Make the Diagnosis: Is This a Nothing Burger — or Something Much Worse?
Presentation A 21-year-old man visited his doctor concerned about an asymptomatic blackish lesion that had developed on his left heel, 1 week prior soon after a college basketball tournament. On examination, a stippled, deeply violaceous, and blackish patch with overlying scale was seen on his plantar heel. He had no history of dermatological disease. Can […]
Reassuring Registry Data on Going Into TAVR Sans Symptoms
Transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) got some preliminary affirmation for asymptomatic or minimally symptomatic severe aortic stenosis in a retrospective registry study. Of participants who got elective TAVR, the one in five who had minimal symptoms before the procedure tended to have good outcomes that compared favorably against the majority of more symptomatic peers: Fewer […]
Link Between Psoriasis, Heart Disease Tracks to Coronary Microvascular Dysfunction
Almost a third of patients with severe psoriasis had echocardiographic evidence of asymptomatic coronary microvascular dysfunction (CMD), a prospective study showed. Doppler echocardiography showed that 31.5% of 448 patients with psoriasis had CMD. Every 1-point increase in the Psoriasis Area and Severity Index (PASI) score and 1-year increase in psoriasis duration correlated with a 5% […]
Treating Early Hospitalization Blood Pressure Deemed a No-No for Patient Safety
For older people hospitalized with noncardiovascular diagnoses, intensive lowering of asymptomatic inpatient blood pressures (BPs) may constitute overtreatment and lead to harm, observational data suggested. U.S. veterans acutely treated for elevated systolic BP in the first 48 hours of hospitalization — without evidence of acute end organ damage — suffered more adverse events when counting […]
Cutting Unneeded Urine Cultures a Good First Step to Less Antibiotic Use
WASHINGTON — Michigan hospitals were able to cut down on unnecessary treatment of asymptomatic bacteriuria (ASB) thanks to better diagnostic stewardship, according to a study. The percentage of patients with a positive urine culture who had ASB fell from 34.1% in the year 2017 to 22.5% in 2020 in a consortium of 46 hospitals. That […]
Monkeypox Detected in Asymptomatic Men
Monkeypox virus was detected on the anal swabs of asymptomatic men who have sex with men (MSM) at a sexual health clinic in Paris, according to a retrospective study. Among 213 MSM who had anal swabs collected for Chlamydia trachomatis and Neisseria gonorrhoeae, 200 underwent monkeypox-specific PCR testing and 6.5% were positive for the virus, […]
Removing Small Asymptomatic Kidney Stones Significantly Reduces Recurrence
Removing small, asymptomatic kidney stones during endoscopic removal of ureteral or contralateral stones significantly prolonged the time to relapse as compared with leaving the asymptomatic stones behind, a randomized trial showed. The time to relapse averaged about 4.5 years with removal of asymptomatic stones versus about 2.5 years without (P<0.001). The difference represented an 82% […]
Surveillance testing shown to reduce community COVID-19 spread
Covid-19 is often asymptomatic and can lead infected individuals to spread the disease without knowing it. Yet, regular surveillance testing of a community can catch these cases and prevent outbreaks. In early 2020, Georgia Tech researchers designed a saliva-based polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test and encouraged community members to test weekly to track the health […]
USPSTF Again Backs Universal Screening for Gestational Diabetes
Clinicians should continue to screen for gestational diabetes in all asymptomatic pregnant patients during the second trimester, according to a recommendation from the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF). Providers should screen for gestational diabetes at 24 weeks’ gestation or later to improve maternal and fetal outcomes (grade B recommendation), stated Karina W. Davidson, PhD, […]