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September 4, 2008  Vol. 359 No. 10

Audio Summary of this Issue

Perspective
989-991
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In 2005, an average of 46 Americans per day committed suicide with a firearm, accounting for 53% of all completed suicides. Dr. Matthew Miller and David Hemenway write that the empirical evidence linking suicide risk in the United States to the presence ...

991-994

In January, the FDA announced that it had found a near-doubling of suicidal ideation and behavior among trial subjects randomly assigned to receive anticonvulsant medications rather than placebo. Dr. Jerry Avorn writes that the anticonvulsant–suicidality ...

994-997
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Dr. Perri Klass writes that she didn't realize she was on call one night until she was at Fenway Park and a ball game was well under way. Then she got the kind of page that you don't want as an on-call pediatrician — let alone from a parent who doesn't ...

Original Articles
999-1008

The use of implantable cardioverter–defibrillators (ICDs) prolongs survival for some patients with heart failure. However, it has been suggested that ICD implantation may adversely affect the quality of life. In this trial, the evaluation of several quality-of-life measures disclosed no long-term effect, although a temporary adverse effect was evident within 1 month after an ICD shock.

1009-1017

In the Sudden Cardiac Death in Heart Failure Trial, 811 patients were randomly assigned to receive implantable cardioverter–defibrillators (ICDs). Of these patients, 269 (33.2%) received at least one ICD shock over a median follow-up period of 45.5 months. The occurrence of ICD shocks, whether appropriate or inappropriate, was associated with a significant increase in the subsequent risk of death from all causes.

1018-1026

The Model for End-Stage Liver Disease (MELD) uses bilirubin, the international normalized ratio for prothrombin time, and creatinine to estimate the risk of death in patients waiting for liver transplantation. This analysis of about 14,000 registrants on the waiting list showed that the addition of the serum sodium concentration to the MELD score improves prognostic accuracy and may reduce mortality among patients on the waiting list who have low MELD scores and serum sodium levels.

Clinical Practice
1027-1036
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A 19-year-old woman presents to the emergency department with light-headedness, severe abdominal pain, and intractable nausea and vomiting that began 12 hours earlier. The patient reports previous episodes of abdominal pain and swelling of her hands and feet that have been attributed possibly to food allergies, which have recently become more frequent. How should her case be evaluated and treated?

Review Article
1037-1046

The primary goal in the management of wounds is to achieve rapid healing with optimal functional and cosmetic results. In this review, the authors summarize the current treatments for lacerations, including abrasions, skin tears, puncture wounds, and bite wounds, and for burns. A video demonstrates techniques for the application of topical skin adhesives and surgical tapes, as well as for the irrigation of wounds and the treatment of subungual hematomas.

Images in Clinical Medicine
1047
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A 30-year-old healthy woman presented with pruritic papules on both arms and breasts. Physical examination revealed multiple erythematous papules in a partially linear pattern. The patient had stayed in a hotel the night before and, on the bedsheet, had ...

e11
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In a woman with exertional dyspnea, examination revealed a mid-diastolic murmur over the apex. MRI shows a high-velocity jet due to aortic-valve incompetence that strikes the anterior mitral-valve leaflet.

Clinical Problem-Solving
1048-1054

    A 50-year-old man presented to the emergency room with severe right-sided abdominal and flank pain for the previous 18 hours.

    Editorials
    1056-1057
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    Soon the U.S. Senate will vote on a bill that would grant authority to the FDA to regulate tobacco products. Journal editors Gregory Curfman, Stephen Morrissey, and Jeffrey Drazen urge the Senate to pass it and to do so with a veto-proof margin.

    1058-1059

      Randomized trials have established that the prophylactic use of implantable cardioverter–defibrillators (ICDs) prolongs survival in patients with left ventricular dysfunction that is due to myocardial infarction1 or associated with heart failure from any ...

      1060-1062

      Liver transplantation is widely accepted as a standard method of treatment for many patients with advanced cirrhosis, and survival rates among patients who have undergone liver transplantation approach 80% at 3 years.1 These success rates, together with a ...

      Clinical Decisions
      1063-1067

      This interactive Journal feature presents the case of an otherwise healthy 20-year-old basketball player with acute onset of a red, painful area on his right buttock over the previous 2 days. Three possible treatment options, any of which could be considered correct, are presented. Which option do you recommend?

      Correspondence
      1068-1070

      To the Editor: In the report on the Aliskiren in the Evaluation of Proteinuria in Diabetes (AVOID) study by Parving et al. (June 5 issue),1 there is convincing evidence that aliskiren, in addition to losartan, has a significant antiproteinuric effect, ...

      1070-1071

      To the Editor: In their article on methylnaltrexone for opioid-induced constipation in patients with advanced illness, Thomas et al. (May 29 issue)1 point out that the effectiveness of methylnaltrexone appeared to be undiminished throughout the 2-week, ...

      1072-1073
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      To the Editor: In his review of cancer immunology, Finn (June 19 issue)1 states that the results of immunotherapy involving intravenous administration of tumor-specific autologous T cells (adoptive cell therapy) are “marginal,” whereas the results of ...

      1073-1074
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      To the Editor: In the Video in Clinical Medicine on cricothyroidotomy, Hsiao and Pacheco-Fowler (May 29 issue)1 focus on the surgical technique. We think it is important to discuss the advantage of the Seldinger approach. In a study involving 200 ...

      1074-1076

      The incidence of influenza A (H1N1) viruses that carry the neuraminidase H274Y mutation has increased by 30% this year in the Netherlands. This case suggests that this oseltamivir-resistant virus can be pathogenic, at least in an immunocompromised ...

      Book Reviews
      1077-1078

      Contemporary anesthesia is an important “safety paradox” of excellent outcome despite routine risk. Although it carries perhaps the greatest potential for hazard for millions of patients annually, anesthesia also has medicine's best track record for the ...

      1078-1079

      The statistics alone are daunting. In the United States, traumatic injury is the leading cause of death in the first four decades of life. On average, approximately 2 people are killed and 350 people have a debilitating injury every 10 minutes. Trauma ...

      1079-1080

      The transfer of blood components, solid tissues, or organs from one person to another is basic to the practice of modern medicine and surgery. Because the only source of blood and organs is the human body, transfusion and transplantation imply giving away ...