Interferon is an essential component of the treatment of chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection. However, treatment with interferon alone is generally associated with a sustained virologic response in fewer than 20 percent of patients.¹–³ A 48-week ...

Interferon has had a fundamental role in the treatment of patients with chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection. In patients with cirrhosis, interferon, either alone or in combination with ribavirin, has been used cautiously, largely because it may ...

More women in the United States have undergone tubal sterilization than are using any other single method of contraception.¹ It is a highly effective²,³ and safe⁴,⁵ procedure, but questions remain as to whether it causes menstrual abnormalities. Indeed, ...

Dilated cardiomyopathy is a relatively common but poorly understood group of disorders that result in heart failure and premature death.¹ Epidemiologic data indicate that 36.5 in 100,000 people have dilated cardiomyopathy. Although ischemic, toxic, ...

MÉnÉtrier's disease (hypoproteinemic hypertrophic gastropathy) is a rare, acquired, premalignant disorder of the stomach.¹–⁴ It is characterized by giant hypertrophic folds that most often involve the fundus, excess mucus secretion, decreased acid ...

Figure 1. A 57-year-old man presented with a moderate left-sided hemiparesis. T₁-weighted magnetic resonance images with gadolinium revealed a contrast-enhanced lesion in the internal capsule and the adjacent basal ganglia. Stereotactic biopsy revealed ...

Primary phagocytic defects must be included in the differential diagnosis of recurrent infection and fever in a child and occasionally in an adult. Early diagnosis is essential, because manifestations of infection are usually blunted and rapid ...

Cough is one of the most common symptoms for which patients seek medical attention from primary care physicians and pulmonologists,¹ probably because cough can so profoundly and adversely affect the quality of patients' lives.² In this review, we present ...

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is the most common chronic blood-borne infection in the United States.¹ In most of the estimated 2.7 million people who have the infection it has not been diagnosed, and most of those with a diagnosed infection have not ...

Eleven million U.S. women rely on tubal sterilization to prevent pregnancy.¹ Although the annual number of women undergoing sterilization (approximately 700,000) remains stable, the techniques, timing, and setting of the surgery have changed.² In the ...

To the Editor: The report by Winawer et al. (June 15 issue)¹ on the sensitivity of double-contrast barium enema for detecting colonic adenomas requires comment. The overall sensitivity of double-contrast barium enema was 39 percent, with a sensitivity of ...

To the Editor: In the August 10 issue, two articles¹,² and an editorial³ were devoted to strategies to increase the number of organs for transplantation, including the nondirected donation of kidneys by living donors. Gridelli and Remuzzi¹ failed to ...

To the Editor: During the late 1980s and early 1990s, deaths and injuries associated with the recreational use of all-terrain vehicles steadily decreased; however, around 1993, this trend began gradually to reverse. U.S. Consumer Product Safety ...

To the Editor: Regarding “The Icelandic Healthcare Database and Informed Consent” (June 15 issue)¹: legislation passed on May 13 in Iceland makes it clear how deCODE could obtain the DNA they need to complete their genotypic–phenotypic data base. The new ...

To the Editor: Analyses of data from Oregon¹,² and elsewhere³–⁵ have begun to clarify the characteristics of patients who seek a physician's assistance with suicide or euthanasia. We report on a descriptive clinical analysis of the 69 persons who died ...

It is said that politics is perception, and Jean Reith Schroedel, a professor in the Department of Politics and Policy at Claremont Graduate University, has set out to explore the war of perception in the ongoing struggle over abortion and women's rights. ...

Americans have a long history of ambivalence about the role of alcohol in their society. This vacillation turned to mayhem in 1919, when the 18th Amendment to the Constitution (later repealed) introduced Prohibition, which banned the manufacture and sale ...

Recent changes in the delivery of health care in the United States include the creation in many hospitals of positions staffed by internists whose entire or principal focus is the treatment of patients admitted to hospital wards. This new function differs ...

Hepatic Iron Concentration and Total Body Iron Stores in Thalassemia Major Original Article, N Engl J Med 2000:343;327-331.. On page 328, the sentence that begins on the second line of the left-hand column should have read, “Atomic absorption ...

Inactivation of the DNA-Repair Gene MGMT and the Clinical Response of Gliomas to Alkylating Agents Original Article, N Engl J Med 2000:343;1350-1354.. The following should have appeared in the article: Drs. Herman and Baylin have patented the method for ...