Colorectal cancer is the third most common cancer in Western society.¹,² Despite advances in screening, diagnosis, and treatment, it is still the second leading cause of cancer-related death in North America.¹,² Much has been learned over the past decade ...

Diverticular bleeding is a common cause of severe lower gastrointestinal bleeding in adults.¹ Identification of the origin of the bleeding, including diverticula, by endoscopy is facilitated by cleansing the colon with a purge.¹,² For more than a decade, ...

Since Herrick first described sickle cells in 1910,¹ much has been learned about the pathophysiology and molecular biology of sickle cell disease.² These advances have been accompanied by improvements in survival and the quality of life.³–⁵ Hydroxyurea ...

Tick paralysis is a neurologic syndrome that is frequently confused with other acute disorders. In this syndrome, ascending paralysis is caused by a potent neurotoxin produced by an attached, engorged tick. Removal of the tick leads to prompt recovery. ...

Figure 1. The mechanism of spontaneous coronary-artery dissection, a rare cause of unstable angina, is unclear, but predisposing factors include inborn errors of metabolism and collagen synthesis. A 61-year-old woman presented with a one-hour history of ...

Epidemic hysteria, also referred to as mass psychogenic or sociogenic illness and transient situational disturbance, was first described over 600 years ago, and it has been reported in a variety of cultures and settings.¹ Yet the subject is seldom ...

Unstable angina accounts for more than 1 million hospital admissions annually¹; 6 to 8 percent of patients with this condition have nonfatal myocardial infarction or die within the first year after diagnosis.²,³ Various definitions of unstable angina have ...

Preface

This millennial year is also a centennial year, and since the Case Records were conceived about a century ago, it is fitting to recount the circumstances of their origin on the occasion of the first Case Record of 2000. In its first issue of the ...

Genetic testing is increasingly being used in the management of cancer. Cytogenetic and molecular genetic assays now play a part in the diagnosis and monitoring of a variety of leukemias, lymphomas, and solid tumors. Moreover, the identification of ...

In this issue of the Journal, Jensen et al. report their experience with the use of colonoscopy performed on an urgent basis for the diagnosis and treatment of acute hemorrhage from colonic diverticulosis.¹ The study has two key messages. The first is ...

In this issue of the Journal, Felz and colleagues describe a six-year-old child with reversible, but potentially fatal, tick paralysis that was initially thought to be the Guillain–Barré syndrome.¹ A suspicious house officer correctly diagnosed the tick ...

In this issue of the Journal, Jones and colleagues report on an episode of mass psychogenic illness that had a devastating impact on a high school in McMinnville, Tennessee.¹ They provide an elegant description of the outbreak. Such outbreaks, ...

To the Editor: The study by Pitt and colleagues (Sept. 2 issue)¹ of the effect of spironolactone on morbidity and mortality in patients with severe heart failure addresses a very important issue. Spironolactone, a relatively inexpensive and safe agent, ...

To the Editor: Takala et al. (Sept. 9 issue)¹ report that high-dose growth hormone therapy increased the mortality rate in a group of critically ill patients. Although the causes of death in the patients who died while receiving intensive care were given,...

To the Editor: Samama et al. (Sept. 9 issue)¹ compared enoxaparin with saline placebo for the prevention of venous thromboembolism in acutely ill medical patients. I was surprised that the study drug was compared with a placebo, since venous ...

To the Editor: Colorectal cancer in young patients (age, 21 years or younger) is rare and has a well-recognized aggressive, often fatal course, but the genetic origin and developmental biology of this disease are poorly understood.¹ We analyzed data from ...

To the Editor: In describing the failure to integrate clinician-educators into the traditional academic milieu, Levinson and Rubenstein (Sept. 9 issue)¹ have focused on the symptom, an outmoded promotions process, and not the underlying disease, the fact ...

Substance abuse is one of the most serious and debilitating yet treatable chronic diseases in the United States today. Use of illicit drugs alone is estimated to cause approximately 20,000 deaths per year. Fortunately, there is a large body of evidence ...

Everyone knows — patients as well as doctors — that the confidentiality of medical records has virtually disappeared. Amitai Etzioni, a well-known social scientist, documents the violation of the privacy of medical records that occurs when unauthorized ...

The goals of Novel Aspects of Pain Management are to provide historical background and a panoramic view of the chemicals that influence pain and to assess the therapeutic potential of many classes of such agents. The book is addressed to academic and ...

A 10-Year Prospective Study of Primary Hyperparathyroidism with or without Parathyroid Surgery Original Article, N Engl J Med 1999:341;1249-1255.. On page 1251, in Table 1, the units for urinary calcium should have been mg/day, not mg/g of creatinine, as ...

Wilderness Storm (September 9, 1999;341:813). The photograph should have been attributed to J.M. Friedman, M.D., Ph.D., not Scott L. Friedman, M.D., as printed. We regret the error.