Background: The estimated total annual cost of syncope-related hospitalizations in the year 2005 was about $2.4 billion with a mean cost of $5,400 per hospitalization. Syncope of cardiac etiology has 18-33% mortality in comparison to 0-12% with non-cardiac etiology. We sought to evaluate the role cardiac biomarkers in patients presenting with syncope to evaluate their [...]

Background: Acute pancreatitis is among the most common and costly reasons for hospitalization in the United States. While bowel rest, pain control, and intravenous fluids are the cornerstone of treatment, recent evidence suggests that early rather than delayed feeding may be beneficial. Guidelines, however, continue to recommend waiting for clinical improvement before feeding. We thus [...]