American family physician
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The first-trimester obstetric patient who is experiencing pain or bleeding may have a normal intrauterine pregnancy, a threatened miscarriage, an ectopic pregnancy, a blighted ovum or trophoblastic disease. Correlation of clinical findings, quantitative human chorionic gonadotropin levels and diagnostic ultrasound findings can maximize the efficiency of the work-up, provide a definitive prognosis and identify early ectopic pregnancy.
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The classic chest radiograph, showing bilateral hilar and right paratracheal adenopathy, is found in half of sarcoidosis patients. Pulmonary infiltrates are a major cause of morbidity and mortality. ⋯ Despite myriad pathologic and biochemical abnormalities, the typical patient is asymptomatic. Most patients with symptomatic sarcoidosis benefit from steroid therapy; in some, however, the disease progresses inexorably.
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Breast cancer occurs at an older age in men than in women, usually presenting as a painless, central breast lump. Although male breast cancer is 100 times less common than female breast cancer, the prognosis for men is worse than that for women, probably because of delay in diagnosis. Men with breast cancer have a high prevalence of metastatic disease at the time of diagnosis.