Internal medicine journal
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Internal medicine journal · Mar 2020
Three-year follow up of adrenal incidentalomas in a New Zealand centre.
The international guidelines for management of adrenal incidentalomas (AI) are becoming more conservative. These changes are based on the growing body of evidence suggesting that non-functioning adenomas have a low likelihood of becoming functional or malignant over time. ⋯ After 3 years of follow up, approximately half of patients with SCS normalised, while 5% of patients with initially non-functioning adenomas developed biochemical evidence of SCS. This study found a low likelihood of progressive hormonal excess with no evidence of malignancy developing on follow-up evaluation, providing support for the shift towards the more conservative approach to management of AI recommended in recent guidelines.
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Internal medicine journal · Mar 2020
Pre- and post-bone marrow harvest anaemia is associated with lower CD34+ stem cell collection, high harvest volume and female gender.
Donor safety is paramount when performing bone marrow stem cell harvest. The incidence of full blood count (FBC) abnormalities among donors and variables associated with anaemia after marrow harvest are not well established. ⋯ Pre-harvest anaemia should be corrected where possible particularly in female donors. Marrow collection volume should be minimised to reduce post-harvest anaemia, optimise CD34+ cell number and improve nucleated and stem cell concentrations in the harvest product.
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Internal medicine journal · Mar 2020
Accuracy and acceptability of survivorship care plans: results of a pilot study.
Survivorship treatment summaries and care plans are increasingly incorporated into cancer care but there are limited data on their accuracy and acceptability. We have evaluated written care plans developed as part of a once-off, nurse-led survivorship consultations across four medical oncology clinics in South Australia as part of a state-wide pilot. While the accuracy of treatment summaries was high, level of detail in care plans was moderate to low, as was survivors' perception of plans' utility.
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Internal medicine journal · Mar 2020
Management of patients with gout and achievement of target serum urate levels at a tertiary rheumatology service in Australia.
Gout is common crystal arthritis that is often managed sub-optimally. ⋯ Despite effective therapy the number of patients treated for gout at a large public metropolitan teaching hospital reaching SU target was low. Almost one-quarter of patients in the study discontinued contact with the clinic. The reasons for this are not clear and are likely multifactorial.