To my parents, Matthew and Lee Sabatine; to their namesake grandchildren, Matteo and Natalie; and to my wife, Jennifer
Written by residents, fellows, and attendings, the mandate for Pocket Medicine was to provide, in as concise a manner as possible, the key information a clinician needs for the initial approach to and management of the most common inpatient medical problems.
The tremendous response to the previous editions suggests we were able to help fill an important need for clinicians. With this eighth edition come several major improvements. We have updated every topic thoroughly. In particular, we have included data on the newest pharmacotherapies for heart failure and the latest treatment algorithms for valvular heart disease. We have added a section for pharmacomechanical therapy for VTE and updated the treatment for pulmonary hypertension. We now include a section on other solid tumors including gastric & esophageal cancer, ovarian cancer, and melanoma, and we expanded the sections on immunotherapy and cellular therapy. Naturally we now have a section on COVID-19 and have also added a section on sexually transmitted infections. We continue to expand the discussion of SGLT2i and GLP1-RA for diabetes. As always, we have incorporated key references to the most recent high-tier reviews and important studies published right up to the time Pocket Medicine went to press. We welcome any suggestions for further improvement.
Of course, medicine is far too vast a field to ever summarize in a textbook of any size. Long monographs have been devoted to many of the topics discussed herein. Pocket Medicine is meant only as a starting point to guide one during the initial phases of diagnosis and management until one has time to consult more definitive resources. Although the recommendations herein are as evidence-based as possible, medicine is both a science and an art. As always, sound clinical judgment must be applied to every scenario.
I am grateful for the support of the house officers, fellows, and attendings at the Massachusetts General Hospital. It is a privilege to work with such a knowledgeable, dedicated, and compassionate group of physicians. I always look back on my time there as chief resident as one of my best experiences. I am grateful to several outstanding clinical mentors, including Hasan Bazari, Larry Friedman, Nesli Basgoz, Eric Isselbacher, Mike Fifer, and Roman DeSanctis, as well as the late Charlie McCabe, Mort Swartz, and Peter Yurchak.
This edition would not have been possible without the help of Kate Brennan, my academic coordinator. She shepherded every aspect of the project from start to finish, with an incredible eye to detail to ensure that each page of this book was the very best it could be. This edition also naturally builds on the work of the many contributors to prior editions of Pocket Medicine, whom we thank for creating such an impressive foundation.
Lastly, special thanks to my parents for their perpetual encouragement and love and, of course, to my wife, Jennifer Tseng, who, despite being a surgeon, is my closest advisor, my best friend, and the love of my life.
I hope that you find Pocket Medicine useful throughout the arduous but incredibly rewarding journey of practicing medicine.
MARC S. SABATINE, MD, MPH