Advertisement

Advertisement

Digoxin for the Control of Congestive Heart Failure Symptoms in Palliative Care

0

No applauses yet

One of the great things about the history of medicine is how new ideas and approaches to care replace those that were previously the "gold standard" fall by the wayside and are replaced with newer and more effective treatments. Sometimes what becomes the new "gold standard" appears so counter-intuitive or "off-the-wall" that it takes time until the evidence grows that demonstrates its new role in the hierarchy of medical treatments. If someone would have told me, when as a youngster watching my father eat soda crackers and milk and consuming Tums® on a relentless basis for years, would be replaced by more definitive treatment I would have been surprised. When the first H2 antagonists came into being, they appeared miraculous—and the PPIs—just about did away with routine ulcer surgery.

As a young internist a good part of my practice was providing pre-operative consultations for those going into ulcer surgery—the procedures ranged from simple to complex but all but those for emergency bleeding were based on somehow decrease the acid production by the stomach, based on the belief that it was excessive acid that was producing the symptoms and the ulcer. I recall the first rather young patient I saw pre-operatively for proposed ulcer surgery, who had not been given a trial of what was already changing the landscape for ulcer disease, an H2 antagonist. When I suggested to the patient that rather than having the surgery she should seek the advice of a gastro-enterologist for such H2 antagonist (Tagamet® the first product on the market) medication, the surgeon was furious—and literally told me he would never refer a pre-operative patient to me again—and so he did not—but within a few years there were virtually none to refer for these procedures. If someone had suggested that within a few years, peptic ulcers would be eliminated by a one week course of combination antibiotics combined with a week of a PPI, because of some yet as unrecognized bacteria that thrived in the stomach and caused these ulcers, one might have been accused of some hallucinatory condition—and yet that is exactly what happened—another miracle of modern medicine.

On the other hand sometimes medications that have withstood the test of time become replaced by newer therapies, but the loss of knowledge about the older medication, decreases the ability of physicians to relieve symptoms as the new medications do not achieve all the desired goals. Thus is the case with digoxin, a drug which I learned about and practiced using using to great effect because of my age and the fact that my earliest training in medicine occurred in Scotland. I was privy to the new advances in the treatment of heart failure with the introduction of the novel, potent and life-saving furosemide (Lasix®), but for the atrial fibrillation and normal sinus rhythm heart failure symptoms, digoxin was the mainstay of treatment. Those of us who grew up with this drug welcomed the advent of the serum digoxin level to help guide us through treatment by alerting us to potentially deadly serum levels, and the "pearls" we all learned about the drug's side effects signs such as "if a Dundonian (resident of Dundee Scotland where I trained) goes off his Angus beef or fish and chips and is taking digoxin—he is likely digoxin (as we called it dig) toxic.

Most contemporary North American younger physicians have had little or no experience with digoxin as newer alternative treatments have replaced the drug—although none have the rate controlling combined with inotropic benefits of this medication. Recently, as part of the exploration of special medication approaches in the realm of palliative care, a small group at Baycrest were reminded that sometimes, digoxin can have a beneficial effect during the latest stages of terminal heart failure, when other drugs were no longer effective. It can help relieve what is often very disturbing dyspnea without the sedative effects of opiates which is often used in such conditions.

A report in the Annals of Long-term Care, describes the two cases of patients with terminal heart failure, whose extreme symptoms were ameliorated by judicious use of digoxin and had a profound and important impact on their last weeks and days of life. Neither of them had ever been exposed to digoxin as it is not part of the usual contemporary repertoire of treatments for end-stage of terminal heart failure—either as a specific treatment or as it was in these cases, as part of the palliative care approach to symptom management. The article was published in the August issue of the Annals of Long-Term Care.

For those of us who work in long-term care where we are often confronted with late-stage and terminal heart failure, it is worth considering digoxin as part of our palliative symptom management repertoire.

