PA Convicted of Fraud for Amniotic Fluid Shot Scheme
A Texas physician assistant has been convicted of fraud for giving patients unapproved injections of amniotic fluid for purported pain relief, and then illegally billing Medicare for the shots. After a 5-day trial, a jury deliberated for less than an hour to convict Ray Anthony Shoulders, PA, who had submitted $788,000 in fraudulent claims and […]
Stem Cell Medical Tourism Leads to Meningitis in MS Patient
A woman with multiple sclerosis (MS) who had intrathecal injections of umbilical cord stem cells in Mexico ended up with a severe Mycobacterium abscessus infection that took weeks to identify and treat, according to a case study. In October 2022, the woman in her 30s traveled to Baja California, Mexico, and received two lumbar punctures […]
Platelet-Rich Plasma Injections Flop for Erectile Dysfunction in U.S. Study
CHICAGO — Intracavernosal platelet-rich plasma (PRP) injections were no better than placebo for treating mild-to-moderate erectile dysfunction, a randomized, single-center trial found. At 1 month after the second round of injections, no significant difference was seen between the PRP and placebo groups for the study’s primary endpoint, the percentage of men attaining a minimum clinically […]
Injections Go Head to Head With Surgery for Peyronie’s Disease
MIAMI — Men receiving collagenase clostridium histolyticum (CCH; Xiaflex) injections for Peyronie’s disease had similar levels of overall satisfaction to surgery, and with fewer adverse effects, but they also experienced less curvature correction, a small randomized trial found. All 40 patients in the randomized study received traction and sildenafil (Viagra), but no significant differences at […]
Lubricant Shots for Knee OA: No, They Really Don’t Help
Researchers analyzing previous trials of hyaluronic acid injections for knee osteoarthritis (OA) found that, although measurable benefit was demonstrated, it was too small to be clinically relevant. Pooled data from 24 large placebo-controlled studies comprising a total of 8,997 participants with knee OA indicated that, relative to placebo injections, hyaluronic acid reduced patients’ pain with […]