This Week in the Journal

Abstract

There was no significant difference between the two groups in the composite primary outcome of in-hospital death from any cause or cardiovascular or renal events. see Original Article, N Engl J Med 2021;385:516-525 Decompression versus Fusion for Lumbar Spondylolisthesis In a randomized trial conducted in Norway, decompression surgery alone was noninferior to decompression with instrumented fusion with respect to the percentage of patients who had a 30% reduction on a scale of pain and disability over a period of 2 years, with a noninferiority margin of −15 percentage points. see Original Article, N Engl J Med 2021;385:526-538 Age-Related Macular Degeneration Age-related macular degeneration is the leading cause of vision loss in older persons in industrialized nations. A biopsy was performed, and a diagnosis of neutrophilic eccrine hidradenitis was made. see Images in Clinical Medicine, N Engl J Med 2021;385:e19 Turning Purple with Pain A 32-year-old woman presented with a 10-year history of intermittent episodes of severe diffuse abdominal pain, occurring every month or two and usually lasting several days, with no apparent precipitant. see Clinical Problem-Solving, N Engl J Med 2021;385:549-554 SARS-CoV-2 and Immunosuppression In this article, the authors discuss the challenges of SARS-CoV-2 infection in patients with a weakened immune system, including the potential implications regarding viral evolution and transmission. see Sounding Board, N Engl J Med 2021;385:562-566 Fundamentals of Public Health: The Complementarity of Public Health and Medicine The approaches and achievements of public health and clinical medicine are often framed as dichotomies — “prevention versus cure” or “individual versus population health.” A bill in the Massachusetts legislature would provide such a right. see Perspective, N Engl J Med 2021;385:490-491 CAR T Cells for Refractory Systemic Lupus Erythematosus A 20-year-old woman with refractory SLE with active lupus nephritis (WHO class IIIA), nephrotic syndrome, pericarditis, pleurisy, rash, arthritis, and a history of Libman–Sacks endocarditis refractory to conventional immunosuppression had a complete response to CD19-specific chimeric antigen receptor T cells. see Correspondence, N Engl J Med 2021;385:567-569 Rare Thromboembolic Events among Vaccinated South Africans Among 288,368 South African health care workers who received the Ad26.COV2.S vaccine, no cases of vaccine-induced immune thrombotic thrombocytopenia have been observed, and the small number of thromboembolic events that have been noted occurred in persons with risk factors for thromboses other than vaccination. see Correspondence, N Engl J Med 2021;385:570-571