Healthier Lifestyle Maintained After Bariatric Surgery
Bariatric surgery patients tended to maintain healthier lifestyle habits compared with peers who were eligible but had not received this treatment, according to data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES). People approximately 7 years out of bariatric surgery reported more moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) than those who were eligible but did not […]
FDA Advisers Reject Nuplazid for Alzheimer’s Disease Psychosis
An FDA advisory panel rejected pimavanserin (Nuplazid) for the treatment of hallucinations and delusions in patients with Alzheimer’s disease psychosis on Friday. In a vote of 9-3, the Psychopharmacologic Drugs Advisory Committee decided against recommending the drug for approval for these patients, citing a slew of shortcomings in supporting trial data. This could have been […]
Xtandi During AS Reduced Progression Risk in Early Prostate Cancer
Patients with low- or intermediate-risk localized prostate cancer who received enzalutamide (Xtandi) monotherapy saw a reduced risk of cancer progression, according to a randomized phase II trial. Among 227 patients on active surveillance (AS), treatment with enzalutamide reduced the risk of pathological or therapeutic prostate cancer progression by 46% compared with AS alone (HR 0.54, […]
Intraoperative Catheter Disappoints for Urinary Retention After Hernia Repair
The use of an intraoperative catheter did not protect against the development of postoperative urinary retention (PUR) for patients who underwent laparoscopic inguinal hernia repair surgery, a randomized trial found. Among over 450 such patients, no significant difference was observed in the rate of PUR for those who received an intraoperative catheter placement versus those […]
Beta-Thalassemia Gene Tx Gets Ringing Endorsement From FDA Advisers
An FDA advisory committee on Friday unanimously recommended betibeglogene autotemcel (beti-cel) for approval in patients with transfusion-dependent beta-thalassemia, a chronic inherited blood disorder. With a 13-0 vote, FDA’s Cellular, Tissue, and Gene Therapies Advisory Committee said the benefits of the one-time, first-in-class lentiviral vector (LVV) gene therapy outweigh any of the risks associated with the […]
Patients With HIV at Higher Risk for COVID Breakthrough Infections
Patients with HIV who were fully vaccinated against COVID-19 were more likely to develop a breakthrough infection, according to a study of the Corona-Infectious-Virus Epidemiology Team (CIVET)-II cohort. Among nearly 114,000 fully vaccinated patients, those with HIV had a 28% higher risk of breakthrough infection compared with those without HIV (adjusted hazard ratio [aHR] 1.28, […]
P53 Antagonist Shows Early Activity in Advanced Liposarcoma
CHICAGO — Almost 90% of patients with metastatic liposarcoma achieved disease control with an investigational drug targeting p53 suppression, according to an early study reported at the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) annual meeting. The results showed that 24 of 32 patients with de-differentiated liposarcoma and MDM2 amplification had stable disease and four other […]
Study identifies receptor that could alleviate need for chemo, radiation pre-T cell therapy
Before a patient can undergo T cell therapy designed to target cancerous tumors, the patient’s entire immune system must be destroyed with chemotherapy or radiation. The toxic side effects are well known, including nausea, extreme fatigue and hair loss. Now a research team, led by UCLA’s Anusha Kalbasi, MD, in collaboration with scientists from Stanford […]
Opinion | To Bill or Not to Bill, That is the Question
With the increased penetration of the patient portal and remote access among our patients, there has been a dramatic increase in the quantity of messages we receive every day, and many different types of requests come to us through this portal. Before we had a portal within our electronic health record, pretty much the only […]
Complete Responses in 100% of dMMR Rectal Cancer With Neoadjuvant PD-1 Inhibition
CHICAGO — Single-agent dostarlimab (Jemperli) led to complete responses in 100% of a small group of patients with locally advanced mismatch repair-deficient (dMMR) rectal cancer, allowing them to avoid surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation, at least for the time being. All 14 patients followed for at least 6 months had clinical complete responses with no evidence […]