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4. Top Stories of 2009: Editors' Choice

Hospital Medicine Top Stories of 2009: Editors' Choice

SUMMARY AND COMMENT

Intervention for Non–ST-Segment-Elevation Acute Coronary Syndromes: What Difference Does a Day Make?

• September 16, 2009
• Beat J. Meyer, MD
• Cardiology

Interventions performed immediately or deferred to the next working day resulted in similar outcomes.

• Reviewing:
• Montalescot G et al. JAMA 2009 Sep 2; 302:947

SUMMARY AND COMMENT

Expanding the Window for Acute Stroke Treatment

• October 6, 2009
• James S. McKinney, MD
• Neurology

New recommendations from the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association on using t-PA between 3 and 4.5 hours after stroke onset

• Reviewing:
• del Zoppo GJ et al. Stroke 2009 Aug; 40:2945

SUMMARY AND COMMENT

Intensive Glucose Control Harms Critically Ill Patients

• March 24, 2009
• Paul S. Mueller, MD, MPH, FACP
• General Medicine

More evidence that just keeping glucose levels <180 mg/dL is better than striving for very low levels.

• Reviewing:
• The NICE-SUGAR Study Investigators. N Engl J Med 2009 Mar 26; 360:1283
  Inzucchi SE and Siegel MD. N Engl J Med 2009 Mar 26; 360:1346

SUMMARY AND COMMENT

Preventing Infection in the ICU

• January 7, 2009
• Larry M. Baddour, MD
• Infectious Diseases

Selective decontamination of the digestive tract or the oropharynx reduced mortality rates among ICU patients.

• Reviewing:
• de Smet AMGA et al. N Engl J Med 2009 Jan 1; 360:20

SUMMARY AND COMMENT

Lower Heart Rate, Not Higher β-Blocker Dose, Leads to Better Survival in Heart Failure Patients

• July 7, 2009
• Richard Saitz, MD, MPH, FACP, FASAM
• General Medicine

Risk for death was 18% lower for every 5 bpm reduction with β-blocker treatment.

• Reviewing:
• McAlister FA et al. Ann Intern Med 2009 Jun 2; 150:784

SUMMARY AND COMMENT

Preventing Bounce-Back Hospital Admissions

• February 2, 2009
• Neil H. Winawer, MD, FHM
• Hospital Medicine

A standardized discharge intervention lowered the incidence of rehospitalization.

• Reviewing:
• Jack BW et al. Ann Intern Med 2009 Feb 3; 150:178

SUMMARY AND COMMENT

β-Blockers and Statins to Lower Risk in Noncardiac Surgery

• June 18, 2009
• Allan S. Brett, MD
• General Medicine

Bisoprolol significantly lowered 30-day incidence of cardiac death and nonfatal MI; fluvastatin did not.

• Reviewing:
• Dunkelgrun M et al. Ann Surg 2009 Jun; 249:921

SUMMARY AND COMMENT

Statins to Prevent Perioperative Cardiovascular Events

• September 3, 2009
• Allan S. Brett, MD
• General Medicine

In high-risk patients, several weeks of statin therapy before vascular surgery led to less ischemia and fewer MIs.

• Reviewing:
• Schouten O et al. N Engl J Med 2009 Sep 3; 361:980

SUMMARY AND COMMENT

Inpatient Surgery and In-Hospital Mortality

• September 30, 2009
• Neil H. Winawer, MD, FHM
• Hospital Medicine

Hospitals with low and high perioperative death rates have surprisingly similar rates of perioperative complications, which suggests that “failure to rescue” is the primary determinant of in-hospital mortality.

• Reviewing:
• Ghaferi AA et al. N Engl J Med 2009 Oct 1; 361:1368
  Jacobs DO. N Engl J Med 2009 Oct 1; 361:1398

SUMMARY AND COMMENT

Chest Compression Fraction and Survival from Cardiac Arrest

• October 30, 2009
• Aaron E. Bair, MD, MSc, FAAEM, FACEP
• Emergency Medicine

Minimizing interruption of chest compressions is associated with improved survival.

• Reviewing:
• Christenson J et al. Circulation 2009 Sep 29; 120:1241