One of my good friends, a guru of sorts, once told me during a ride that things change. He was 50 years-old at the time and the change he was referring to was cycling abilities and priorities. At the time, I was in the peak of my cycling prowess; we were part of strong masters […]
The year in Cardiology 2014 — a top-10 list
When the editors at Medscape asked me to put together an essay on the Top 10 stories in cardiology in 2014, I thought it would be an easy project. I was wrong. It turns out there was a lot to say about the happenings in cardiology this year. In the end, the final essay had 37 references–a […]
Ten things to expect after AF ablation
Here is a list of ten things to say about the experience of having an AF ablation. (Note: This list concerns standard radio frequency catheter ablation for AF.) 1. AF ablation is a big deal: The first thing to say about AF ablation is that it is a big procedure. I tell patients to expect […]
Major breakthrough in AF ablation
A study published recently in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology will change a way of thinking about the disease atrial fibrillation. And it’s about time. One word describes AF therapy in the past decade: plateau. Ten years have passed and we have no new drugs and no real breakthrough in AF ablation. […]
Where is Cardiology in 2014? An AHA Review
Last week, I attended the American Heart Association (AHA) 2014 Scientific Sessions in Chicago. I was there as both a learner and physician-writer for theHeart.org. Here are a few paragraphs on the meeting. The main purpose of this post is to introduce the five editorials I wrote. The links to the posts are at the […]
Changing the use of DrJohnM Facebook page for disease education
Over the weekend, I watched a speech by Dr. Mike Evans about using social media to educate patients and caregivers. Dr Evans is an academic family medicine doctor who also runs a media lab. He makes those famous whiteboard presentations, such as 23 and 1/2 hours, which now has more than 4-million views. His talk […]
Public health is on the ballot this Election Day
The election I am going to watch today is in San Francisco. On the ballot there is Proposition E, an initiative to add a 2-cent tax for every once of sugary beverage. Choose Health SF, a group supporting the tax, estimates it would raise $54 million, which would go towards, get this: “funding active recreation […]
Disturbing trends in the heart rhythm clinic — New post up over at theHeart.org
What follows is a short intro to my latest column on theHeart.org | Medscape Cardiology. —- The title of the piece is Three Concerning Trends in the Electrophysiology Clinic. I worked on the 750-word piece the entire week. It was hard to get the tone just right. This is because the trends do not reflect […]
Writing about lifestyle modification — and blaming the patient
I was pleased when the editors of the TheHeart.org reposted my recent essay, Let’s Stop the Unnecessary Treatment of Heart Disease. As of this morning, there are 167 comments. The majority of them were positive, and supportive of lifestyle promotion. Negative comments represented a small minority, but were notable in their vigor, and occasionally reached […]
Less is more in atrial fibrillation stroke prevention — please, drop the aspirin
A recent study in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology shed more light on the commonly used drug combination of aspirin and a vitamin-K antagonist (such as warfarin). It was a small registry study from one region of France but I believe it offered confirmatory evidence against this dangerous practice. Investigators followed patients […]
Review of the 2014 ESC Sessions in Barcelona
Hey Everyone, It’s been a few days since I returned home from Spain. The jet leg has resolved and normal sleep patterns have returned. I’ve had time to review the entire ESC program book. What follows is a review of my work and some notes on the past week in Barcelona. The first thing to […]
Recent Comments