August 14th, 2010
Podcast 97: What happens when vena cava filters break?
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Subscribe: RSS
Vena cava filters, often meant to be permanent, can actually lose a strut or two. And it’s not as rare an occurrence as you might think. Our conversationalist found it happens about 15% of the time with a certain brand of filter. The FDA has announced that it’s starting its own studies of the problem. Listen in.
If you see something during the week that you’d like me to devote an interview to, please let me know. My email is jelia@jwatch.org. I’d love to have your suggestions.
Interview-related links:
- FDA’s announcement on MedWatch
- Physician’s First Watch coverage of the vena cava filter research
- Study posted on the Bard website
News-related links:
July 30th, 2010
Podcast 96: Survivors of childhood cancer face manageable reproductive risks.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Subscribe: RSS
What becomes of children who survive cancer treatment and enter their reproductive years? Would their attempts to have children end in a higher-than-normal rate of stillbirths and miscarriages? Apparently not.
It turns out the major concern is with women who’ve undergone pelvic irradiation before menarche. That treatment seems to hobble uterine development, but not irretrievably. For their part, boys who’ve had gonadal irradiation seem not to place their offspring at higher risk for adverse birth outcomes.
Our conversation is with the senior author on a Lancet paper from last week investigating these effects.
Interview-related links:
News-related links:
July 9th, 2010
Podcast 95: What if hypertensive patients titrated their own drug dosages?
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Subscribe: RSS
This week’s interview is with the editorialist commenting on an exciting Lancet paper. The writer, Dr. Gbenga Ogedegbe, says that the work, in which patients with uncontrolled hypertension titrated their own medications according to prespecified rules, could change how clinicians manage uncomplicated hypertension. From his base at New York University School of Medicine, Dr. Ogedegbe sees promise — if the costs are right. Listen in.
Interview-related link:
News-related links:
June 25th, 2010
Podcast 93: Is computed tomography safe? Yes, but …
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Subscribe: RSS
That’s the question asked in an intriguing essay — by a radiologist — released online in the New England Journal of Medicine. We have her as our guest this week.
Feedback, please! You can comment here or by emailing me at jelia@jwatch.org — or better still, call 1-617-440-4374.
Interview-related links:
News-related links:
June 18th, 2010
Podcast 92: Corticosteroids in COPD exacerbations — high-dose intravenous or low-dose oral?
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Subscribe: RSS
A JAMA paper suggests that in all but the most severe exacerbations of COPD, it’s best to start off with low-dose oral corticosteroids rather than the higher-dose intravenous treatment that, contrary to guideline recommendations, almost everyone now gets. Our conversation this week is with the study’s first author, Dr. Peter Lindenauer.
Visit the Journal Watch website at http://jwatch.org for a comprehensive look at new medical research, with comments from our experts.
Interview-related links:
- COPD guidelines from the Global Initiative for Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease
- JAMA article abstract
News-related links:
About the Podcast
Comments, suggestions, and story ideas welcome. Learn more about Clinical Conversations.
Follow us:
