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June 14, 2007  Vol. 356 No. 24

Audio Summary of this Issue

Perspective
2445-2448

On May 10, the FDA convened a meeting to discuss concerns about risks associated with the erythropoiesis-stimulating agents used to treat anemia caused by chemotherapy. Dr. Fadlo Khuri discusses the long-standing debate about whether erythropoietins pose ...

2447

Recent clinical trials of erythropoietin have indicated adverse outcomes that are thought to be due to tumor progression. Dr. Gregory Longmore writes that it is important to determine whether the adverse outcomes are attributable to erythropoietin ...

2448-2451

The recent attention to safety concerns notwithstanding, sales of erythropoietins — and the total number of dispensed prescriptions — were 4% higher in the first quarter of 2007 than in the first quarter of 2006. Dr. Robert Steinbrook reports.

2451-2454

With the growing acceptance of e-medicine by third-party payers, a quiet revolution has begun. Dr. John Stone writes that the emerging model will improve the practice of medicine but will also bring new challenges.

2454-2455

Information is vital to the provision of high-quality care, yet too often, as Dr. Cara Litvin discusses, improving information systems is not seen as a priority.

Original Articles
2457-2471

In this meta-analysis, rosiglitazone, a peroxisome-proliferator–activated receptor agonist used for glucose control in type 2 diabetes, was found to be associated with an increased risk of myocardial infarction and death from cardiovascular causes. These findings raise safety concerns, but further analyses of patient-level data are needed to draw definitive conclusions.

2472-2482

Echinocandins are emerging as important new therapeutic agents for the treatment of candida infections. In this randomized, double-blind, international, multicenter study, anidulafungin was shown to be noninferior to fluconazole in the treatment of invasive candidiasis.

2483-2495

Invasive candida infections are an important cause of morbidity in low-birth-weight infants (<1500 g). In this randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial, 322 infants received either placebo or fluconazole from birth until day 30 of life (day 45 for neonates who weighed <1000 g at birth). The incidence of invasive fungal infections was 13.2% in the placebo group and 3.2% in the fluconazole groups combined; the difference was statistically significant.

Special Article
2496-2504

It may be more difficult to deliver high-quality care to patients with multiple health problems than to those with fewer, and programs that assess the quality of health care may penalize providers who care for patients with more complex conditions. Contrary to these concerns, this study showed that quality scores were higher for patients with more medical conditions than for those with fewer conditions.

Clinical Practice
2505-2513

An otherwise healthy 53-year-old woman is seen for routine care after completing treatment several months earlier for stage II estrogen-receptor–positive, HER2-positive breast cancer. The treatment consisted of lumpectomy, irradiation, adjuvant chemotherapy (doxorubicin and cyclophosphamide followed by paclitaxel), and trastuzumab. Her only current medication is an aromatase inhibitor. She is amenorrheic. She reports fatigue, hot flashes, arthralgias, and sexual difficulties and is concerned about the risk of a recurrence. How would you follow this patient, and what would you recommend for her symptoms?

Images in Clinical Medicine
2514
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An 86-year-old man received a diagnosis of stage IV adenocarcinoma of the rectum, with metastatic disease noted below the aortic bifurcation. He had no history of inflammatory bowel disease. He was treated with 4500 cGy of radiation delivered to the whole ...

e25
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This 53-year-old man with short-bowel syndrome that required total parenteral nutrition presented with fever and elevated liver-enzyme levels. A peripheral-blood smear showed intracellular and extracellular budding yeasts. Blood cultures grew only ...

Case Records of the Massachusetts General Hospital
2515-2520

    A 54-year-old man came to the Multidisciplinary Genitourinary Clinic of the Cancer Center for advice on management of prostate cancer. A slowly rising serum prostate-specific antigen level led to a needle biopsy of the prostate 2 weeks after the consultation. Examination of the biopsy specimens revealed adenocarcinoma, with a Gleason score of 7, involving the left lobe. A treatment recommendation was made.

