Sample Topics in All Specialties

Our topics are written exclusively for UpToDate by physician experts in each area and are specifically designed to make it quick and easy for clinicians to find the answers they need. Notice that the topics contain links to other related topics and are evidence-based. You can view related charts, x-rays, photographs, movies and Medline abstracts by clicking on the associated links. You also have complete access to our extensive drug database.

Adult and Pediatric Emergency Medicine

• Emergency care of moderate and severe thermal burns in adults
• Evaluation and management of supracondylar fractures in children
• Fever without a source in children 3 to 36 months of age
• Hip fractures in adults
• Minor head trauma in infants and children
• Needle cricothyroidotomy with percutaneous transtracheal ventilation
• Sedation or induction agents for rapid sequence intubation in adults
• Serotonin syndrome
• Management of moderate and severe alcohol withdrawal syndromes

Adult Primary Care and Internal Medicine

• Acute sinusitis and rhinosinusitis in adults
• Approach to the diagnosis and evaluation of low back pain in adults
• Dermatophyte (tinea) infections
• Screening for prostate cancer
• Treatment of acute pulmonary embolism
• Treatment of psoriasis

Allergy and Immunology

• Approach to the child with recurrent infections
• Chronic urticaria: Diagnosis, theories of pathogenesis, and natural history
• Chronic urticaria: Standard management and patient education
• Influenza vaccination in individuals with egg allergy
• Oral and sublingual immunotherapy for allergic rhinitis
• Oral food challenges for diagnosis and management of food allergies
• Treatment of acute attacks in hereditary angioedema

Cardiovascular Medicine

• Antithrombotic therapy in patients with prosthetic heart valves
• Antithrombotic therapy to prevent embolization in nonvalvular atrial fibrillation
• Cardiac resynchronization therapy in heart failure: Indications
• Percutaneous aortic valvotomy and transcatheter aortic valve implantation
• Stress-induced (takotsubo) cardiomyopathy
• Treatment and prognosis of diastolic heart failure
• Treatment of acute pericarditis
• Patient information: Carotid artery disease (The Basics)
• Patient information: Coronary heart disease (The Basics)
• Patient information: Heart failure (The Basics)

Endocrinology and Diabetes

• Evaluation and management of aromatase inhibitor-induced bone loss
• Iodine deficiency disorders
• Management of persistent hyperglycemia in type 2 diabetes mellitus
• Pheochromocytoma in genetic disorders
• Treatment of primary aldosteronism
• Patient information: Nerve damage caused by diabetes (The Basics)
• Patient information: The ABCs of diabetes (The Basics)

Family Medicine

• Antithrombotic therapy to prevent embolization in nonvalvular atrial fibrillation
• Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder in children and adolescents: Clinical features and evaluation
• Evaluation of the patient with shoulder complaints
• Prevention of varicella-zoster virus infection: Chickenpox
• Choosing the route of delivery after cesarean birth
• Screening for prostate cancer

Gastroenterology and Hepatology

• Antibiotics for treatment of inflammatory bowel diseases
• Arthritis associated with gastrointestinal disease
• Approach to acute upper gastrointestinal bleeding in adults
• Assessing surgical risk in patients with liver disease
• Clinical manifestations and diagnosis of Clostridium difficile infection in adults
• Colorectal cancer surveillance in inflammatory bowel disease
• Endoscopic resection for treatment of high-grade dysplasia and early cancer in Barrett's esophagus
• Fertility, pregnancy, and nursing in inflammatory bowel disease
• Nutrition and dietary interventions in adults with inflammatory bowel disease
• Overview of the management of hepatitis B and case examples
• Overview of the medical management of mild to moderate Crohn's disease in adults
• Treatment of eosinophilic esophagitis

Geriatrics

• Drug prescribing for older adults
• Comprehensive geriatric assessment
• Presbycusis
• Palliative care: Issues specific to geriatric patients
• Treatment of type 2 diabetes mellitus in the elderly patient

Hematology

• Anemia in the older adult
• Clinical manifestations, pathologic features, and diagnosis of Burkitt lymphoma
• Coagulation abnormalities in patients with liver disease
• Overview of the treatment of myelodysplastic syndromes
• Porphyria cutanea tarda and hepatoerythropoietic porphyria
• Treatment of adult T-cell leukemia-lymphoma

Hospital Medicine

• Estimation of cardiac risk prior to noncardiac surgery
• Hospital discharge
• Management of severe sepsis and septic shock in adults
• Treatment of acute pulmonary embolism
• Treatment of hypercalcemia

Infectious Diseases

• Initial therapy and prognosis of bacterial meningitis in adults
• Orbital cellulitis
• Selecting antiretroviral regimens for the treatment naive HIV-infected patient
• Treatment of community-acquired pneumonia in adults who require hospitalization
• Treatment and prevention of streptococcal tonsillopharyngitis
• Treatment of Clostridium difficile infection in adults
• Treatment of candidemia and invasive candidiasis in adults
• Treatment of seasonal influenza in adults
• When to initiate antiretroviral therapy in HIV-infected patients

