The rate of complete remission for adults with acute myeloid leukemia is approximately 65 percent overall and decreases with increasing age and the presence of unfavorable cytogenetic abnormalities.¹,² With postremission therapy, disease-free survival at ...

Despite important advances in immunosuppressive therapy, rejection remains the leading cause of graft failure in recipients of renal transplants. Host T cells play a critical part in the rejection process, which involves the recognition of donor-derived ...

The implantation of coronary stents has become a major form of revascularization therapy for coronary artery disease. In early clinical trials,¹ there were high rates of stent thrombosis (approaching 20 percent), leading to the adoption of an antiplatelet ...

An important limitation of coronary balloon angioplasty is restenosis, which occurs in 30 to 50 percent of patients.¹–⁵ Independent risk factors for restenosis are a recent history of angina pectoris and a previous myocardial infarction.⁶–¹⁰ Structural ...

Ligneous conjunctivitis is a rare disease characterized by acute or chronic recurrent conjunctivitis in which the conjunctival membranes acquire a wood-like consistency, due primarily to deposits of fibrin.¹,² Corneal involvement and chronic obstruction ...

Figure 1. Several erythematous nodules and papulopustules developed on the arms (Panel A), upper legs, and face of a 57-year-old man, accompanied by a fever (temperature as high as 40°C) despite treatment with broad-spectrum antibiotics and amphotericin B,...

Genetic errors may result in abnormal synthesis of proteins, abnormal folding and processing of proteins after they are synthesized, or changes in the functional properties of proteins. Although the synthesis of proteins begins in the cytoplasm, many are ...

Earlier this year, the Health Care Financing Administration (HCFA) and the American Medical Association (AMA), through its Current Procedural Terminology editorial panel, jointly issued draft guidelines for documenting cognitive services (evaluation and ...

In patients under the age of 60 who have acute myeloid leukemia, chemotherapy now routinely produces a complete remission in 70 to 80 percent of cases.¹,² Since it is generally accepted that survival is poor if relapse occurs, the priority is to make the ...

The induction in a host of immunologic tolerance to the major histocompatibility complex (MHC) antigens of a donor (in humans, the HLA antigens) is the unquestioned goal of clinical transplantation. This goal is critical because the strength and diversity ...

Coronary stenting is now the predominant form of nonsurgical myocardial revascularization and accounts for well over 60 percent of the percutaneous coronary-revascularization procedures performed in the United States. The number of patients undergoing ...

In July 1998, the Health Care Financing Administration (HCFA) intended to implement a revised and more complex set of guidelines specifying how physicians should code and document “evaluation and management” services billed to Medicare. These services ...

To the Editor: Olivieri et al. (Aug. 13 issue)¹ retrospectively evaluated liver-biopsy specimens from patients with thalassemia who were treated with deferiprone and concluded that progression of fibrosis in 5 of 14 patients was due to the drug. The ...

To the Editor: Haffner et al. (July 23 issue)¹ have shown that diabetic subjects without prior myocardial infarction (mean age, approximately 58 years) have as high a risk of myocardial infarction as nondiabetic subjects with prior myocardial infarction. ...

To the Editor: In his article on partial-birth abortion (July 23 issue),¹ Annas neglects to mention the true legal basis for laws banning partial-birth abortion. As we have reported elsewhere, overwhelming majorities of two Congresses² and the ...

To the Editor: Infection induced by a patient is a difficult problem.¹ The diagnosis is often delayed because objective signs are absent. The microbiology laboratory may provide clues to the diagnosis.²

A 30-year-old patient, a nurse's aide, was ...

Last Resort is medical history at its best. No exercise in antiquarianism, it illuminates the meaning of a misguided therapeutic innovation so as to shed light on the dilemmas medicine continues to face in assessing therapeutic options. Pressman has ...

This book, by Andreas Vesalius, was first published in 1543. It is well known to gross anatomists and medical historians as the first scientifically based textbook on human anatomy. Along with Copernicus's book that describes the heliocentric universe, it ...

The spanning of deep rivers and estuaries, the extraction of minerals from wet ground, and the exploration of the continental shelf were possible only when it became feasible for men to work under conditions of increased air pressure. Blacksmiths used ...

In this era of intense market-driven competition among health plans, with nonprofit organizations becoming less distinguishable from their for-profit counterparts, it is easy to forget the origins of private health insurance in the United States and the ...