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Biomedical subjects

Yair Liel

Publications and source records attributed to Yair Liel.

13 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2005

Brief report: Use and misuse of thyroid ultrasound in the initial workup of patients with suspected thyroid problems referred by primary care physicians to an endocrine clinic.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Thyroid ultrasound (TUS) plays an important but limited role in the evaluation of some complaints related to the thyroid gland. This study was designed to examine how primary care physicians use TUS before referring patients to an endocrine clinic. DESIGN: We audited all charts of first-time referrals for appropriateness of TUS use. Recommendations in practice guidelines and current textbooks defined appropriate indications for TUS: (1) patients with a thyroid nodule and a history of head or neck irradiation; (2) follow-up of patients with nodules not surgically removed; and (3) evaluation of patients with amiodarone-induced thyrotoxicosis. SETTING: Endocrine referral clinic in a teaching hospital in Israel. RESULTS: Two hundred and eight unselected referrals were reviewed. Sixty-nine (33%) of the patients presented with a TUS. Documented reasons for TUS were suspected thyroid mass (n=35, 51%), thyroid dysfunction (n=21, 30%), neck pain (n=5, 7%), dyspnea (n=4, 6%), and dysphagia (n=2, 3%). Of the 69 TUS reviewed, 64 (93%) were not appropriate. CONCLUSIONS: Primary care clinicians obtain TUS studies in patients without recommended indications prior to referral to an endocrinologist.

Adult↗
PubMed2005

Marked secular increase in the incidence rates of osteoporotic hip fractures in women and men in southern Israel.

BACKGROUND: For the last 35 years, our medical center has been the only referral center and provider of emergency medical services for a well-defined geographic area in southern Israel. OBJECTIVES: To evaluate trends in the incidence of hip fractures in this population. METHODS: The study was based on two surveys done approximately 20 years apart. It included women and men 50 years and older with radiographic evidence of a new hip fracture caused by low impact trauma. Only fractures that resulted from low or moderate trauma were considered for the current study. Incidence rates were calculated based on population data obtained from the official Central Bureau of Statistics. RESULTS: There was an overall twofold increase in the incidence rate of hip fractures. However, this increase occurred almost exclusively in the over-75 year old age groups (2.5-fold increase, both in women and men). The mean (and median) age of patients with hip fractures increased significantly over the study period, corresponding to the increase in longevity between the two periods. CONCLUSIONS: There was a marked secular increase in the incidence of proximal hip fractures in both genders, primarily because of an increase in the fracture rate in the very old. The increase in median age of fracture patients suggests that the observed increase in fracture rate can be attributed mainly to aging of the population rather than to deterioration in bone quality over the generations.

Aged↗
PubMed2004

Livedo reticularis: a rare manifestation of Graves hyperthyroidism associated with anticardiolipin antibodies.

Livedo reticularis is a common presentation of the anticardiolipin syndrome. Although the presence of anticardiolipin (aCL) antibodies was previously reported in association with both Graves disease and Hashimoto thyroiditis, I am aware of no previous report of livedo reticularis in patients with Graves disease. A 29-year-old woman presented with very active Graves thyrotoxicosis. Physical examination revealed, in addition to signs of very active hyperthyroidism, marked livedo reticularis on both her legs. Laboratory tests confirmed the clinical impression regarding her thyroid activity and revealed prolonged prothrombin time (and partial thromboplastin time) and elevated levels of both immunoglobulin G and immunoglobulin M aCL antibodies. After methimazole-induced remission, livedo reticularis completely disappeared and the levels of aCL antibodies decreased to within the low range of normal. The literature on aCL antibodies and autoimmune thyroid diseases is reviewed and the interaction between the occurrence of aCL antibodies, disease activity, and drug therapy in Graves disease is discussed.

Adult↗
PubMed2004

[Incidence of osteoporotic fractures in southern Israel].

BACKGROUND: Very little is known about the epidemiology of osteoporotic fractures in Israel. AIM: We aimed to provide an estimate on the incidence of low-impact fractures in southern Israel. METHODS: The study included women and men 50 years and older with radiographic evidence of a new fracture. We screened and reviewed all the emergency room and hospital charts to identify all patients with low impact fractures who attended the Soroka Hospital during the corresponding months of January and February of 1998 through 2001. RESULTS: There were a total of 580 fracture patients (461 women and 119 men). The estimated incidence of all low-impact fractures in the entire population aged 50 and older was 1064:100,000 (95% C.I. 981: 1153) per year. The estimated incidence of low-impact fractures in women was three fold higher than in men [1526:100,000 (95% C.I. 1390: 1675) vs. 490/100,000 (95% C.I. 408: 580) per year, respectively]. Fractures of the distal forearm and proximal hip (26% each) were, by far, the most common in women, followed by fractures of the humerus (18%), ankle (12%) and pelvis (5%). In men, proximal hip fractures (39%) were the most common, followed by fractures of the humerus (18%), distal forearm (15%) and ankle (14%). Multiple concurrent fractures occurred in 2.5% of the patients. CONCLUSIONS: Our data provides a preliminary estimate of the incidence of osteoporotic fractures, not including most vertebral collapse fractures, among women and men in southern Israel. Further studies are warranted to characterize fracture risk in other regions of the country and population sub-groups.

Aged↗
PubMed2003

Impact of subsidizing effective anti-osteoporosis drugs on compliance with management guidelines in patients following low-impact fractures.

