How many "foods" do we eat that were shaped by a machine into some pleasing shape and injected with modified fats and preservatives before being deep-fried, flash frozen and shipped out from a factory somewhere? A new study shows us the harm in eating ultra-processed foods.
I read with interest your blog today, and then some of your other offerings. I am a rural general surgeon who has done 12,000 colonoscopies in 35 years. My question is how do we know that screening is effective at reducing mortality?
The phrases "mind-blowing" and "fecal transplant study" are not often used in the same sentence (or even in the same publication), however when I read the following study about fecal transplants, my mind was in fact blown!
No self-respecting gastroenterologist would use premade stool, just like no self-respecting Italian would use jarred sauce, right?
Here in Long Island, NY where I practice, it seems to be the norm to have a precolonoscopy visit. This visit serves several important purposes in my mind: I can meet the patient, take a history, and make sure they actually need a screening colonoscopy. I can answer all of the above questions in more detail than the primary doctor can. I also get to give them my basic talk about the purpose of a colonoscopy, how and why we remove polyps, the importance of good bowel prep and how to do it, and the small associated risks of a colonoscopy. We can talk about what to do with medications, and where to arrive on the day of the test, and parking, and all those seemingly small details that can make a patient stressed-out about the test for no good reason.
Is this common practice of bridging from Coumadin to an injectable anticoagulant back to Coumadin necessary? From a practical point, it is usually a major inconvenience for patients and doctors alike. Many patients are uncomfortable giving themselves injections at home. The injectable anticoagulants are sometimes expensive. Sometimes despite good instruction, they are administered incorrectly by the patient, or on the wrong dates. What if Coumadin was just held and later restarted without the bridging?
There has been concern for several years about commonly prescribed antacid drugs called proton pump inhibitors (PPIs) and the heart. PPIs are used to treat gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD), peptic ulcer disease, and other acid-related diseases. Common drugs in the PPI class are omeprazole (Prilosec), esomeprazole (Nexium), pantoprazole (Protonix), lansoprazole (Prevacid), and dexlansoprazole (Dexilant), among … Read more