Case report: A 27-year-old male was referred to the rheumatology outpatient department in February 2015 from the urology department after complaining of recent-onset uncontrolled hypertension (220/160 mmHg), headache and vomiting. In 2010, he was admitted to the urologist for sudden-onset left lumbar region pain and recent-onset hypertension. Clinical examination and the blood tests were normal….
Two months into the transition, the ICD-10 code set is still not exactly the most enticing reading material. But there is still so much to learn and apply, that it is necessary for physicians, coders and billers to stay abreast of the coding and billing guidelines. Although all of the guidelines and conventions may be…
Post-Traumatic OA A 70-year-old female patient comes in for a follow-up visit for pain and stiffness in her left hip. She injured her hip in a skiing accident three years before and reports the X-rays at that time showed no fractures. Due to no obvious fracture at the time, she was given ibuprofen and advised…
In the late 1990s, Thomas Baranowski, PhD, professor of pediatrics specializing in nutrition at the Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, applied for a grant. For years, he had been interested in finding ways to get children to change their diet and physical activity. He decided to try a video game, and he got the money…
Background Autoimmune diseases, such as rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and systemic lupus erythematous, occur when the body attacks its own tissue because it cannot differentiate between self and non-self. This is mainly through deregulation of the immune system. Vitamin D has been known to play a critical role in bone mineralization and bone health. Activated vitamin…
I am a few weeks post-retirement. Having written thank you notes and completed urgent home projects, I swing in a hammock at our currently fire-threatened cabin north of Winthrop, Wash., and reflect. I feel like a young boy while freely flipping pages of a hand-scribed picture book, The Principles of Uncertainty, by Maira Kalman. She…
Case report: A 78-year-old Caucasian female presented to our outpatient rheumatology clinic with pain in her bilateral shoulders, hands and knees that began suddenly one month earlier. She admitted to stiffness in her hands lasting several hours, and expressed an inability to extend her fingers. She denied fever, rashes, jaw claudication, headache or visual changes….
NEW YORK (Reuters Health)—Obese patients with psoriasis or psoriatic arthritis are apt to experience significant symptomatic relief following bariatric surgery, according to a new chart review. Specifically, the study found that more than half of the patients with psoriasis or psoriatic arthritis reported improvements in their disease following surgery. Dr. Soumya Reddy, assistant professor of…
NEW YORK (Reuters Health)—Sleep apnea may increase the risk of developing gout and experiencing flare-ups, according to a new study. Until now, little was known about the relationship between the two conditions, the study team writes in an article online Oct. 19 in Arthritis & Rheumatology. Obesity plays an important role in both sleep apnea…
NEW YORK (Reuters Health)—A body mass index (BMI) of less than 28 alone may be a tool to prescreen younger postmenopausal women for osteoporosis, according to a new study. “For young postmenopausal white women aged 50–64, current prescreening modalities identifying candidates for DXA (dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry) scan … are not performing better than BMI alone,”…