documents.1 Virtually all physicians, at some point in their careers, will be faced with caring for a patient at the end of his or her…

Original Article

Explaining and Improving Breast Cancer Information Acquisition Among African American Women in the Deep South

Objectives: A major challenge facing contemporary cancer educators is how to optimize the dissemination of breast cancer prevention and control information to African American women in the Deep South who are believed to be cancer free. The purpose of this research was to provide insight into the breast cancer information-acquisition…

Original Article

Misclassification of Pulmonary Hypertension in Adults with Sickle Hemoglobinopathies Using Doppler Echocardiography

Objective: To compare the diagnostic utility of Doppler echocardiography–derived tricuspid regurgitant jet velocity (TRV) ≥2.5 m/s to right heart catheterization (RHC) in defining pulmonary hypertension (PH) in adult patients with sickle cell disease (SCD). Methods: This is a retrospective chart review of adults with SCD who had a TRV ≥2.5…

Original Article

Relation Between Prefracture Characteristics and Perioperative Complications in the Elderly Adult Patient with Hip Fracture

Background: The exact relation among patient prefracture characteristics such as age, American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) class, fracture type, and prefracture mobility status with perioperative complications in elderly adult patients with hip fracture is still unclear. The aim of the study was to assess the relations among patient prefracture characteristics…

Original Article

Epidemiology of the Reported Severity of Copperhead (Agkistrodon contortrix) Snakebite

Objective: The goal of this study was to analyze trends in the annual rates of reported medical outcomes of US copperhead (Agkistrodon contortrix) snakebites published in the annual reports of the American Association of Poison Control Centers in the course of 26 years. Methods: This was a retrospective analysis of…

Letter to the Editor

Palindromic Rheumatism: Strategies to Prevent Evolution to Rheumatoid Arthritis

To the Editor:The article by Iyer et al1 provides an informative overview about palindromic rheumatism (PR), which is a rare entity, but it is critical that primary care physicians recognize not only the disabling nature of the acute fleeting joint pains patients experience but also the burden of rheumatoid arthritis…

Letter to the Editor

Authors’ Response

To the Editor: We thank Dr. Abraham for comments elaborating how our case of palindromic rheumatism (PR) with a broad overview of differential diagnoses and management may be monitored for progression to rheumatoid arthritis (RA).1 The role of anti-citrullinated protein antibody (anti-CCP) and HLA-DRB1 alleles in predicting progression to RA…

SMA Menu