Low detection rates and low treatment rates need to be addressed. Planned reassessment may improve detection rates when the FP is uncertain whether MDD is present, but further research is needed to determine why FPs frequently do not initiate treatment, even when MDD is detected. A caring, attentive FP who monitors depressed patients is likely to have considerable placebo effect. Greater focus on integrated, concurrent treatment for MDD and chronic physical diseases in the middle-aged and elderly is also required.
This study confirms the importance of the family physician in the detection and management of mental health problems. It offers insights into how family physicians function in their role as mental health care providers and how they deal with diagnostic and management challenges that are specific to primary care. It also identifies barriers to the optimal delivery of mental health care in the primary care setting, including difficulties at the clinical interface between psychiatry and family medicine. Further studies are needed to explore these issues in greater depth.
Moyamoya disease is a progressive disorder, predominantly seen in childhood, that can cause severe permanent disability. The search for effective treatment has largely been unsuccessful in the past, but recent efforts at surgical intervention have shown promising results. The natural history of moyamoya disease, the options for treatment, and a series of patients from the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto are reviewed. The results of surgical treatment are encouraging and the authors believe that it should be offered to all pediatric patients in the progressive stage of the disease.
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