With minor variation, the following is an extremely common sequence of events. A man notices slowly worsening nagging knee pain that persists over months. He sees an orthopedist who examines him and orders an MRI. The MRI shows a tear in the medial meniscus. (The lateral and medial menisci are the cartilage pads that cushion the knee joint.) Pain medicine and physical therapy are prescribed bu...

How much money would the US auto industry be making if every car they sold never started? How much could video game console makers charge if th...

Those of us who believe in the unvarying beneficence of Mother Nature have yet to contemplate Neisseria meningitidis. N. meningitidis is a bacterium that can live harmlessly in the throats of healthy people. But about 500 times a year in the US it causes bacterial meningitis, a life-threatening infection in which the membranes lining the brain and spinal cord become inflamed....

Two weeks ago I wrote about the reemergence of polio in Syria and the Herculean task the World Health Organization faces to eradicate the disease – the vaccination over a million children in the Middle East, some of whom live in a war zone. (See that post for a review of the symptoms of polio and the history of polio eradication...

This week the American College of Cardiology and the American Heart Association released new guideline...

If you remember the 1950s you probably remember the terror of polio. Polio, short for poliomyelitis, is a disease caused by a virus which can cause severe inflammation of the spinal cord. Though most infected people have no symptoms, a small fraction of patients are left with permanent paralysis and deformities. The disease is sometimes fatal. In the US, the 1952 polio epidemic killed over 3,0...

To understand this week’s story we first have to understand how habit-forming medicines are currently prescribed in the U.S. The Drug Enforcement Agency divides potentially addictive substances into different schedules. Schedule II controlled substances are prescription medicines that have a high potential for abuse and severe dependence. They include all the opiate (narcotic) pain medicines, ...

Last weekend I attended the fall conference of the American Academy of Private Physicians, a group dedicated to encouraging, organizing, and support...

A sudden life-threatening illness is every family’s nightmare. A loved-one suddenly develops an overwhelming infection or is in a terrible accident. She is rushed to the intensive care unit (ICU) and is put on a ventilator (breathing machine). Many medications are started or she is rushed to surgery for her traumatic injuries. To the family, the first day or two is a blur of life-saving treatm...

Four years ago Zac Vawter was in a motorcycle collision that severely injured his right leg. He underwent an amputation at the knee, thereby becoming one of the more than one million amputees living in the U.S. Over half of the amputations in the U.S. are due to vascular disease – poor circulation caused by diabetes, smoking, and high cholesterol. Just under half are due to trauma. Modern l...