To review evidence related to sellar masses that might be found incidentally on various radiologic procedures, including their differential diagnosis and recommendations for their evaluation and treatment.

To provide a comprehensive review of the causes, current diagnostic evaluation, and treatment of syncope.

To evaluate the usefulness of screening for thyroid dysfunction in various clinical settings.

Of all age groups, men and women over 60 years of age have the highest prevalence of elevated serum cholesterol levels. Now that detection and treatment of high serum cholesterol levels are increasing, we need a rational approach to managing elevated cholesterol levels in elderly patients. Recent data indicate that high total cholesterol and low-density lipoprotein levels predict risk for coronary heart disease in patients over 60 years of age. However, selecting appropriate candidates for cholesterol-lowering therapy requires clinical judgment of the relative risks and benefits of each therapy and consideration of each patient's overall health status as well as of competing risks. Active medical management of high cholesterol levels, therefore, should be restricted to a limited fraction of elderly patients who are most likely to benefit from long-term therapy. The first line of treatment is diet modification; however, drug therapy for appropriate patients is not contraindicated because of age alone.

To critically assess original studies evaluating the role of preoperative pulmonary function testing in predicting postoperative outcomes.

To determine the prevalence of lupus anticoagulant and anticardiolipin in systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) and in non-SLE disorders, and to evaluate the clinical significance of these autoantibodies as they relate to thromboembolic events, neuropsychiatric disorders, thrombocytopenia, and fetal loss.

To review recent advances in the understanding of pathogenic and pathophysiologic mechanisms underlying bacterial meningitis that may lead to the development of adjunctive strategies for treating this disorder.

To review evidence that screening for osteoporosis by measuring bone mass in postmenopausal women would reduce fracture incidence.

In patients with acute myocardial infarction, intravenous streptokinase therapy recanalizes 40% to 45% of occluded coronary arteries and reduces mortality by 25%. Recombinant tissue-type plasminogen activator (rt-PA) therapy is more potent for coronary arterial thrombolysis, producing both more rapid and more frequent (65% to 70%) reperfusion. Side effects (mainly reocclusion and bleeding) of streptokinase and rt-PA therapy are not markedly different. Whether the higher efficacy of rt-PA therapy will translate into a comparably larger reduction of morbidity and mortality remains to be determined in large comparative clinical trials. Both agents are available for clinical use. At present, the choice of agent for treating acute myocardial infarction must be based on consideration of the lower cost of streptokinase therapy compared with the established higher efficacy of rt-PA therapy for coronary recanalization.

Congenital heart disease as a complicating factor in pregnancy has assumed increasing clinical importance because improved techniques of surgical repair have resulted in a larger proportion of affected women living to the reproductive age. The most serious forms are those associated with pulmonary hypertension (such as the Eisenmenger syndrome), which carry a prohibitively high risk of maternal death. Complex forms of cyanotic heart disease, of which the commonest is the tetralogy of Fallot, are only slightly less dangerous. It has recently been recognized that children born to women with congenital heart disease are at increased risk of having cardiac defects; fetal echocardiography is therefore an important diagnostic test. Optimal care of the pregnant woman with congenital heart disease is best provided by a team consisting of internist-cardiologist, obstetrician-perinatologist, obstetric anesthesiologist, and ultrasonographer-echocardiographer.

Review and evaluation of diagnostic tests for the Cushing syndrome based on reports published since 1978.

To review the clinical picture, pathogenesis, and management of glucocorticoid-induced osteoporosis.

To ascertain the activity of intravenous immunoglobulin in a wide range of diseases.