June 15, 2018, Dr Chee L Khoo 
Insulin secretion is augmented by incretins following oral glucose intake. In healthy individuals, incretins are responsible for 70% of insulin secretion. However, in patients with type 2 diabetes (T2D), the incretin effect is significantly blunted thereby affecting glucose control. Glucagon like peptide 1 (GLP1) and gastric inhibitory peptide (GIP)s are the most studied of the incretins.…
June 15, 2018, Dr Chee L Khoo
In primary care, we have to battle with the increasing incidence of obesity amongst our patients. We also have to battle with the patients with depression where anti-depressants are increasingly being prescribed. Obesity is associated with depression, which is particularly common in patients with severe obesity. Antidepressant treatment may also add on to our patients’ weight.…
Don’t we all hate the paperwork and the hassle of insurance claims – workers compensation, CTP or similar. And to have to chase after the unpaid invoices months after the case have closed. Since, January this year (I think), there have been some positive changes to the whole NSW Workcover system. Is it just me? I don’t recall being notified about the changes.…
June 1, 2018, Dr Chee L Khoo
Imagine if your vaccine fridge sends you a message if the fridge temperature veered outside its set range of 2-8 degrees Celsius. You would say “now that’s technology”. And imagine you could do all that for a little more than A$100. Well, that’s exactly how my vaccine fridge at the practice is “wired” up to do.…
June 1, 2018, Dr Chee L Khoo
Source: SENSIMED
We are all familiar with 24-hour BP monitor. We are also familiar with 24-hour Holter monitor and continuous glucose monitoring. We now have 24-hour intraocular pressure monitor. It doesn’t actually monitor intraocular pressure but the effects of it (a bit later). A recent study has now confirmed the association between the intraocular pressure monitoring and progression of glaucoma in older adults.…
June 1, 2018, Dr Chee L Khoo
Yikes, I must have torn my ACL!
For patients with anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) tears, it used to be that conservative treatment is tried first and if the knee joint is symptomatic and/or unstable, then surgery can be considered. But have you noticed that patients are now routinely heading for surgery without a trial of conservative treatment and irrespective of what future demands on their joints may be?…
June 1, 2018, Dr Chee L Khoo
What? So many different types of T2D!
Have you noticed that your patients with type 2 diabetes (T2D) are a heterogeneous group? Some T2D patients are more insulin resistant than others. Some T2D patients are more insulin deficient than others. These tend to be the younger T2D. Some patients are obese and some are not.…
May 15, 2018, Dr Chee L Khoo
Kylie was known to have chronic hepatitis c infection for many years. She had been busy for the last 2-3 years being pregnant. We talked about anti-viral treatment as soon as she finished with breast feeding her last baby. She had heard about these wonder drugs curing her hepatitis C infection.
When Kylie was ready, we went through the motions:
Pre-treatment Asssessment – the 6 Cs
May 1, 2018 Dr Chee L Khoo
Chronic, persistent low back, lower extremity pain, and radicular pain may be secondary to disc herniation, disc disruption, disc degeneration, facet joint disease, spinal stenosis, or post lumbar surgery syndrome resulting in disc-related pain with or without radiculitis. The specificity and sensitivity of the symptoms and signs are low and therefore, not as reliable as we think in getting to the precise diagnosis.…
May1, 2018, Dr Chee L Khoo
We all know that smoking and alcohol are associated with increased risk of oesophageal cancer. A recent large study from China looked at 456,155 people and found 1731 esophageal cancers over 9.2 years. They noticed that there was an interaction of hot tea with smoking. Smokers who drank burning hot tea daily had double the risk of oesophageal cancer compared with non-smokers who only occasionally drank tea.…
May 1, 2018 Dr Chee L Khoo
When I wrote the article last fortnight about new SLT2 inhibitor/DPP4 inhibitor combo now on the PBS, the situation was still very confused. Since that article, more information has come to light. Yes, we are allowed to use both DPP4 inhibitors (DPP4i) and SLGT2 inhibitors (SGLT2i) together when patients with type 2 diabetes (T2D) if the HbA1c is >7.0%.…
April 15, 2018, Dr Chee L Khoo
If it was a headline conclusion in any other medical publication, we would be combing the study looking for holes, validity, statistical significance and clinical relevance. We would be checking that the conclusions drawn were correct and valid conclusions that arose from the data. But when it was the Medical Board which released the headline, most of us, kind of, accepted the conclusions of the study without questions.…