Dr. Lars Svensson and Dr. Marijan Koprivanac discuss all things aorta, such as your past medical history, current health, and how your surgeon looks to the future to provide the best options for you.
Monthly Archives: May 2023
DOCTORS PODCAST: MEDICAL & TELEHEALTH NEWS (May 07)
A weekly podcast on the latest medical, science and telehealth news.
HEALTH: HOW THE PANDEMIC RESHAPED AMERICAN LIFE
Insomnia: Can Cognitive Behavioral Therapy Help?
May 4, 2023: Difficulty initiating and maintaining sleep is a common problem for many patients. Over-the-counter sleeping aids are used by many and we commonly get asked for prescription medications to help with their sleep.
Unfortunately, the ideal sleeping medication doesn’t exist and many have potentially worrisome adverse effects, some produce daytime somnolence and others may have the potential to produce dependence.
Cognitive behavioral therapy is an alternative treatment option to pharmacologic therapy and is safe, can be easily taught, and offers an alternative to the many with chronic insomnia. In this podcast, we’ll discuss this innovative treatment option with sleep expert, Michael H. Silber, M.B.Ch.B., a neurologist at the Mayo Clinic.
Bacteria: Helicobacter Pylori Infection Review
Helicobacter pylori infection causes chronic gastritis, which can progress to severe gastroduodenal pathologies, including peptic ulcer, gastric cancer and gastric mucosa-associated lymphoid tissue lymphoma. H. pylori is usually transmitted in childhood and persists for life if untreated. The infection affects around half of the population in the world but prevalence varies according to location and sanitation standards. H. pylori has unique properties to colonize gastric epithelium in an acidic environment.
The pathophysiology of H. pylori infection is dependent on complex bacterial virulence mechanisms and their interaction with the host immune system and environmental factors, resulting in distinct gastritis phenotypes that determine possible progression to different gastroduodenal pathologies. The causative role of H. pylori infection in gastric cancer development presents the opportunity for preventive screen-and-treat strategies. Invasive, endoscopy-based and non-invasive methods, including breath, stool and serological tests, are used in the diagnosis of H. pylori infection.
Their use depends on the specific individual patient history and local availability. H. pylori treatment consists of a strong acid suppressant in various combinations with antibiotics and/or bismuth. The dramatic increase in resistance to key antibiotics used in H. pylori eradication demands antibiotic susceptibility testing, surveillance of resistance and antibiotic stewardship.
Infographic: Why Women Have High Risks Of Stroke
Stroke in U.S. Women by the Numbers
One in 5 women will have a stroke. About 55,000 more women than men have a stroke each year.
Stroke is the No. 3 cause of death in women. Stroke kills over 90,000 women a year.
Among women, Black Women have the highest prevalence of stroke.
Talk to your health care provider about how to lower your risk and use the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association prevention guidelines:
Stroke risk increases in women who:
- Are pregnant. Pregnant women are three times more likely to have a stroke as women of the same age.
- Have preeclampsia. This dangerous condition of high blood pressure during pregnancy doubles stroke risk later in life.
- Take birth control pills. These can double the risk of stroke, especially in women with high blood pressure.
- Use hormone replacement therapy. It doesn’t lower it, like once thought.
- Have migraines with aura and smoke. Strokes are more common in women who have migraines with aura and smoke, compared with other women.
- Have atrial fibrillation. This quivering or irregular heartbeat can increase stroke risk fivefold. After age 75, it’s more common in women than men.
Stroke risk decreases in women who:
- Talk to their health care provider to determine safest medication if pregnant with high blood pressure.
- Discuss with their health care provider low-dose aspirin guidelines starting in the second trimester (week 12) to lower preeclampsia risk.
- Get their blood pressure checked before taking birth control pills and monitor every six months.
- Don’t use hormone replacement therapy to prevent stroke if postmenopausal.
- Quit smoking if they have migraines with aura.
- Get screened for atrial fibrillation if over age 75.
Doctors Without Waiting Rooms 