Early in 2000, proven-effective antiresorptive drugs (alendronate and raloxifene) were included in the national "health basket" in Israel. We carried out the present study to evaluate the effect of subsidizing antiosteoporosis drugs on the use of antiosteoporosis drugs in patients following low-impact fractures. The rates of dispensation of antiosteoporosis drugs, in the hospital and in the community, before and after an incident of a newly diagnosed low-impact fracture, respectively, were evaluated during January and February 1998 and 1999 ("pre-basket") and the corresponding months of 2000 and 2001 ("post-basket"). The study was carried out in a 950-bed teaching hospital, the only one serving the area, and the largest health maintenance organization in the area. Hospital charts of women and men age 50 years and older with new fractures following low- or moderate-impact trauma treated in the emergency room, or admitted to the orthopedic surgery and rehabilitation departments, were reviewed. A centralized pharmacy computerized database was used to follow antiosteoporosis drug dispensation in the community. A significant, approximately two-fold, increase in the baseline (before fracture) rate of osteoporosis drug dispensation was observed between the pre- and post-basket periods. The rate of patients treated after a fracture incident also increased significantly, 1.6 fold, in the post-basket period; however, even in the post-basket period, two-thirds of the patients remained untreated following a fracture incident, and most of those treated received only calcium and vitamin D; only 17% received potent antiosteoporosis drugs. In a multivariate analysis, female gender, hospitalization, having the incident of fracture in the post-basket period, and above all being treated for osteoporosis before the fracture incident, had the greatest effect on the likelihood of being treated following a low-impact fracture incident. The increase in the pooled use of antiosteoporosis drugs and/or calcium/vitamin D supplements was continuous, and subsidizing created no step-up effect, besides a transient increase in the use of potent antiosteoporosis drugs in the first year following the health-basket amendment. We conclude that while subsidizing may have a significant, positive effect on antiosteoporosis drug utilization, other factors may be even more important. There is an ongoing need to find ways to encourage the use of effective pharmacological interventions for primary and secondary prevention of osteoporotic fractures.

Aged↗
PubMed2003

Plasmapheresis rapidly eliminates thyroid hormones from the circulation, but does not affect the speed of TSH recovery following prolonged suppression.

OBJECTIVE: To report an attempt to shorten the preparation interval before radioactive iodine administration using plasmapheresis in a 77-year-old woman with a history of papillary thyroid carcinoma with local recurrence and lung metastases, in whom the administration of a high dose of radioactive iodine was intended as a desperate rescue procedure. METHODS: The patient was initially started on cholestyramine. Two days later, plasmapheresis was performed. RESULTS: Plasmapheresis rapidly decreased free tri-iodothyronine (FT(3)) and free thyroxine (FT(4)). Serum FT(4) subsequently remained low, while FT(3) recovered the next day. Thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH) reached 25 mIU/l in 14 days, which is within the time frame required to reach the target TSH level by withdrawing levothyroxine alone. CONCLUSION: Plasmapheresis is very effective in eliminating thyroid hormones from the circulation. However, it does not seem to accelerate thyrotroph recovery to a considerable extent after prolonged suppression.

Aged↗
PubMed2002

Preparation for radioactive iodine administration in differentiated thyroid cancer patients.

OBJECTIVE: Because in recent years the practice of TSH suppression has changed, and thyroxine doses have been reduced significantly in the treatment of patients with low-risk differentiated thyroid cancer, the goal of this study was to determine the time needed to attain a target TSH level (of 30 mIU/l) following levothyroxine withdrawal in patients treated with thyroxine according to current guidelines, in anticipation of radioactive iodine (RAI) administration. DESIGN: Observational study. PATIENTS: Thirteen consecutive patients with differentiated thyroid cancer on suppressive doses of levothyroxine planned for RAI administration. Five of the patients received cholestyramine in an attempt to facilitate TSH recovery. MEASUREMENTS: Serum TSH, free-T3 and free-T4, at 3-4-day intervals. RESULTS: In 13 patients on suppressive doses of thyroxine, on 15 separate occasions, baseline TSH levels were between 0.01 and 0.4 mIU/l. The mean interval required to reach the target TSH concentration of at least 30 mIU/l was 17 days (95% CI 15-19; range 11-28 days). Cholestyramine had no effect on the rate of TSH recovery. Once TSH concentration became detectable, it increased exponentially; and once it reached the upper limit of normal, it rarely took more than 10 days to attain target level. CONCLUSIONS: Attaining target TSH level before radioactive iodine administration requires a considerably shorter time than is currently recommended. Reducing preparation time might improve patients' acceptance of the procedure.

Adult↗
PubMed2002

[Osteoporosis in men].

While many still consider osteoporosis a gender-specific condition of women, an increasing volume of data is accumulating on the epidemiology, pathophysiology and treatment of osteoporosis in men. The main conclusions arising from the available data indicate that the number of osteoporotic men is increasing, and is expected to continue rising due to the increase in life expectancy for men. Risk factors for osteoporotic fractures are similar in men and women. Despite some gender differences in the pathophysiology of osteoporosis, responses to available osteoporosis treatments seem to be the same. Based on available data, it is recommended to implement preventive measures (calcium and vitamin D supplementation) on aging men, similar to women, and to review the official policy on the management of osteoporosis to also include men at high risk.

Androgens↗