Mitral-valve prolapse has been described as a common disorder, with prevalence estimates generally ranging from 5 to 15 percent and up to 35 percent in some studies.¹–⁷ In addition, mitral-valve prolapse has often been portrayed as a disease with frequent ...

Previous studies have reported an association between acute ischemic neurologic events and mitral-valve prolapse, especially in young patients (those ≤45 years old), who are less likely than older patients to have atherosclerosis or hypertension as the ...

Allogeneic bone marrow transplantation is an effective therapy for various types of leukemia and aplastic anemia.¹ It has the potential to cure acute leukemia in patients whose disease does not or probably will not respond to conventional treatment.²,³ It ...

Hepatitis B virus (HBV) and hepatitis C virus (HCV) infections account for a substantial proportion of liver disease worldwide. HCV is an RNA virus of the Flaviviridae family. HBV is a DNA virus of the Hepadnaviridae family. It contains four open reading ...

Figure 1. A 30-year-old man who had been treated for staphylococcal endocarditis superimposed on a prolapsing mitral valve had a residual grade 6 mitral systolic murmur that was easily audible without a stethoscope. A two-dimensional echocardiogram showed ...

The history of biology was forever altered a decade ago by the bold decision to launch a research program that would characterize in ultimate detail the complete set of genetic instructions of the human being. The idea captured the public imagination, ...

Occult gastrointestinal bleeding typically refers to bleeding that is not apparent to the patient. The potential for occult bleeding is emphasized by the finding that for melena to be produced consistently, 150 to 200 ml of blood must be present in the ...

Review articles have appeared in the Journal since the inaugural issue in 1812. They foster an understanding of the science of medicine, enhance medical practice, and are an essential ingredient of our weekly fare. Today we launch a new series of review ...

More than three decades ago, Barlow and Bosman described a constellation of clinical findings consisting of non-ejection systolic clicks and a late systolic murmur, T-wave abnormalities, and systolic aneurysmal billowing of the posterior mitral leaflet ...

In the 1950s and 1960s, many bone marrow transplantations were attempted in terminally ill patients with leukemia or aplastic anemia without success, except in a few patients who had identical-twin donors. The modern era of marrow transplantation began at ...

To the Editor: Sachs et al. (Jan. 7 issue)¹ are incorrect in their assumption that programs designed to reduce the rate of cesarean delivery center on increasing the number of operative vaginal deliveries (the use of forceps and vacuum extractors). Quite ...

To the Editor: Purine analogues, including cladribine (2-chlorodeoxyadenosine), are increasingly used in the treatment of Waldenström's macroglobulinemia and other hematologic cancers.¹ Cladribine can cause profound immunosuppression, lymphopenia, and ...

To the Editor: Drs. Wheeler and Bernard (Jan. 21 issue)¹ provide an informative overview of the treatment of patients with severe sepsis. Their comments on the use of catecholamines for severe sepsis, especially as listed in Table 2, seem to reflect the ...

To the Editor: Firlik and Welch, in Images in Clinical Medicine (Jan. 28 issue),¹ provided a nice example of the clinical and magnetic resonance imaging findings in a patient with the Brown–Séquard syndrome due to a stab wound of the left side of the ...

To the Editor: Yu and Lennon (Jan. 21 issue)¹ present an intriguing hypothesis about how intravenous immune globulin (“IVIg”) therapy works in autoimmune diseases. Another possibility is that simultaneous ligation of the Fcγ receptor II and the B-cell ...

To the Editor: I am the author of medical policy for one of the largest health care management companies in the United States. I agree with the conclusions of Rosenbaum et al. (Jan. 21 issue)¹ about who should determine when health care is medically ...

To the Editor: Pica, the craving for unusual foodstuffs or nonfood substances, is occasionally associated with iron-deficiency anemia.¹,² Pagophagia, or the craving for ice, is the most common type of pica, although ingestion of starch, clay, dirt, or ...

Advances in genetic research are playing an important part in the quest for a fundamental understanding of the basis of cancer in humans. Carcinogenesis is thought to be a somatic evolutionary process that is driven by a combination of genetic alterations ...

The classification of lymphomas has been a challenge to our intellect and to our science. Over the past 40 years, we have moved through numerous classification schemes, which have varied in usefulness. Some schemes were purely morphologic classifications ...

The Society of Cells is a deceptively simple presentation of a profound hypothesis. This little book of only 154 pages should not be dismissed because of its seeming simplicity or because most of its points have not yet been proved; some of the points ...