A Scaly Periorbital Rash in a Preschool-aged Boy

A Scaly Periorbital Rash in a Preschool-aged Boy

Teaser: 

Jennifer Smitten, MD, FRCPC,1 Joseph M Lam, MD, FRCPC,2

1BC Children's Hospital, University of British Columbia, BC.
2Assistant Clinical Professor, Department of Paediatrics, Associate Member, Department of Dermatology, University of British Columbia, BC.

CLINICAL TOOLS

Abstract: A healthy 4-year-old boy presented with an 8-month history of a pruritic scaly eruption around his right eye associated with several small pearly papules on the face. A clinical diagnosis of an eczematous id reaction to molluscum contagiosum was made. While up to 40% of cases of molluscum contagiosum may have an associated eczematous dermatitis, these are often under-recognized or misdiagnosed.
Key Words: Pediatrics, Dermatology, Dermatitis, Molluscum, Eczema, Id reaction, Viral exanthem, Hypersensitivity.
Eczematous id reactions to molluscum contagiosum (MC) in children are common, occurring in up to 40% of cases of MC.
Id reactions to MC can be challenging to diagnose, as they may occur at sites distant from the MC lesions.
Id reactions can be caused by a variety of infectious and noninfectious dermatoses.
Asymptomatic id reactions do not require pharmacologic treatment and a watchful waiting approach is reasonable.
1. Id reactions can be caused by a variety of infectious and noninfectious dermatoses, including allergic contact dermatitis to nickel, scabies infestation, tinea infection and molluscum infection.
2. In a unilateral eczematous dermatitis, consider molluscum dermatitis, especially in a child with no personal or family history of atopy.
3. Treatment of symptomatic id reactions may help to reduce spread of MC via autoinoculation from scratching.
To have access to full article that these tools were developed for, please subscribe. The cost to subscribe is $80 USD per year and you will gain full access to all the premium content on www.healthplexus.net, an educational portal, that hosts 1000s of clinical reviews, case studies, educational visual aids and more as well as within the mobile app.

Bipolar Electrofulgration with Endoscopic Approach in Allergic Turbinates

Bipolar Electrofulgration with Endoscopic Approach in Allergic Turbinates

Teaser: 

Dr. Sohail Abdul Malik, DLO, FCPS (ENT), Dr. Pooja Chodankar, MBBS, DLO, Dr. Pradeep Shenoy, MD, DLO, FRCS, FACS,

Former Head of ENT Department Armed Forces Hospital, Kuwait,
Currently the ENT service chief, Campbellton Regional Hospital, Campbellton, New Brunswick, Canada.

CLINICAL TOOLS

Abstract: Rhinological practice in Kuwait has always included a barrage of cases of allergic rhinitis. Arrays of treatment modalities like monopolar electrocautery to the inferior turbinates and laser vaporization have been experimented with and have yielded a diversity of results. Here is a synopsis of the use of endoscopic bipolar cauterization of middle and inferior turbinates in cases of allergic rhinitis, a treatment which achieves superior results in comparison with other therapeutic options.
Key Words: bipolar cauterization, bipolar electrofulguration, inferior turbinates, nasoendoscope.

Allergic rhinitis is a common problem in the Middle East region; several treatment modalities have been experimented with to improve patient symptoms.
Cautery with a specially designed bipolar probe can be used to cauterize different parts of the turbinates.
Endoscopic bipolar diathermy was deemed to be less useful in patients with moderate to severe deviation of the septum who were therefore excluded from the study.
Endoscopic bipolar diathermy demonstrated better long term results than other treatment options such as: submucosal diathermy, partial inferior turbinectomy and linear cautery.
Endoscopic bipolar diathermy as a treatment option increased nasal airflow with minimal damage to the mucocillary function and maximal destruction of submucosal tissue to the engorged portion of the inferior turbinates.
There is evidence of subjective improvement in the nasal symptoms of 89.1% of cases, and objective improvement of symptoms in 65.5% of cases which combined rhinomanometric study and nasoendoscopy.
To have access to full article that these tools were developed for, please subscribe. The cost to subscribe is $80 USD per year and you will gain full access to all the premium content on www.healthplexus.net, an educational portal, that hosts 1000s of clinical reviews, case studies, educational visual aids and more as well as within the mobile app.

