Prosthetic valve endocarditis (PVE) is a microbial infection of the valve. How do you diagnose PVE with ultrasound? Why do you need to differentiate between early and late PVE? When do patients need surgical treatment? Find out in this lesson presented by Samir Sulemane, a Senior Clinical Scientist and echocardiography expert at Royal Brompton and Harefield NHS Trust, UK.

Prosthetic valves often cause some degree of obstruction to the blood flow in comparison with native heart valves. How can we evaluate the valve obstruction with echo? What’s the role of Bernoulli’s equation? And what’s the cutoff value for the blood flow peak velocity? Find out in this lesson presented by Samir Sulemane, a Senior Clinical Scientist and Echocardiography Expert at Royal Brompton and Harefield NHS Trust, UK.

There are three main groups of prosthetic heart valves: mechanical valves, bioprosthetic valves, and homo- and autografts. Which prostheses are the most common? What are they made of and what are their main elements? Find out in this lesson presented by Samir Sulemane, a Senior Clinical Scientist and Echocardiography Expert at Royal Brompton and Harefield NHS Trust, UK.

What is the most suitable antihypertensive agent for the general population? How does the recommendation change when the patient has diabetes or albuminuria? Would your drug of choice differ for Black patients? What antihypertensive drugs should you avoid in patients who want to get pregnant? In this video, Franz presents the answers based on the American College of Cardiology and American Heart Association (ACC / AHA) 2017 guidelines.

What are the modifiable and relatively fixed risk factors for hypertension? When does a blood pressure reading constitute hypertension? In this video, we provide you with the answers based on the American College of Cardiology and American Heart Association (ACC / AHA) 2017 guidelines.

Opioids, benzodiazepines, cocaine, cannabis - a urine drug test can detect if your patient recently consumed any of them. How are opiates and opioids different? Do both trigger a positive opioid screen? How can you estimate how long a drug is detectable in urine? Find out the answers by watching this video presented by Dr. Stephen Holt, Co-Director at Yale Addiction Recovery Clinic, USA.

Opioid agonists, like naltrexone, buphrenorphine or methadone, are medication used in opioid use disorder. Are pharmacokinetic concepts like onset of action, receptor activation and avidity clinically relevant for opioid agonists? How is methadone therapy supervised? Who can prescribe opioid agonists? How is misuse of therapeutic agonists prevented? Find out the answers by watching this video presented by Dr. Stephen Holt, Co-Director at Yale Addiction Recovery Clinic, USA.

Prescribing maintenance pharmacotherapy in alcohol use disorder helps your patient avoid binge drinking. How should you prescribe naltrexone, acamprosate and disulfiram? Find out the answers by watching this video, presented by Dr. Stephen Holt, Co-Director at Yale Addiction Recovery Clinic, USA.

Nicotine withdrawal in smokers peaks over the first three days, but can last for many weeks. Quitting “cold turkey” is not effective for over 90% patients. Therefore, it’s our role as clinicians to support patients trying to quit smoking with nicotine replacement therapy (NRT).

As clinicians, it’s important to distinguish between sustain talk, vague talk and change talk. How can you help your patients get to the change stage? What role do SMART goals play? Should you recommend cognitive behavioral therapy, contingency management, or twelve steps programs, like AA? What about inpatient rehabilitation programs? Find out the answers by watching this video, presented by Dr. Stephen Holt, Co-Director at Yale Addiction Recovery Clinic, USA.