Botched Penis Lawsuit; New Details on CDC Attack; Discharges Against Medical Advice
Note that some links may require registration or subscription. Two patients are suing Curtis Cetrulo, MD, a plastic surgeon formerly of Massachusetts General Hospital, claiming their phalloplasty operations for gender affirmation left them with deformed penises. (Daily Mail) New rules will prevent CDC staff from sitting on the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices’ COVID-19 vaccine […]
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 […]
Unprecedented Response Rates in Non-Responsive, Non-Muscle Invasive Bladder Cancer
LAS VEGAS — Patients with high-risk, treatment-unresponsive non-muscle invasive bladder cancer (NMIBC) had an unprecedented response rate and disease-free survival (DFS) with an investigational intravesical treatment system, data from an ongoing trial showed. Complete responses (CR) occurred in 82.4% of 85 patients treated with TAR-200, a system that delivers gemcitabine directly into the bladder. The […]
Primary Care Strategy Fails to Reduce Kidney-Dysfunction Triad Hospitalizations
Using a personalized algorithm to identify primary care patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD), type 2 diabetes, and hypertension (the kidney-dysfunction triad) — plus practice facilitators to help providers deliver guideline-based interventions — didn’t move the needle for reducing hospitalizations, the ICD-Pieces study found. At 1 year, the hospitalization rate of patients in the intervention […]
Standard Drug Tx as Good as Stem Cell Transplant for Scleroderma?
Patients who underwent autologous stem cell transplantation (ASCT) for diffuse cutaneous systemic sclerosis (dcSSc), also known as scleroderma, did no better than others receiving conventional treatment, researchers found. In an analysis of systemic sclerosis patients enrolled in an Australian cohort study, those who would have been eligible for ASCT in either of two clinical trials […]
Oncologists Express Conflicted Views About AI in Clinical Practice
Patients with cancer do not need a detailed understanding of artificial intelligence (AI), but they should consent to use of AI models during treatment, according to a survey of 204 U.S. oncologists. For the key question of patient consent, 81.4% of the oncologists said patient consent should be required for use of AI models. However, […]
‘Excellent’ Outcomes After Complete Response in Lymph Node-Positive Breast Cancer
Patients with early lymph node-positive breast cancer and pathologic complete response (pCR) after neoadjuvant therapy had similar long-term recurrence rates and survival regardless of the type of adjuvant therapy they received, a Dutch registry study showed. After a median follow-up of 6 years, regional recurrence rates ranged from 3.0-4.1% whether they had conservative axillary surgery […]
Out-of-Pocket Insulin Caps Boost Savings — But Not Insulin Use
While out-of-pocket caps on insulin indeed cut down on costs for commercially insured patients in the U.S., the policies didn’t do much to increase insulin use, claims data showed. After such policies were implemented in eight such states, insulin users under age 65 had a 17.4% (95% CI -23.9 to -10.9) relative reduction in costs […]