Showing 41-60 of 74 for: Essential Evidence Topics > Cardiovascular 
- Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy
Essential Evidence Topics, 11-Aug-2020
Overall Bottom Line:
- Intracerebral hemorrhage
Essential Evidence Topics, 29-Aug-2019
Overall Bottom Line: Any patient with aphasia/focal neurological defect should be considered for stroke diagnosis. Urgent CT or MRI should be ordered to distinguish between ischemic and hemorrhagic stroke. Intracranial pressure (ICP) and blood pressur
- Kawasaki disease
Essential Evidence Topics, 17-Sep-2018
Overall Bottom Line: No gold standard test exists for diagnosis of Kawasaki disease (KD). Diagnosis must be made based on clinical features and, if there is atypical presentation, include supportive laboratory work and echocardiogram. Treatment for th
- Lymphedema
Essential Evidence Topics, 27-May-2019
Overall Bottom Line: The diagnosis of lymphedema is mainly based on history and clinical findings. Routine laboratory investigations, lymphoscintigraphy, and other imaging studies may be useful adjuncts for further diagnostic assessment. Treatment opt
- Mitral insufficiency
Essential Evidence Topics, 1-Mar-2019
Overall Bottom Line: Physical examination is the best initial screening for mitral regurgitation (MR). Echocardiography is useful for diagnosing and monitoring the severity of MR (see ). Medical therapy is reserved for symptomatic patients only and
- Mitral stenosis
Essential Evidence Topics, 31-May-2019
Overall Bottom Line: Most common symptoms are dyspnea, increasing fatigue, orthopnea, or paroxysmal nocturnal dyspnea. Perform echocardiography for the diagnosis of mitral stenosis (MS), for assessment of hemodynamic severity, and to determine suitabili
- Mitral valve prolapse
Essential Evidence Topics, 11-Sep-2019
Overall Bottom Line: Current studies of mitral valve prolapse (MVP) prevalence (0.6% in adults aged 23-35 years) show substantial reductions from past surveys because of a change in diagnostic criteria. The most recent, and largest, meta-analysis on MVP
- Myocardial infarction
Essential Evidence Topics, 12-Nov-2019
Overall Bottom Line: Elevated cardiac enzymes associated with clinical or ECG evidence of ischemia is diagnostic for myocardial infarction (MI). Treat all patients with oxygen, pain control medications, and antiplatelet therapy including aspirin and hep
- Orthostatic hypotension
Essential Evidence Topics, 20-Jun-2019
Overall Bottom Line: Ask about drugs or alcohol that might be causing orthostatic hypotension (OH). Order laboratory tests as clinically indicated to rule out anemia, adrenal insufficiency, diabetes, plasma cell dyscrasias, and vitamin B12 deficiency.
- Pericardial effusion
Essential Evidence Topics, 27-Jun-2019
Overall Bottom Line: Suspect pericardial effusion in patients with breathlessness, chest pain, dyspnea on exertion, and/or cough, particularly if they fall into a risk group (i.e., post-cardiac surgery, malignancy, HIV disease). Initial evaluation shoul
- Pericarditis
Essential Evidence Topics, 25-Mar-2019
Overall Bottom Line: Obtain an ECG and echocardiogram in patients with chest pain that increases with inspiration or while recumbent and/or who have a friction rub. NSAIDs are the preferred treatment for the first occurrence of idiopathic or viral per
- Perioperative management of antithrombotic therapy
Essential Evidence Topics, 28-Nov-2019
Bottom Line: Patients at low cardiac risk who use antithrombotic and antiplatelet therapy for primary prevention can stop treatment 2 to 10 days prior to surgical procedures, depending on the agent. In a patient taking aspirin for primary prevention, th
- Peripheral arterial disease
Essential Evidence Topics, 2-May-2019
Overall Bottom Line: Peripheral arterial disease (PAD) is common and easily identified through measurement of ankle-brachial pressure index. There is insufficent evidence to recommend screening of asymptomatic patients. Patients with PAD have a sign
- Polyarteritis nodosa
Essential Evidence Topics, 22-Oct-2019
Overall Bottom Line: Polyarteritis nodosa (PAN) is a systemic vascular necritis that typically affects medium-sized arteries, with occasional involvement of small muscular arteries. Most of the cases are idiopathic. Hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection and
- Pulmonary embolism
Essential Evidence Topics, 11-Aug-2020
Overall Bottom Line: Prevention of VTE should be considered according to the patient's baseline risk (see ). Diagnosis begins with estimating probability based on a validated clinical decision rule (), then using a validated diagnostic algorithm integra
- Pulmonary hypertension
Essential Evidence Topics, 23-Jan-2020
Overall Bottom Line: Suspect pulmonary artery hypertension (PAH) in patients with unexplained exertional dyspnea, fatigue, syncope, and weakness. Initial testing includes CXR, ECG, and echocardiogram. Treatment of pulmonary hypertension is based on esta
- Renal artery stenosis
Essential Evidence Topics, 9-Sep-2020
Overall Bottom Line: Suspect renal artery stenosis (RAS) in patients with hypertension if it is diagnosed before age 30, uncontrolled on 3 or more medications in those over 55, and in patients with accelerated or malignant hypertension. Patients with su
- Rheumatic fever
Essential Evidence Topics, 3-May-2019
Overall Bottom Line: Treatment of preceding group A streptococcus (GAS) pharyngitis with antibiotics helps prevent 70% to 80% of cases of acute rheumatic fever (ARF). An echocardiography with Doppler should be performed in all patients with confirmed
- Sepsis and septic shock (adult)
Essential Evidence Topics, 3-Jul-2020
Overall Bottom Line: Suspect sepsis in patients presenting with fever, hypotension, and other of the SIRS criteria (). Obtain two blood cultures, one peripherally and one through all vascular devices, and culture other bodily fluids. Early goal-direct
- Sinus arrhythmia and sick sinus
Essential Evidence Topics, 11-Sep-2019
Overall Bottom Line: Electrophysiologic (EP) studies are recommended for symptomatic patients in whom sinus node dysfunction (SND) is suspected but for whom a causal relationship has not been established. Permanent pacemaker is recommended in SND patien
