General Medicine Top Stories of 2009: Editors' Choice

Screening reduced prostate cancer–specific mortality slightly in one study, and not at all in the other.

Reviewing:
Andriole GL et al. N Engl J Med 2009 Mar 26; 360:1310
Schröder FH et al. N Engl J Med 2009 Mar 26; 360:1320
Barry MJ. N Engl J Med 2009 Mar 26; 360:1351

More evidence that just keeping glucose levels <180 mg/dL is better than striving for very low levels.

Reviewing:
The NICE-SUGAR Study Investigators. N Engl J Med 2009 Mar 26; 360:1283
Inzucchi SE and Siegel MD. N Engl J Med 2009 Mar 26; 360:1346

This procedure conferred substantial risk without clinical benefit.

This procedure yielded no improvements in two randomized placebo-controlled trials.

Reviewing:
Kallmes DF et al. N Engl J Med 2009 Aug 6; 361:569
Buchbinder R et al. N Engl J Med 2009 Aug 6; 361:557

Overall cardiac risk was relatively low, and screening was of no benefit.

Risks might outweigh benefits in patients who receive other modern preventive therapies.

As we suspected: Advanced dementia is a terminal illness.

Bypass led to greater weight loss but was associated with more complications.

New USPSTF guidelines narrow the proposed age range for screening mammography and recommend biennial screening.

Reviewing:
U.S. Preventive Services Task Force. Ann Intern Med 2009 Nov 17; 151:716
Mandelblatt JS et al. for the Breast Cancer Working Group of the Cancer Intervention and Surveillance Modeling Network (CISNET). Ann Intern Med 2009 Nov 17; 151:738
Kerlikowske K. Ann Intern Med 2009 Nov 17; 151:750

Certain features suggest the risk for a pandemic.