Diagnosis & Disease Information

Why the OR Just Doesn’t Pay

Clinicians in virtually every medical and surgical specialty would have little trouble citing services for which they considered third-party reimbursement woefully inadequate for the time involved.

Office BP Predicts Microalbuminuria

High ambulatory but normal or well-controlled office BP, a condition known as “reverse white-coat hypertension,” is an independent risk factor for microalbuminuria in patients with treated hypertension.

Important Lessons from ONTARGET

Combo May Offer Better Graft Outcome

SAN FRANCISCO—Pairing mycophenolate mofetil (MMF) with sirolimus instead of a calcineurin inhibitor (CNI) may provide superior renal benefits to kidney transplant patients, according to interim results from the Spare-the-Nephron trial.

Biologic Can Lessen Steroid Exposure

Biologic Can Lessen Steroid Exposure

SAN FRANCISCO—Steroid withdrawal under two-dose daclizumab induction on day two following renal transplantation provides excellent one-year patient and graft survival, researchers reported here at the 2007 World Transplant Congress.

Beware Falsely Elevated INRs

Elevated international normalized ratios (INRs)—which are linked to bleeding complications—are rare, but they may be falsely elevated if patients are undergoing hemodialysis.

BP-Lowering Diet Is Widely Ignored

CHICAGO—Hypertensive patients seem to be ignoring a government-backed diet with proven BP-lowering efficacy, researchers said here at the 22nd Annual Scientific Meeting of the American Society of Hypertension.

Telmisartan Offers Better Renoprotection

CHICAGO—Telmisartan (Micardis HCT), a novel angiotensin receptor blocker (ARB), and the older ARB losartan have similar BP-lowering efficacy in hypertensive patients with diabetic nephropathy, but treatment with the new agent is associated with larger reductions in proteinuria, new findings show.

Body Fat Affects SWL

BERLIN—High BMI, body fat mass, and body fat percentage reduce shock wave lithotripsy efficacy.

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