October 15, 2015

Although prostate-specific antigen testing has traditionally been used to screen for prostate cancer, the test has low sensitivity and specificity, and there is no clear threshold to guide decisions regarding prostate biopsy. Despite variations across guidelines, no…

Most family physicians use corticosteroid injections as part of a treatment plan for many common musculoskeletal conditions. They improve pain and range of motion in patients with adhesive capsulitis, and provide short-term pain relief and improvement in function for patients…

Gastroesophageal reflux is a normal physiologic process that occurs throughout the day in infants, and less often in children and adolescents. Gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) is reflux that causes troublesome symptoms and may lead to complications. Diagnostic testing for…

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Before primary care physicians consider reintroducing the PSA test, they must have proof that it improves outcomes. The task will be to show in a future randomized study whether any PSA screening algorithm can improve survival or quality of life compared with what is now the…

In patients with severe frostbite, tPA plus a prostacyclin may be used to decrease the risk of digital amputation. tPA can be used alone and is associated with lower amputation rates compared with local wound care.

A 40-year-old woman presents for a routine well-woman examination. She is not pregnant, is in good health, reports no symptoms, and her physical examination is unremarkable. After seeing a health news segment on television, she asks if she should have her thyroid function…

A man who had recently started an intensive exercise regimen had weakness in his arm and dull, achy shoulder pain. Examination revealed an obvious deformity.

Levomilnacipran should not be used in patients with mild to moderate depression until studies have proven its effectiveness. It is somewhat effective in patients with moderate to severe depression. The short-term adverse effect profile of levomilnacipran is similar to that of…

• Children six months to eight years of age who have received at least two doses of trivalent or quadrivalent influenza vaccine since the 2010–2011 influenza season need only one dose this season.

Reflux (also called gastroesophageal reflux) happens when swallowed food or liquid in the stomach passes back up into the throat and mouth through a tube called the esophagus (eh-SOF-ah-gus). “Spitting up” (also called regurgitation) is a form of reflux that happens in infants…