Category Archives: Cardiology

Changes in Hypertension Treatment? Why Yes! The Recommendations of JNC 8

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As we all know from long experience, hypertension is the single most commonly seen and treated condition in primary care medicine. It is an important risk factor for strokes, heart attacks, kidney failure and overall death. It has been exhaustively studied. And yet there is still significant controversy over hypertension, including how to define it and what the best agents for treatment are.
Against this background, The 2014 Evidence-Based Guideline for the Management of High Blood Pressure in Adults was released last December in JAMA. It was written by the 8th Joint National Committee, and so, of course, is referred to as JNC 8.

JNC 8 has a couple of important and surprising changes from JNC 7. One of these, at least, is controversial enough that some members of the committee rebelled and released a dissenting “Minority Report” (apologies to Tom Cruise). Today’s JailMedicine post is a summary of JNC 8 recommendations and changes to JNC 7.20140430 Continue reading →

Interesting EKG. What is Your Interpretation?

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Your patient is a 29-year old male who presents to the medical clinic stating that he has been having a feeling of a racing heart off-and-on for the last couple of months.  It comes and goes, maybe two or three episodes a week.  They only last a few minutes.  He feels odd when this happens but he does not have to stop his activities.  He has noticed no pattern to these; they have happened at work (he is an inmate worker), in the middle of the night and every time in between.

His physical exam is normal including blood pressure of 124/78, regular heart rate of 68 and normal heart sounds.

What do you think is going on?  Would you order any tests?Original EKG Continue reading →

Do Fish Oil Capsules Prevent Heart Disease?

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Sometimes, good ideas just don’t turn out as we expect. This Interesting-Article-of-the-Week is one such case and is, perhaps, the death knell for fish oil capsules so long prescribed for heart disease.Capsule Continue reading →

The Concept of a “Hypertensive Urgency” is a Myth

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One of my nurses called me recently worried about a patient’s blood pressure.  The patient had just recently arrived at the jail and had no complaints, but when his blood pressure was measured, it was 230/120.  The patient otherwise felt fine and had no complaints, but the nurse was concerned that the blood pressure was dangerously high and we needed to give the patient something to get this blood pressure down right away.  My nurse had been taught that such patients had a “Hypertensive Urgency” and needed to be given a medication that would immediately lower their blood pressure. Continue reading →