Hospital Medicine
Physician discussions on inpatient care, transitions of care, diagnostic reasoning, and hospital-based protocols.
Recent Discussions
Is there a maximum duration for raloxifene use?
There is relatively scant data on long-term raloxifene use in patients with osteoporosis, but generally, there are no recommendations for a drug holiday. The primary endpoint in the pivotal registration trial, MORE, was incidence of vertebral fracture, and the difference between the raloxifene and p...
Would you use a parathyroid hormone analog for treatment of osteoporosis in a patient with mildly elevated AlkPhos of unclear etiology?
I would be hesitant to administer an anabolic in this setting without first delineating the reason for an elevated AlkPase. I would suggest starting with sorting out the source of the AlkPase (i.e., bone, liver, or gut with measuring bone-specific AlkPase, G-GGT levels, and possibly a liver ultrasou...
How do you approach the significance of +RNP III antibody in a patient with positive ANA but no other signs or symptoms of systemic sclerosis?
RNA polymerase III is a specific autoantibody for a subset of systemic sclerosis associated with severe diffuse cutaneous scleroderma, renal crisis, GAVE, and a strong association with malignancy. If this antibody is identified in the absence of Raynaud's or other symptoms of scleroderma, its signif...
Do you perform pap smears as part of the surveillance of patients with a history of cervical or vaginal cancers who had radiation as part of their treatment?
I personally do not routinely perform pap testing for patients with a prior history of cervical or vaginal cancer who have had prior radiation. The main driver for me in this decision is that the results we receive from Pap testing often show abnormalities that are not reflective of recurrence or de...
How many total days of antibiotics do you prescribe for uncomplicated non-purulent cellulitis in hospitalized patients who show clear clinical improvement within 48–72 hours?
Thanks for the question. Five days total, with transition to oral antibiotics upon clinical improvement to complete this course. Notably, my health system (via our EMR-based clinical decision support tool) recommends penicillin (IV) or amoxicillin (PO) as first-line treatment for nonpurulent celluli...
How do you approach the treatment of Crohn's colitis in the setting of immunosuppression for liver transplant?
Good question, as additional immune suppression can increase the risk of infection. The anti-rejection drug mycophenolate can cause diarrhea, which could mimic a Crohn’s flare. I individualize Crohn’s therapy in a liver transplant patient. What type of Crohn’s do they have? What meds were they on pr...
Do you suggest using a vascular probe to assess the superficial vasculature prior to performing a bedside procedure such as paracentesis, thoracentesis, lumbar puncture, etc.?
Yes - this is now standard of care for paracentesis and thoracentesis, and we have had a couple of bleeding complications when it was not used, and then a vessel was noted on POCUS after the fact. So it really should be incorporated into standard practice and taught such that it's done consistently....
How would you manage and determine the duration of antibiotics for a patient with suspected chronic postoperative spinal implant infection, status post lumbar fusion, now presenting with loosened hardware on imaging, normal inflammatory markers, and no systemic infection symptoms?
Loosening can be identified as lucency around pedicle screws on standard radiography, commonly at the upper or lower ends of the surgical construct. It was graded on a scale of 0-3. High-grade loosening (grade 2 or 3) is associated with increased odds of requiring revision surgery. It can be mechani...
In patients presenting to the hospital with atrial fibrillation of >/= 48 hours and are started on anticoagulation, provided they spontaneously convert with AV nodal blocking agents but then revert back into AF, would you need LAA imaging before a rhythm control strategy with AADs or cardioversion?
I would approach this the same way as if the patient had never spontaneously converted. There is a risk of stroke with chemical as well as electrical cardioversion, so should factor in CHA2DS2-VASc when making that decision. If CHA2DS2-VASc is 0 and no other high-risk features (rheumatic disease, HC...
Do you recommend avoiding radial artery access for cardiac catheterization to preserve potential future dialysis access sites in patients with advanced CKD?
With Radial arterial catheterization ( RA-CA), structural damage to the artery manifests as intimal tears and medial dissection along the length of the vessel. Further, even though 2-30% of the arteries will thrombose, about 50% of these will recanalize at 1 month. In spite of this, endothelial func...