The atherothrombotic conditions, coronary artery disease, cerebrovascular disease and peripheral arterial disease (PAD), together account for almost one-half of all deaths in Europe each year; however, perception of the specific risks associated with PAD is generally poor compared with its related conditions. PAD is not just a localised disease--it has serious systemic effects, and affected ind...

T HIS VARIANT of lung cancer accounts for about one-fourth of all primary tumors arising in that site, making it about as common as all lymphomas combined, according to 1979 estimates of the American Cancer Society.’ It is of particular interest to the internist who deals with cancer because of its unique responsiveness to chemotherapy and radiation therapy, and the possibility that some patien...

Pernicious anemia is an autoimmune disease with a variety of clinical presentations. We describe a case of pernicious anemia presenting with pancytopenia with hemolytic features. Further workup revealed very low vitamin B12 levels and elevated methylmalonic acid. It is important for a general internist to identify pernicious anemia as one of the cause of pancytopenia and hemolytic anemia to avo...

When a patient presents with redness in the eye, the cause needs to be diagnosed quickly. Some of the diseases that cause redness in the eye can be initially managed by an internist, but others call for quick referral to an ophthalmologist. This article reviews the spectrum of conditions manifesting as a red eye, emphasizing how to differentiate between the benign and the vision-threatening.

In the past decade surgery of the esophagus has made tremendous strides, not only in the field of carcinoma but also in the numerous other conditions to which this organ is heir. Diseases of the esophagus fall not only into the realm of the surgeon but into that of the general practitioner, the internist, the pediatrician, the anesthetist, the roentgenologist and the otorhinolaryngolist as well...

We have developed a probabilistic reformulation of the Quick Medical Reference (QMR) system. In Part I of this two-part series, we described a two-level, multiply connected belief-network representation. of the QMR knowledge base and a simulation algorithm to perform' probabilistic inference on the reformulated knowledge base. In Part II of. this series, we report on an evaluation of the probab...

New-onset epilepsy in the elderly is difficult to diagnose, owing to atypical presentation, concomitant cognitive impairment, similarities with other common disorders, and nonspecific changes on electroencephalography (EEG). Its management is also challenging because of its deranging physiology, comorbidities, and polypharmacy. Antiepileptic drugs must be carefully chosen and closely monitored....

Tumor necrosis factor (TNF) inhibitors have many beneficial effects, but they also pose infrequent but significant risks, including serious infection and malignancy. These risks can be minimized by judicious patient selection, appropriate screening, careful monitoring during treatment, and close communication between primary care physicians and subspecialists.