Primary Care
Physician perspectives on preventive care, chronic disease management, and evidence-based primary care practice.
Recent Discussions
What is your approach to elevated urine uric acid levels in a recurrent calcium based stone former?
There was good evidence from controlled trials supporting the use of allopurinol in hyperuricosuric calcium stone formers. That said, the trials are now pretty old and I would tend to treat other risks first (unless there was another reason to lower the uric acid like gout). In general, a lower anim...
Do you recommend stopping Vitamin D supplementation in a patient with hypercalcemia and a low 25(OH)D level?
Even though nutritional vitamin D does not normally cause hypercalcemia except in very high doses, I'm not so confident that it is not a contributing factor to the problem in dialysis patients. The reason is mainly a lack of data in this population which has some unique issues related to PTH levels,...
How would you manage tubulointerstitial nephritis and renal tubular acidosis (RTA) in a patient with Sjogren's who is pregnant?
The most common form or renal disease in Sjogren's (SjD) is tubulointerstitial nephritis. This may result in tubular dysfunction leading to renal tubular acidosis (RTA), most commonly type I RTA leading to hypokalemia and a non-anion gap hyperchloremic acidosis. Over time, nephrocalcinosis can occur...
Do you recommend starting aspirin for a patient with ESKD secondary to lupus nephritis with detected antiphospholipid antibodies on pretransplant workup but no history of a thrombotic event?
I agree. I tend to favor the use of Plaquenil in these APS patients although the data is not absolute either. I noticed that hematologists favor the use of the NOAC than Coumadin, and yet thus far, it appears that Coumadin, based on published data, prevents thrombosis better than other agents.
Is there emerging and compelling enough evidence to maintain patients on P2Y12i monotherapy (in lieu of aspirin) following completion of DAPT?
Yes, a recent meta-analysis favors clopidogrel over aspirin for long-term therapy.Also, studies are coming out suggesting a shorter duration of DAPT.Here's one:Choi et al., PMID 36169938
What is your approach to the use of acetazolamide in patients with OSA?
I do not believe, at this time, there is very good evidence suggesting that acetazolamide should be used as primary therapy for OSA. There is a company, Desitin, that is trying to advance a different carbonic anhydrase inhibitor, sulthiame, to treat OSA, but it has not been approved to date. That be...
What is the optimal timing for Zoster vaccine administration for a patient who recently recovered from herpes zoster infection and is now planning to start B-cell depletion therapy?
This is a complicated question that must balance two competing factors. First, in general, most experts counsel waiting, approximately one year after zoster before vaccination in attempt to take advantage of endogenously boosted immunity and a low rate of recurrence within 12 months. On the other ha...
Do you recommend holding cinacalcet after kidney transplantation and monitoring PTH levels before restarting it?
Recommend to monitor calcium levels and resume cinacalcet if the patient has hypercalcemia. If the calcium level is normal, do not need to resume post-transplant. In addition, if the calcium level is 9 or below, would stop cinacalcet and monitor calcium levels.
How would you approach choosing osteoporosis treatment in a patient with a T score -3.3 in lumbar spine and no prior fracture history who has squamous cell cancer and received radiation therapy?
This is an interesting question and a not unfamiliar clinical situation. I would like to know the age of the patient of course and her general medical health including renal function as that might influence the choice of drug to be recommended. The underlying premise here (I assume) is the option of...
Would you consider teriparatide in a postmenopausal woman with normal DEXA who had a traumatic humerus fracture three months prior with surgical intervention and plain Xrays showing only partial healing?
At NYU, we have a multi-disciplinary approach to fracture non-unions and have used teriparatide in that setting usually at the request of our fracture surgeons. Those patients are not truly comparable to the patient described in your question as the non-union patients' fractures occurred significant...