May 21st, 2010
Podcast 88: Weighing the benefits of endovascular versus open repair in abdominal aortic aneurysm.
The New England Journal of Medicine carries several studies comparing the long-term outcomes of endovascular versus open repair of abdominal aortic aneurysms. Tying all those studies together is an editorial by Dr. K. Craig Kent of the University of Wisconsin. We’ve got him as our guest this week. Have a listen. Interview-related links: K. Craig Kent’s editorial […]
May 16th, 2010
Podcast 87: After this week’s news, we reprise an interview from last December on pharyngitis in adolescents and young adults.
Dr. Robert Centor of the University of Alabama at Birmingham believes that the paradigm for treating pharyngitis in adolescents and young adults must change. Listen to our conversation and hear why. Here are this week’s links: Interview-related links: Commentary Urges ‘Expanding the Diagnostic Paradigm of Pharyngitis’ in Young People Robert Centor’s blog — “Medrants” News-related links: PPI article in […]
May 7th, 2010
Podcast 86: Prompt follow-up after discharge for heart failure reduces early-readmission rates.
Why wouldn’t you want your hospital to lower its rate of early readmissions for heart failure by 15%? We talk with Dr. Adrian Hernandez about his examination of Medicare data from over 200 hospitals, how the hospitals vary widely in the rates at which their patients are followed up within a week of discharge for […]
May 2nd, 2010
Podcast 85: B vitamins lower homocysteine levels, so why don’t they retard the progression of diabetic nephropathy?
A surprise finding: homocysteine is supposed to be a factor in vascular inflammation, but lowering hyperhomocysteinemia in patients with diabetic nephropathy actually accelerated the decline of their GFRs. What gives? We have a conversation with Dr. J. David Spence, whose results were just published in JAMA. Interview-related link: JAMA paper on the effect of B vitamins on diabetic […]
April 23rd, 2010
Podcast 84: One year later, what have we learned from 2009 H1N1? A conversation with Richard Wenzel.
I’d forgotten that it’s only been a year since 2009 H1N1 (remember when we called it “swine flu”?) struck, but then I saw Richard Wenzel’s op-ed essay in the New York Times. Dr. Wenzel kindly agreed to a conversation, and that’s our offering this week. Interview-related links: Wenzel’s op-ed piece in the New York Times CDC’s estimates […]
April 16th, 2010
Podcast 83: An interview by CardioExchange’s editors on the COURAGE study
This week’s conversation introduces you to CardioExchange, a joint effort by Journal Watch and the New England Journal of Medicine to create an online community of clinicians interested in cardiovascular diseases. Two of CardioExchange’s editors, Dr. Richard Lange and Dr. L. David Hillis, interview Dr. William Boden of the COURAGE study, and Dr. Gregg Stone, an […]