Editor's Note, Volume 6 Issue 1

D’Arcy Little, MD, CCFP, FRCPC
Medical Director, JCCC and HealthPlexus.NET

I am pleased to introduce the first issue for 2016 of the Journal of Current Clinical Care for your reading pleasure.

Drs. Dean Elterman and Udi Blankstein, offer Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia: Medical and Surgical Treatment Options. BPH is a common condition that afflicts a large proportion of aging men. The primary care physician has an important role in the identification and early treatment of bothersome urinary symptoms caused by BPH. It is also important for the primary care giver to determine when additional evaluation and referral to a urologist is warranted.

For his Ethics blog, Dr. Michael Gordon, from the Baycrest Centre of Geriatric Care in Toronto examines end-of-life issues and the need for a substitute decision-maker to understand the rules of engagement so that when the time comes, the patient knows that their wishes will be respected.

Drs. Michael M.H. Yang and W. Bradley Jacobs, discuss the most common fragility fracture and its significant impact on numerous indices of health quality in their article Osteoporotic Vertebral Compression Fractures: Diagnosis and Management. High-risk patients should be identified and appropriate preventative therapy initiated. The majority of VCFs can be managed in a non-operative fashion, with analgesia as required to support progressive mobilization.

In their article, Cutaneous Features of Neurofibromatosis,Dr. Joseph M. Lam and Sang-Eun Kim, from the University of British Columbia, examine neurofibromatosis type 1 (NF1), a multisystem genetic disorder that is characterized by café-au-lait spots, axillary or inguinal freckles, cutaneous neurofibromas, and skeletal dysplasias. This article provides an overview of selected common and uncommon cutaneous features of NF1 to help the practitioner recognize, diagnose and treat patients with NF1.

For our Medical Narratives section Dr. Michael Gordon, from the Baycrest Centre of Geriatric Care in Toronto, draws from his personal experiences and will delight readers with A Late Degree: The Importance of Symbolism.

I hope you enjoy this latest edition. Please consider commenting or submitting an article of your own.