New Law Allows Physicians to Help Patients Receive Their Medical News – Good or Bad
Aug.19, 2025 A new law effective Sept. 1 will protect Texas patients from the confusion of receiving difficult-to-decipher health information in their inbox with no explanation, thanks to the efforts of Texas physicians. Instead, doctors will have time to review the patient’s test results and call them to reveal the news – good or bad – […]
Doublet Shows Activity in Rare, Aggressive Kidney Cancer
There is currently no effective therapy for patients with advanced HLRCC-associated papillary renal cell carcinoma. Treatment with bevacizumab and erlotinib resulted in a confirmed response of 72% in patients with hereditary papillary renal cell carcinoma. The combination was approximately half as effective in patients with sporadic papillary renal cell carcinoma. Bevacizumab (Avastin) combined with erlotinib […]
Topical Gel Soothes Skin Rash for CRC Patients on EGFR Inhibitors
The use of an investigational topical BRAF-inhibiting gel appeared to be effective in treating acneiform rash in patients with advanced colorectal cancer who were treated with an epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR)-targeted drug, a randomized phase II trial showed. The 39 patients randomly assigned to receive a high-dose 0.1% formulation of LUT014 gel were twice […]
COVID-19 Booster Shots Can Wait
Vaccines against SARS-CoV-2 are proving quite safe and highly effective in the prevention of COVID-19, especially severe and/or fatal disease. Over half of the U.S. population has initiated immunization and more than three out of four people in the U.S. over the age of 65 have completed vaccination. The promising vaccine roll-out and reductions in […]
Novel Oral Antibiotic Effective Against Uncomplicated UTIs
Gepotidacin — a first-in-class oral antibiotic — appeared effective and safe for the treatment of uncomplicated urinary tract infections (UTIs) in a pair of large, phase III non-inferiority studies. In the two trials — EAGLE-2 and EAGLE-3 — the therapy was shown to be noninferior to nitrofurantoin, an antibiotic commonly used as a first-line therapy […]
Paramagnetic Seeds: An Effective Option for Breast Lesion Localization
Paramagnetic seeds along with superparamagnetic iron oxide (SPIO) was an effective combination for nonpalpable breast lesion localization and sentinel lymph node detection (SLND), data from the MAGTOTAL trial in Sweden showed. The totally magnetic technique was equivalent to the use of guidewire and SPIO regarding re-excision frequency at 2.84% versus 2.87%, for a difference of […]
Moderna’s mRNA RSV Vaccine Effective in Older Adults
Moderna’s mRNA-based RSV vaccine was effective at preventing RSV-associated lower respiratory tract disease in adults ages 60 and older, according to results of the randomized ConquerRSV trial. The mRNA-1345 vaccine was 83.7% effective (95.88% CI 66%-92.2%) in preventing RSV-associated lower respiratory tract disease with at least two signs or symptoms, and similarly effective (82.4%) against […]
Clinical trial demonstrates that the ketogenic diet is effective at controlling polycystic kidney disease
It’s official: The ketogenic diet proved to be effective at controlling polycystic kidney disease (PKD) in the first randomized controlled clinical trial of ketogenic metabolic therapy for PKD. “I’m really happy about these clinical trial results,” said UC Santa Barbara biologist Thomas Weimbs, whose lab was part of an international collaboration to investigate the effect […]
Misoprostol Alone in Self-Managed Abortion Is Highly Effective
Use of misoprostol alone was shown to be effective in self-managed abortion, with minimal side effects, according to a prospective observational cohort study of callers to safe abortion hotlines in Nigeria, Argentina, and Southeast Asia. In the cohort of 637 callers who used a misoprostol-alone regimen, 98.1% had a complete abortion without procedural intervention at […]
SBRT Noninferior to Conventional RT for Intermediate-Risk Prostate Cancer
SAN DIEGO — Stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT) was as effective as conventional radiation therapy (CRT) in treating intermediate-risk prostate cancer, according to results from the randomized PACE-B trial. Among 874 patients, those randomized to CRT had a biochemical/clinical failure-free rate of 94.6% versus 95.8% for those randomized to SBRT (HR 0.73, 90% CI 0.47-1.12, […]