PrimeViews

Benign prostatic hyperplasia, in which the prostate gland becomes enlarged, is a major cause of lower urinary tract symptoms in ageing men. This PrimeView highlights the available treatment options for this condition.

10–20% of adults will develop gallstones in their lifetime, and >20% of those will develop symptoms or complications. This PrimeView focuses on the most common risk factors, which include genetics, ethnicity, sex, age, drugs, parasites, overnutrition and pregnancy.

This PrimeView highlights the interplay between genetic mutations, signalling pathway aberrations, microenvironmental disturbances and metabolic reprogramming that underlie the development of pancreatic cancer.

Common risk factors for developing hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) include cirrhosis, excessive alcohol consumption and viral hepatitis. This PrimeView highlights the management of HCC, for which there is only one systemic therapy and front-line treatment remains liver transplantation.

Clostridium difficile infection is an increasingly common infective healthcare-associated diarrhoea. This PrimeView highlights how the bacterium causes disease, which typically emerges after antibiotic-mediated dysbiosis of the gut.

Atrial fibrillation results from the disorganized propagation of electrical impulses in the heart. The subsequent ineffective pumping of blood increases the risk of coagulation and thrombosis, and stroke prevention is therefore the most important management priority for these patients.

Irritable bowel syndrome is a gastrointestinal disorder that can be mild in some patients, but debilitating in others. This PrimeView focuses on the complex aetiology and current understanding of the molecular pathophysiology, involving intestinal permeability, microbiota, inflammation and visceral sensitivity, among other factors.

One-third of people with diabetes develop diabetic retinopathy (DR). This PrimeView focuses on the pathophysiology of the different stages of DR, ranging from mild to severe non-proliferative DR and proliferative DR, with or without diabetic macular oedema.

Acute myeloid leukaemia is a malignant disorder that leads to an expansion of immature myeloid precursors at the expense of their differentiated counterparts. This PrimeView highlights how the disease can occur at all ages, but predominantly affects the elderly (>60 years of age).

Calcific aortic stenosis (AS) results from the thickening and calcification of valve leaflets and subsequent obstruction of blood-flow across the aortic valve This PrimeView highlights the management of AS, for which the only treatment is aortic valve replacement.

This PrimeView highlights the surgical interventions to treat kidney stones, which can develop when the urine becomes supersaturated with respect to a given mineral.

IgA nephropathy is a common glomerulonephritis that is probably triggered by the aberrant glycosylation of IgA1, which is recognized as an autoantigen. This PrimeView highlights the plausible mechanisms underlying the disease, as well as how patients are managed.

Erectile dysfunction is the inability to achieve or maintain an erection for satifactory sexual performance, which as a considerable impact on quality of life. This PrimeView highlights the treatment options for this condition.

Post-transplant lymphoproliferative disorders (PTLDs) show some similarities with classic lymphomas in the general population, but occur only in immunosuppressed individuals following transplantation. This PrimeView highlights the involvement of Epstein–Barr Virus infection as an aetiological trigger in many PTLDs.

Patent foramen ovale (PFO) is the consequence of failed closure of the foramen ovale, a normal structure that is present in the fetus to direct blood flow directly from the right to the left atrium, bypassing the pulmonary circulation.

A single episode or repeated episodes of acute rheumatic fever can severely damage the heart valves, leading to rheumatic heart disease — a chronic condition that can cause heart failure. This PrimeView highlights that these conditions are most common in developing countries and are strongly related to socioeconomic disadvantage.

Cerebral palsy is a clinical description of children and adults who share features of motor dysfunction as a consequence of a non-progressive brain injury. This PrimeView focuses on the heterogeneous presentation of the movement disorder, depending on the location of the brain injury.

Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease is the consequence of systemic insulin resistance and comprises a spectrum ranging from fatty liver to cirrhosis. This PrimeView, which accompanies the Primer by Brunt et al., highlights the causes and pathophysiology of the disorder.

Follicular cell-derived thyroid cancers are classified into four distinct subtypes and affect threefold more women than men. This PrimeView summarizes the molecular landscape of the tumours and the most common risk factors and prevention strategies, including potassium iodide supplementation after radiation exposure.

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is characterized by poorly reversible airway obstruction and is strongly related to smoking. This PrimeView summarizes the epidemiology, diagnosis and management of COPD, and highlights the mechanisms operating in the airways that cause this disease.