Primary Care
Physician perspectives on preventive care, chronic disease management, and evidence-based primary care practice.
Recent Discussions
How do you approach the treatment of bullous cutaneous lupus?
First, I ensure that the diagnosis is correct (referring to my favorite local medical dermatologist) and that it is not a non-lupus-related bullous disease. As most would do, I use hydroxychloroquine plus dapsone as my initial treatment of choice along with strict ultraviolet light protection measur...
Do you rule out active urinary tract infections prior to performing a kidney biopsy?
The 2 infectious reasons to avoid a renal biopsy are- active kidney infection and active skin infection at the site of the biopsy (Luciano & Moeckel, PMID 30661724).Perinephric hematoma is common after a kidney biopsy and there is a report in the literature where this has gotten infected in the pres...
When would you consider utilizing bone scintigraphy in the assessment of inflammatory arthritis?
When it's a case of negative RA disease or when considering a neoplastic, gammopathy with myeloma...
Do you typically adjust or hold immunosuppression in a well-controlled RA patient who is being treated for Mycobacterium avium-intracellulare (MAI)?
It depends on the RA activity and shared decision-making with the patient. A lot of these patients are at risk of MAI infection due to their underlying immunosuppression and on higher levels of immunosuppression because they have more severe rheumatoid disease process. Very often it is difficult for...
What duration do you feel comfortable maintaining for the pediatric population on topical calcineurin inhibitors?
Topical calcineurin inhibitors are safe and effective for both the treatment and maintenance of atopic dermatitis in the pediatric population. The FDA approval age for topical tacrolimus is 2, however, many pediatric dermatologists and general dermatologists safely use these medications off-label in...
What biologic for psoriasis do you prescribe most often in patients with a history of malignancy?
I like an IL-17 inhibitor for psoriasis with a current or history of malignancy. IL-17 is involved with cancer neoangiogenesis, so blocking it may have an anti-tumor effect. This hasn’t been studied yet but it makes me feel better that the IL-17 class doesn’t have an increased risk of cancer and may...
Under what circumstances would you recommend the maternal RSV vaccine for a pregnant patient if nirsevimab will also be available for the infant after birth?
All mothers unless there is a specific contraindication to it.
Are there certain patients in whom you would avoid initiation of ULT during an acute gout flare?
Yes, I usually avoid it during first-time visits for gout flares. This is because the amount of information required during that visit would include: The acute gout flare management, and Information about gout in general. Commonly, this is in addition to other intercurrent medical problems. Addin...
How do you manage hyperalgesia in patients with sickle cell disease?
In addition to the obvious, such as PCA narcotics, Lyrica/Neurontin, and Toradol, I have success with IV Tylenol, Zyprexa, po L-Arginine (Morris et al., PMID 23645695) as well as Dexmedetomidine (Precedex), steroids (NEJM: Griffin et al., PMID 8107739) and acupuncture [Johnson et al., Alternative an...
What is your treatment algorithm for actinic cheilitis?
Great question. We prefer to use efudex for broad involvement or liquid nitrogen for more localized AK. Some people do use CO2 laser as another modality for treatment. You can also pre-prescribe valacyclovir to help prevent cold sore recurrence during treatment with laser.