Nephrology and Hypertension

• Treatment and prognosis of IgA nephropathy
• Management of severe asymptomatic hypertension (hypertensive urgencies)
• Serum cardiac enzymes in patients with renal failure
• Treatment of primary focal segmental glomerulosclerosis
• Initial immunosuppressive therapy in granulomatosis with polyangiitis (Wegener's) and microscopic polyangiitis

Neurology

• Antiplatelet therapy for secondary prevention of stroke
• Chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy: Etiology, clinical features, and diagnosis
• Clinical manifestations and diagnosis of carpal tunnel syndrome
• Epidemiology and clinical features of multiple sclerosis in adults
• Evaluation and management of drug-resistant epilepsy
• Idiopathic intracranial hypertension (pseudotumor cerebri): Prognosis and treatment
• Lumbar puncture: Technique; indications; contraindications; and complications in adults
• Natalizumab for relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis in adults
• Neuroleptic malignant syndrome
• Optic neuritis: Pathophysiology, clinical features, and diagnosis
• Restless legs syndrome
• Thunderclap headache
• Treatment of progressive multiple sclerosis in adults
• Treatment of relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis in adults
• Patient information: Multiple sclerosis (The Basics)

Obstetrics; Gynecology; and Women's Health

• Bacterial vaginosis
• Endometrial hyperplasia
• Evaluation of female infertility
• Hysteroscopic myomectomy
• Management of postpartum hemorrhage at cesarean delivery
• Management of problems related to intrauterine contraception
• Methotrexate treatment of tubal and interstitial ectopic pregnancy
• Pelvic organ prolapse in women: Choosing a primary surgical procedure
• Techniques to reduce blood loss during abdominal or laparoscopic myomectomy
• Treatment and outcome of nausea and vomiting of pregnancy
• Patient information: Chorionic villus sampling (The Basics)

Oncology

• Abiraterone and newer antiandrogen compounds for castrate resistant metastatic prostate cancer
• Adjuvant and neoadjuvant imatinib for gastrointestinal stromal tumors
• Anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK) fusion gene positive advanced non-small cell lung cancer
• Cervical cytology: Interpretation of results
• Chemotherapy-induced alopecia
• Cigarette smoking and other risk factors for lung cancer
• First-line chemotherapy for advanced (stage III or IV) epithelial ovarian cancer
• Anti-CTLA-4 immunotherapy in advanced melanoma
• Inflammatory breast cancer: Clinical features and treatment
• Management of hereditary breast and ovarian cancer syndrome and patients with BRCA mutations
• Management of potentially resectable colorectal cancer liver metastases
• Metastatic gastroenteropancreatic neuroendocrine tumors: Local options to control tumor growth
• Molecularly targeted therapy for metastatic melanoma
• Overview of fertility and pregnancy in cancer survivors
• Overview of the treatment of advanced non-small cell lung cancer
• Prevention and treatment of chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting
• Role of erythropoiesis-stimulating agents in the treatment of anemia in patients with cancer
• Initial systemic therapy for elderly patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer
• Treatment of locoregionally advanced (stage III and IV) head and neck cancer: The larynx and hypopharynx
• Patient information: Choosing treatment for early-stage breast cancer (The Basics)
• Patient information: Prostate cancer screening (PSA tests) (The Basics)

Pediatrics

• Approach to the child with bleeding symptoms
• Care of the uncircumcised penis
• Congenital heart disease (CHD) in the newborn: Presentation and screening for critical CHD
• Management of Down syndrome
• Neonatal herpes simplex virus infection: Management and prevention
• Surgical management of severe obesity in adolescents

Pulmonary; Critical Care; and Sleep Medicine

• Clinical features and diagnosis of Churg-Strauss syndrome (allergic granulomatosis and angiitis)
• Corticosteroid therapy in septic shock
• Portable monitoring in obstructive sleep apnea in adults
• Pulmonary vascular disease in systemic sclerosis (scleroderma): Definition, classification, risk factors, screening, and prognosis
• Reactive airways dysfunction syndrome and irritant-induced asthma
• Treatment of pulmonary hypertension
• Thoracic ultrasound: Indications, advantages, and technique
• Treatment and prognosis of Churg-Strauss syndrome (allergic granulomatosis and angiitis)

Rheumatology

• Clinical manifestations and diagnosis of polymyalgia rheumatica
• Diagnosis and differential diagnosis of rheumatoid arthritis
• Pregnancy in women with systemic lupus erythematosus
• Prognosis and treatment of interstitial lung disease in systemic sclerosis (scleroderma)
• Treatment of polymyalgia rheumatica

Surgery

• Acute mesenteric ischemia
• Abdominal compartment syndrome
• Carotid endarterectomy
• Clinical evaluation of abdominal aortic aneurysm
• Common bile duct exploration
• Diagnostic evaluation of women with suspected breast cancer
• Management of postoperative pain
• Parastomal hernia
• Sentinel lymph node biopsy for breast cancer: Indications and outcomes
• Surgical management of inflammatory bowel disease
• Surgical management of esophageal perforation