13th February 2026, NIA Diagnostic Imaging
Trigger finger is a common hand condition that often presents in primary care. It often starts as more an annoyance to the patient but eventually, as it deteriorates, affects the normal functioning of the hand. The only management option used to be surgical release of the tendon. We now have another management option – ultrasound guided cortisone injection.…
12th February 2026, A/Prof Chee L Khoo
When we think about major complications in patients with type 2 diabetes (T2D), we automatically think of an atherosclerotic cardiovascular event. While diabetic kidney disease, diabetic foot disease and retinopathy makes the quality of life miserable the last 5-7 years of their shortened lifespan but it is ASCVD events that kills them.…
28th December 2025, A/Prof Chee L Khoo
We discussed the Lancet Commission’s clinical obesity 12 months ago. Clinical obesity is obesity in the presence of a clinical disease (whether complication or co-morbidity). This is why the PBS is funding semaglutide for patients with obesity and established cardiovascular (CV) disease and not obesity on its own. There are many other “diseases” associated with obesity which will be funded by the PBS in the very near future.…
25th December, 2025, A/Prof Chee L Khoo
With increasing prevalence of obesity, type 2 diabetes, hypertension and obstructive sleep apnoea, we are encountering increasing prevalence of atrial fibrillation in our practice. These are the common risk factors which we associate with a higher risk of developing AF. Surprisingly, there is one group which stands out different from the expected groups listed above.…
29th September 2025, A/Prof Chee L Khoo
I must admit that I have been doing this for many years on an ad hoc basis. I have been screening for helicobacter pylori (HP) infection in patients who need to be on aspirin (primary or secondary prevention of coronary artery disease). This isn’t what is recommended in any cardiovascular (CV) disease guidelines until recently but the evidence is not robust.…
23rd August 2025, A/Prof Chee L Khoo
Not very often do you come across two significant studies on the same topic within weeks of each other. Over the last two months, two very interesting trials reported on the influence of exercise and fitness on risk of colorectal cancer (CRC) and the risk of recurrence of CRC. We know that being overweight or obese confer significantly higher risks of at least 13 different cancers (1,2).…
14th July 2025, A/Prof Chee L Khoo
It’s amazing how we have learnt to accept declining muscle function and increasing frailty as part of our patients getting older. At GPVoice, we have explored muscle health and sarcopenia many times over the couple of years. We know that declining muscle health is associated not only with falls risk but also with increase mortality rates in COPD, heart disease, osteoporosis and post surgical outcomes.…
30th June 2025, A/Prof Chee L Khoo
You would have no doubt noticed headlines everywhere about the new criteria for GDM diagnosis that was just released a few days ago. Why is there such a buzz? Why is everyone seemingly that excited? We have covered many of the issues covered by ADIPS over the years leading up to this new guideline.…
30th June 2025, A/Prof Chee L Khoo
There are many reasons why some of our patients go vegetarian. A primarily plant-based diet with less meat is supposed to lower the morbidity of chronic diseases, including cardiovascular diseases, type 2 diabetes, and certain cancers [1]. Some patients may choose to reduce their food-related ecological footprint. A transition to a diet that contains more plant-based products and less meat could increase food availability while releasing the burden on the environment [2].…
11th June 2025, A/Prof Chee L Khoo
Atrial fibrillation (AF) is associated with 1.5 – 2-X risk of death (1,2), 2.4-X risk of stroke (2), 5-X risk of heart failure (HF) (2), 1.5-X risk of myocardial infarction (MI) (3), 2-X risk of sudden cardiac death (4), 1.6-X risk of chronic kidney disease (CKD) (2), 1.5-X risk of cognitive impairment or dementia (5) and 1.3-X risk of peripheral artery disease (PAD) (2).…
24th May 2025, A/Prof Chee L Khoo
One of the problems keeping up to date in primary care is not being aware of new guidelines that has been released. Well, the joint National Heart Foundation and Cardiac Society of ANZ released the new Australian clinical guideline for diagnosing and managing acute coronary syndromes (ACS) just a month ago (1).…
14th May 2025, NIA Diagnostic Imaging
Coronary artery calcium (CAC) scoring is a well-established, non-invasive imaging technique for assessing cardiovascular risk by identifying and quantifying calcified plaque in the coronary arteries. The CAC score, a direct marker of subclinical atherosclerosis, highly predicts future cardiovascular events, making it an essential tool for clinicians in assessing risk, even in asymptomatic individuals. (4, 5)
CAC scoring facilitates early identification of at-risk individuals by providing an objective assessment of coronary artery disease (CAD) burden, allowing for more targeted and proactive cardiovascular health care.…