Vertebral Metastatic Disease: A Practice Guideline for the General Practitioner

Vertebral Metastatic Disease: A Practice Guideline for the General Practitioner

Teaser: 

Michael S. Taccone,1 Markian Pahuta,2 Darren M.Roffey,3,4Eugene K. Wai,2,3,4

1Division of Neurosurgery, Department of Surgery, The Ottawa Hospital, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, ON, Canada.
2Division of Orthopedic Surgery, Department of Surgery, The Ottawa Hospital, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, ON, Canada.
3Ottawa Combined Adult Spinal Surgery Program, The Ottawa Hospital, Ottawa, ON, Canada.
4Clinical Epidemiology Program, Ottawa Hospital Research Institute, Ottawa, ON, Canada.

CLINICAL TOOLS

Abstract: Vertebral metastatic disease afflicts a significant proportion of cancer patients, most commonly those with breast and lung disease. Symptoms can include tumor-related pain, neurological deficit from spinal cord or nerve compression and pathological fracture with mechanical instability. Appropriate workup includes identifying the primary disease, defining the extent of spinal and extra-spinal pathology and classifying spinal stability based on the pattern of osseous involvement. Specific therapy for the vertebral metastatic disease can include pharmacologic therapy to deliver analgesia, steroids, bisphosphonate, anti-neoplastic therapy, radiation therapy as either primary or adjuvant therapy and surgical intervention for mechanical or neurologic instability.
Key Words: Vertebral metastatic disease, metastatic epidural spinal cord compression, spinal instability, spine surgery, spinal radiation therapy, pathologic fracture.

Members of the College of Family Physicians of Canada may claim MAINPRO-M2 Credits for this unaccredited educational program.

www.cfpc.ca/Mainpro_M2

You can take quizzes without subscribing; however, your results will not be stored. Subscribers will have access to their quiz results for future reference.

Red flags are non-specific and unreliable means of determining spinal malignancy in patients with back pain. Clinical suspicion combined with history and physical exam are best for increasing pre-test probability of imaging studies.
Initial evaluation and referral to definitive management should be made within 24 hours of detection of significant neurological deficit, significant metastatic epidural spinal cord compression or instability.
MRI is the imaging modality of choice for initial evaluation and assessment of overall spinal tumor burden.
Vertebral metastatic disease is very common in patients with cancer.
SINS, ESCCS, Tomita score, Tokuhashi score and the Modified Bauer scores are all important tools for determining the most appropriate referral.
In eligible candidates, surgery with adjuvant radiotherapy yields faster and more sustainable neurologic stability and recovery.
To have access to full article that these tools were developed for, please subscribe. The cost to subscribe is $80 USD per year and you will gain full access to all the premium content on www.healthplexus.net, an educational portal, that hosts 1000s of clinical reviews, case studies, educational visual aids and more as well as within the mobile app.

Error in Radiology: Negligence or Human Nature

D'Arcy Little, MD CCFP FRCPC, Chief of Diagnostic Imaging, Orillia Soldiers' Memorial Hospital,
Adjunct Clinical Lecturer, Department of Medical Imaging, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON,
Forensic Radiologist, Forensic Sciences and Coroners' Complex, Toronto, ON,
2015 Resident in Scientific Communications, Banff Centre, Banff, AB.

Tales of Heartache and Woe

Teaser: 

“Momma has been dead just over a year. Doesn’t he have any pride, any respect?” Sandy, short for Sandra, the next to youngest of the three brothers and two sisters was trying to calm Norman.

...