Hospitalization as an opportunity to engage underserved individuals in shared decision-making for lung cancer screening: results from two randomized pilot trials.

Purpose: Medicare requires tobacco dependence counseling and shared decision-making (SDM) for lung cancer screening (LCS) reimbursement. We hypothesized that initiating SDM during inpatient tobacco treatment visits would increase LCS among patients with barriers to proactively seeking outpatient preventive care.

Methods: We collected baseline assessments and performed two pilot randomized trials at our safety-net hospital.

Use of ultrasound-measured internal jugular vein collapsibility index to determine static intracardiac pressures in patients with presumed pulmonary hypertension.

Background: Bedside ultrasound helps to estimate volume status in critically ill patients and has traditionally relied on diameter, respiratory variation, and collapsibility of the inferior vena cava (IVC) to reflect fluid status. We evaluated collapsibility of the internal jugular vein (IJ) with ultrasound and correlated it with concomitant right heart catheterization (RHC) measurements in patients with presumed pulmonary hypertension.

Methods And Results: We studied 71 patients undergoing RHC for evaluation of pulmonary hypertension.

Eosinophilic esophagitis, gastroenteritis, and colitis in a patient with prior parasite exposure.

Eosinophilic gastrointestinal disorders (EGID) comprise a spectrum of inflammatory diseases that can affect any segment of the gastrointestinal tract. The pathogenesis of these conditions is complex; differentiating between primary and secondary forms of these disorders can be clinically challenging. We report a case of primary EGID in a patient with remote parasite exposure, whose symptoms were initially attributed to irritable bowel syndrome.

Association of Left Atrial Function Index With Late Atrial Fibrillation Recurrence after Catheter Ablation.

Introduction: Although catheter ablation (CA) for atrial fibrillation (AF) is commonly used to improve symptoms, AF recurrence is common and new tools are needed to better inform patient selection for CA. Left atrial function index (LAFI), an echocardiographic measure of atrial mechanical function, has shown promise as a noninvasive predictor of AF. We hypothesized that LAFI would relate to AF recurrence after CA.