Remote BP Monitoring Dips a Toe Into Post-Acute Care
Remote physiologic monitoring (RPM) of blood pressure (BP) showed promise for post-acute patients transitioning to outpatient care, a small pilot study found. Twenty hypertension patients were discharged from Tennessee post-acute care facilities (e.g., long-term care hospitals, inpatient rehabilitation facilities, and skilled nursing facilities) and given a Bluetooth- or cellular-connected BP monitor and trained to use […]
Most cases of never-smokers’ lung cancer treatable with mutation-targeting drugs: Available, FDA-approved drugs may be effective in targeting about 80% of never-smokers’ lung tumors
Despite smoking’s well-known role in causing lung cancer, a significant number of patients who develop lung tumors have never smoked. While scientists are still working to understand what spurs cancer in so-called “never-smokers,” a study led by scientists at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis demonstrates new possibilities for treating these baffling tumors. […]
Another Possible Option for HER2-Mutated Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer
More than half of patients with treatment-refractory HER2-positive non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) responded to an anti-HER2 antibody-drug conjugate, data from a preliminary trial showed. Fifty of 91 patients responded to trastuzumab deruxtecan (T-DXd) and another 34 patients had stable disease, resulting in a disease control rate exceeding 90%. Responses were durable in many cases, […]
Even When Undergoing Treatment, People With MS Gain From COVID Vaccines
Latest Neurology News THURSDAY, Sept. 16, 2021 (HealthDay News) Multiple sclerosis (MS) patients undergoing a treatment that depletes a type of immune cell that fuels MS attacks still have a strong response to mRNA COVID-19 vaccines, a new study finds. “The message from this study is clear — it is worthwhile for patients […]
‘It’s So Much Worse This Time,’ Exhausted ICU Nurse Says Of Current COVID-19 Surge
Working frantically to help COVID patients in 2020 was hellish, declared a registered nurse in Nashville, Tennessee, who started work just last year. But it’s nothing compared to now. “For months, as a nurse intern, I’d watched the battle-weary nurses emerge from COVID rooms, taking off their PPE like warriors stripping off armor, their faces […]
Stressed Healthcare Workers Face Another Threat: Harassment
Healthcare workers across the country, already strained by the demands of caring for COVID-19 patients, face another threat in the workplace: medical conspiracy theorists harassing them with phone calls, and even showing up at their hospitals. Last week, a Chicago hospital treating known anti-vaxxer and QAnon supporter Veronica Wolski for COVID became the target of […]
Doc Groups Seek to Reinstate Ban on Step Therapy in Medicare Advantage
WASHINGTON — Are Medicare Advantage (MA) plans allowed to require patients to go through “step therapy” to get a medication or treatment they need? Yes — for now — but physician groups are trying to change that. “On August 7, 2018, CMS (the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services) issued a memo to MA plans […]
COVID-19 antibodies persist, reduce reinfection risk for up to six months, study finds: The antibodies’ ability to neutralize COVID-19 did not differ significantly over the six-month period.
A Michigan Medicine study found that most patients with mild COVID-19 infections produce antibodies that persist and protect them from reinfection for up to six months. Researchers analyzed nearly 130 subjects with PCR-confirmed COVID-19 illness between three and six months after initial infection. Three patients were hospitalized while the rest were treated as outpatients and […]
More Data in Support of Surgery for Malignant Pleural Mesothelioma
Patients with malignant pleural mesothelioma (MPM) lived 6 months longer, on average, when they had surgery in addition to chemotherapy, a large retrospective analysis showed. The addition of surgery to combination chemotherapy resulted in a median overall survival (OS) of 22 months as compared with 16 months with chemotherapy alone. Twice as many patients remained […]
Immuno-Oncology Combo Active in Recurrent EGFR/ALK Positive NSCLC
Patients with recurrent EGFR/ALK-positive non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) obtained durable remissions with the combination of pembrolizumab (Keytruda) and chemotherapy, a small prospective study showed. The immuno-oncology (IO) combination led to a median progression-free survival (PFS) of 8.3 months in EGFR-mutant NSCLC and overall survival (OS) of 22.2 months. The combination had limited activity in […]