12th August 2019, Dr Chee L Khoo
We are often reminded to review statins prescriptions for primary prevention in the “elderly” because the evidence of benefit of statins in this group of patients is often “lacking”. Lacking doesn’t mean it there is no benefit. It may mean there are no or limited studies done in that age group.…
11th August 2019, Dr Chee L Khoo
All new anti-diabetic agents since 2008 have been mandated by the US FDA to conduct cardiovascular outcome trials (CVOT) to ensure that they are safe, or in statistical jargon, “non-inferior” to placebo in relation to major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE). 15 CVOTs assessing DPP‐4 inhibitors, GLP‐1 receptor agonists and SGLT‐2 inhibitors have been completed by the end of 2018 with several others to come yet.…
28th July 2018, Dr Chee L Khoo
Visceral obesity is a better correlate with cardiometabolic risk, morbidity and mortality than general obesity. However, not all visceral fat depositions are the same. Some visceral fat depositions are worse than others in their contribution to atherosclerosis and cardiometabolic risk. The development of new imaging techniques has revolutionised the study of human body composition including measures of visceral fat.…
28th July 2019, Dr Chee L Khoo
It’s not often that we cure anyone of any disease. Hepatitis C is one of those exceptions to the rule. The World Health Organization (WHO) set the ambitious target of eliminating hepatitis C as a public health threat by 2030 [1]. Australia is one of the very first countries in the world to have made the direct acting anti-viral (DAA) agents available on the PBS.…
26th July 2019, Dr Chee L Khoo
All of us remember the association of QT prolongation with the dramatic Torsale de Pointes (TdP) and sudden cardiac death (SCD) from medical school. Fortunately, both are relatively rare in general practice and we really don’t need to know much about QT prolongation in general practice as it belongs to the hospital people and the cardiologists, right?…
13th July 2019, Dr Chee L Khoo
Gastroesophageal acid reflux disease in babies is a common presentation in general practice. Crying, frequent vomiting or regurgitation and sometimes poor weight gain can transform a lovely and cute baby into a monster. Acid suppressants, including proton pump inhibitors (PPIs) and histamine H2-receptor antagonists (H2RAs) are increasingly being prescribed for this debilitating (to both baby and parents) condition.…
13th July 2019, Dr Chee L Khoo
New anti-diabetic agents are coming thick and fast. It is easy to get confused as to which agent to use. For injectables, there are currently at least a dozen different insulin preparations and 5 GLP1 -Receptor Analogues (GLP1-RAs) available in Australia. Some are on the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS), some not. It is easy to put them all in the too hard basket.…
13th July 2019, Dr Chee L Khoo
First, it’s not good, then it’s Ok and now we are not sure. Maybe it is, maybe it isn’t. We are talking about eggs and the association with cardiovascular disease and mortality. It’s stuck in many of our and our patients’ minds that eggs are no good. It doesn’t help when the 2015-2020 Dietary Guidelines for Americans came out with somewhat contradictory recommendations: “ (1) Cholesterol is not a nutrient of concern for overconsumption” and (2) “Individuals should eat as little dietary cholesterol as possible while consuming a healthy eating pattern” (1).…
12th July 2019, Dr Chee L Khoo 
When we think about Alzheimer disease (AD) we think about the two classes of abnormal structures, extracellular amyloid plaques and intraneuronal neurofibrillary tangles. The soluble building blocks of these structures are amyloid-β (Aβ) peptides for plaques and tau for tangles. We have known about the association between Aβ and tau and AD for some time yet the only therapies available for patients with AD are the cholinesterase inhibitors and memantine which only target the symptoms of the disease.…
22nd June 2019, Dr Chee L Khoo
Screening mammography has been shown in many prospective, randomised, clinical trials to reduce breast cancer deaths by between 25-40% (1-4). Unfortunately, small but high-grade cancers can be masked by the presence of dense breast tissues or may be confused as benign breast disease in mammograms. In fact, in countries that have national breast screening mammography programs, advanced breast cancers have not decreased (5,6).…
22nd June 2019, Dr Chee L Khoo
It is standard to measure blood lipids after an 8-12 hour fast. Pretty much all our guidelines for management of cardiometabolic conditions are based on these fasting blood levels. The actual reading is important because it guides us to determine whether a patient is commenced on a statin or not. Do meals affect lipid levels?…
22nd June 2019, Dr Chee L Khoo
Distal polyneuropathy (DPN) is one of the more severe complications of diabetes. The exact pathologic metabolic process of DPN is still uncertain but it is more common in patients with type 2 diabetes (T2DM) than in patients with type 1 diabetes (T1DM) even after adjusting for glucose levels. Thus, in addition to hyperglycaemia, other factors could be involved in the development of DPN such as obesity, hypertension, dyslipidaemia and renal impairment. …