Last month, I discussed the role of generative AI in the patient encounter and made the case that, when used thoughtfully, it can be extraordinarily valuable in complex clinical decision-making.
I argued that AI’s incredible power can help ensure we are never left making clinical errors due to gaps in information or knowledge — provided it is paired with human critical reasoning. Since then, I’ve received a number of emails and shout-outs from colleagues who found those comments resonant.
That response has encouraged me to go for round two.
This time, I want to make a broader and perhaps more

A 40-year-old man on today’s schedule has a chief complaint of “excruciating headaches.”
The medical assistant checks the patient in and obtains his history:
The physician reviewed the patient’s chart and noted that he was a long-time smoker — half a pack per day for 15 years — and he drinks about two to four alcoholic beverages per day. The patient is employed as a mechanic and recently had to change his work schedule to second shift. He has no other significant past medical history.
The physician enters the room and notes a very anxious patient. After introducing herself, she said, “Boy, it

Intermittent fasting may help adults with Crohn’s disease and overweight or obesity lose weight and reduce systemic inflammation and disease activity.
Data from a randomized controlled trial showed that individuals who followed time-restricted feeding reduced Crohn’s disease activity by approximately 40% over 12 weeks compared with those who followed a standard eating schedule.
Participants in the intermittent fasting group also lost about 5 lbs. In contrast, patients in a control group gained more than 3 lbs.
“The early signals are very encouraging for its translation into clinical practice,”

Editor’s note: This is a developing news story. Please check back soon for updates.
Total30 multifocal for astigmatism, a monthly toric lens for patients with presbyopia, is now available in the U.S., according to a press release from Alcon.
The lens features Alcon’s water gradient technology, enabling its surface to be “nearly 100%” water, as well as ultraviolet blocking and blue-violet light filtration, according to the release. It also uses Alcon’s Celligent technology to work against bacteria and lipid deposits.
The lens leverages the company’s Precision

Expert witnesses discussed the impact of federal regulations and administrative burden on physician burnout in a recent hearing held by the U.S. Senate Special Committee on Aging.
“Today, we will look at how Washington’s regulations and red tape play into this crisis, and what we can do to fix it so our doctors can spend more time caring for patients and less time navigating bureaucracy,” committee chairman Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.), said in his opening statement. “We’ll hear from witnesses who interact with physicians at all levels.”
Key points of discussion included difficulties managing

MIAMI BEACH, Fla. —Hyperhidrosis is undertreated and underappreciated as a condition that causes distress for patients, yet available treatment options can improve the debilitating symptoms, according to a speaker at South Beach Symposium.
“Hyperhidrosis is still a poorly understood condition,” Adelaide A. Hebert, MD, chief of pediatric dermatology at McGovern School of Medicine and Children’s Memorial Hermann Hospital, said during the presentation. “Sadly, we do not know what causes hyperhidrosis, but we do know that it often starts [during childhood].”
Hyperhidrosis — a condition

Among middle-aged U.S. individuals, risk factors for heart disease appeared earlier in South Asian adults compared with adults of other races and ethnicities, researchers reported in the Journal of the American Heart Association.
“For years, my patients and physician colleagues have been asking: ‘Why are South Asian Americans experiencing heart disease earlier than what we see in other population groups — we’ve seen South Asians having heart attacks in their 40s and 50s.’ We didn’t have a clear answer. So we launched longterm studies to understand when risk

The recent Olympic downhill skiing crash of Lindsey Vonn, just 13 seconds into her run, offered the world a stark reminder of how dangerous elite winter sports can be.
Within moments of her high-speed fall, she was assessed and stabilized slopeside, evacuated by helicopter and transported to a nearby trauma center, where she underwent emergency surgery performed by a coordinated team of American and Italian physicians.
While the images of the crash captured global attention, the rapid, seamless medical response highlighted an often invisible but indispensable group: the Olympic medical teams.

An investigational oral medication conferred an increase in annualized height velocity at 1 year among children and adolescents with achondroplasia, according to topline data from the PROPEL 3 trial.
Infigratinib (BridgeBio Pharma) is an oral tyrosine kinase inhibitor under investigation for the treatment of achondroplasia. As Healio previously reported, the drug was granted FDA breakthrough therapy designation in September 2024 after data from the PROPEL 2 phase 2 trial showed the medication was associated with increased annualized height velocity at 1 year that was maintained at 18 months.
In

Patients with ischemic stroke whose door-in-door-out times exceeded 90 minutes had lower odds for endovascular therapy and greater odds for complications and worse functional outcomes, according to data published in The Lancet Neurology.
System-level strategies that optimize patient evaluation and accelerate interhospital transfer may improve outcomes, Shyam Prabhakaran, MD, MS, chair of neurology, University of Chicago Biological Sciences Division, and colleagues wrote.
“This study is the product of 10+ years of research interest in stroke systems of care led by this group and others,”