The Weekly Huddle

I can say with certainty that each one of you knows at least one friend/family member who has suffered from a kidney stone and may have sought your opinion. No matter which specialty we belong to, we ought to have basic knowledge of kidney stones to aid in guiding our patients, friends, or family members; also to understand the fundamental urological procedures related to it.

As new sub-lineages of the COVID-Omicron variant make their presence across the world, the situation in India seems dynamic. In this 127th session of the weekly huddle, I am joined by Prof. Anurag Agrawal (Dean, Ashoka University - Institute of Biosciences) to discuss the current trends and future aspects of COVID-Omicron in India.

In this 126th session, I am joined by Dr. Pratik (Infectious Disease) to discuss the diagnosis, management, and vaccine strategies pertaining to Herpes Zoster.

In this 125th session, we discuss a case of a frozen shoulder presenting with pain and reduced range of motion. Joining in today's discussion are experts in the field of orthopaedics, physiotherapy, and anaesthesia (pain control) who share insights on how their respective speciality have evolved to provide optimal care to such patients.

Sterile pyuria is a common, often ignored, entity which carries significant morbidity and if left untreated, may add mortality as well. Today, I am joined by nephrologist and urologist who add their insight to this topic.

In this session, we discuss strategies to reduce stroke risk in patients with atrial fibrillation who develop acute stroke while being on novel oral anticoagulants (NOAC).

Severe obesity is often associated with pulmonary hypertension. Doing bariatric surgery on such patients, particularly with severe pulmonary hypertension, is often challenging. It's a clinical conundrum where pulm. HTN is unlikely to get better without weight reduction, and weight reduction is unlikely to happen without bariatric surgery. In this session, we discuss the complex issue of how to find common ground to address such a scenario.

Traditional aortic valve replacement was only done via open-heart surgery. But lately, transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) has become an excellent alternative to surgery. TAVR, being a minimally invasive procedure, calls for an optional patient selection based on established criteria. In this session, we discuss various clinical factors that help us select a patient for TAVR.

What would be a better day to appreciate World Diabetes Day (Nov 14th) than to discuss about comprehensive Diabetes care beyond sugar control. As most of you are aware that managing Diabetes is much more than simple sugar control. Unfortunately, a lot of such aspects are often missed for various reasons. In this 120th session, we discuss multi-speciality diabetes care, hearing from Endocrinologist, Internist, Cardiologist, Neurologist, Nephrologist, Dentist, Ophthalmologist, among others. For the time constrains, I am sure we didn't cover all the topics, but you should get a gist of it.

I am joined by Dr. Pratik Patil, an expert in Infectious Diseases at KIMS Hospital, to discuss on basics of Dengue infection and management strategies.