Modest Survival Gain in Gastric/GEJ Cancer With Chemo Plus Pembrolizumab
Adding pembrolizumab (Keytruda) to chemotherapy modestly improved survival in unresectable/metastatic gastric or gastroesophageal junction (GEJ) cancer, a randomized trial showed. Median overall survival (OS) improved from 11.5 months with chemotherapy alone to 12.9 months with the addition of the immune checkpoint inhibitor. Median progression-free survival (PFS) improved from 5.6 months to 6.9 months. Landmark survival […]
Adding Docetaxel to RT Improves Survival in Cisplatin-Ineligible Head & Neck Cancer
Adding docetaxel to radiation therapy (RT) improved survival outcomes in cisplatin-ineligible patients with locally advanced head and neck squamous cell carcinoma, a phase III randomized trial showed. At a median follow-up of 32.4 months, the 2-year disease-free survival (DFS) rate was 42% with docetaxel plus RT and 30.3% with RT alone (HR 0.673, 95% CI […]
MRI-Guided Focused Ultrasound Eases Pain From Bone Metastases
MRI-guided focused ultrasound improved pain and quality of life for patients with bone metastases, similar to external beam radiation therapy (EBRT), according to a prospective nonrandomized phase II trial in Italy. At 1-month follow-up, the overall response rates were 91% for those who underwent focused ultrasound and 67% for those who underwent EBRT (P<0.001), with […]
Aortic Aneurysm Score Paves the Way for More Targeted Screening
Efforts to screen for ascending aortic enlargement in the general population may be improved using a new prediction model based on common clinical variables easily gathered from medical records, researchers found. The AORTA clinical score was found to correlate with measured ascending aortic diameters in development from a large U.K. Biobank cohort and externally validation […]
Role of Cytoreductive Nephrectomy Unclear for Dedifferentiated Kidney Cancer
AUSTIN, Texas — Cytoreductive nephrectomy improved overall survival (OS) by more than a year for patients with metastatic renal cell carcinoma (mRCC) with sarcomatoid or rhabdoid (S/R) dedifferentiation treated with immunotherapy in an observational study, but the difference did not achieve statistical significance. Median OS was 30 months with surgery versus 17 months without, representing […]
Digital and group-based lifestyle counselling to prevent type 2 diabetes shows real-world effectiveness
People’s diet quality improved and their abdominal obesity and insulin resistance decreased in a one-year lifestyle intervention, new findings from the Finnish StopDia study show. Looking at 2,907 Finnish adults with an elevated risk for type 2 diabetes, the study is the first to examine the effects of a group-based lifestyle intervention implemented in primary […]
‘No pain, no gain’ approach improves walking ability with peripheral artery disease: Journal of the American Heart Association Report
Walking for exercise at a pace that induced pain or discomfort improved walking ability among people with peripheral artery disease, or PAD, according to new research published today in the Journal of the American Heart Association, an open access, peer-reviewed journal of the American Heart Association. About 150,000 nontraumatic amputations occur annually, according to the […]
Electroacupuncture Points to Improvements in Depression-Related Insomnia
Electroacupuncture added to standard care improved sleep quality in people with depression-related insomnia, a randomized clinical trial showed. At 8 weeks, a -6.2 point change (95% CI -6.9 to -5.6) from baseline in Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) scores was seen in people with depression and insomnia who received electroacupuncture, reported Shifen Xu, PhD, of […]
Gaia space telescope rocks the science of asteroids
The European Gaia space mission has produced an unprecedented amount of new, improved, and detailed data for almost two billion objects in the Milky Way galaxy and the surrounding cosmos. The Gaia Data Release 3 on Monday revolutionizes our knowledge of the Solar System and the Milky Way and its satellite galaxies. The Gaia space […]
Removing barriers to opioid use disorder treatment shows success during pandemic
Pandemic-era changes to prescribing guidelines for the lifesaving drug buprenorphine led to improved treatment outcomes for patients with opioid use disorder in Philadelphia, according to a recently published study in the journal Drug and Alcohol Dependence Reports from researchers at Drexel University’s Dornsife School of Public Health. The authors analyzed data from medical records and […]