    Editorials
    2522-2524
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    In this issue of the Journal, Nissen and Wolski1 report the results of a meta-analysis of treatment trials of rosiglitazone, as compared either with other therapies for type 2 diabetes or with placebo. Eligible studies included randomized trials that ...

    2525-2526

    For three decades, antifungal chemotherapy was dominated by a single effective fungicidal agent: amphotericin B deoxycholate. However, concern about toxicity profoundly limited its use. The 1990s saw the introduction of the triazoles, such as fluconazole, ...

    Health Policy Report
    2527-2534

      This Health Policy Report explores the risks and benefits of health information technology, how policymakers are encouraging and managing its dissemination, and what the future holds for health information technology in U.S. medicine.

      Correspondence
      2535-2537

      To the Editor: It is somewhat surprising that the report by Kales and colleagues (March 22 issue)1 on emergency duties and deaths from heart disease among firefighters in the United States does not cite the possible influence of carbon monoxide as a ...

      2537-2538

      To the Editor: In the report by Von Drygalski and colleagues on vancomycin-induced immune thrombocytopenia (March 1 issue),1 the positive human platelet factor 4 enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (PF4 ELISA) was used to rule out the diagnosis of heparin-...

      2538-2541

      To the Editor: Zheng et al. (Feb. 22 issue)1 conclude that the excision repair cross-complementation group 1 (ERCC1) protein is a determinant of survival after surgical treatment of early-stage non–small-cell lung cancer. The ERCC1 protein associates ...

      2541-2544

      To the Editor: The study by Henley et al. (Feb. 1 issue)1 raises many questions. Product names were not provided. Did the authors contact manufacturers to report concerns or ask about constituents? The variability, adulteration, and contamination of ...

      2544-2546
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      To the Editor: The review article by Neubauer (March 15 issue),1 which focuses on myocardial energetics, states that the use of fatty acids and glucose is decreased and insulin resistance develops in advanced heart failure. Neubauer also suggests some ...

      2547

      To the Editor: Diagnosing celiac disease is relatively easy in typical cases, characterized by the classic features of chronic diarrhea, abdominal pain and distention, and weight loss. However, most patients have atypical celiac disease, with few or no ...

      2548-2549

      To the Editor: Celiac disease is a gluten-induced enteropathy, the treatment of which consists of permanently withdrawing dietary gluten. Adherence to diet is crucial for intestinal mucosal recovery, relief of symptoms, and prevention of intestinal T-...

      Book Reviews
      2550-2551

      William Dameshek was my teacher in hematology from 1957 until his death in 1969. He was a pioneer in the treatment of Hodgkin's disease, autoimmune diseases of the blood, and acute leukemia. He was one of the founders of the American Society of Hematology ...

      2551

      Chronic pain disables more people than cancer or heart disease and costs the American people more than both combined. The field of chronic pain management is bounded on one side by a steep cliff of indifference and on the other by a slippery slope of ...

      2552

      The victories over cancer in the past three decades have given us much to celebrate. In the United States alone, there are now more than 10.5 million cancer survivors. We have also learned that there can be a cost to curing cancer, and thus the emphasis ...

      2553-2554

      A niche always exists for a book devoted to the treatment of children within a specialty that is dominated by adult patients. Physicians who specialize in pediatric transplantation often need more detailed information about disorders that are unique to ...

      Corrections
      2554

      Case 10-2007: A 55-Year-Old Man Impaled in a Rowing Accident Case Records of the Massachusetts General Hospital, N Engl J Med 2007:356;1353-1360.. The first sentence of the second paragraph (page 1353) should have read “The patient, who was in excellent ...

      2554

      The Safety of Transdermal Nicotine as an Aid to Smoking Cessation in Patients with Cardiac Disease and Lack of Efficacy of Transdermal Nicotine in Smoking CessationOriginal Article, N Engl J Med 1996:335;1792-1798. and Lack of Efficacy of Transdermal ...

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