Metabolic changes in plasma and immune cells associated with COVID-19 severity, can predict patient survival
COVID-19 patients have differing immune responses that lead to disease outcomes ranging from asymptomatic SARS-CoV-2 infection to death. After examining the blood samples from nearly 200 COVID-19 patients, researchers have uncovered underlying metabolic changes that regulate how immune cells react to the disease. These changes are associated with disease severity and could be used to […]
Hernia Surgery Went Well. Then Why Did the Patient Regret Having It?
About one in 10 patients undergoing hernia repair surgery expressed misgivings afterward, with no obvious reason, researchers found. So, what might be the unobvious reasons? That was the question Ryan Howard, MD, and colleagues at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor sought to address, though their initial attempt to pierce the mystery fell short […]
Texans ‘Scared, Confused, Angry’ As Abortion Ban Goes Into Effect
Texas abortion providers scrambled to help as many patients as possible on Tuesday while the clock ticked closer to midnight, marking the start of the country’s most extreme abortion ban. The new law, known as Senate Bill 8, makes providing abortion care after six weeks gestation a criminal act in Texas, and allows ordinary citizens […]
Improved Survival With Surgery in Metastatic Breast Cancer
Selected patients with metastatic breast cancer at diagnosis had significantly better survival with surgery in addition to systemic therapy, an analysis of almost 13,000 patients showed. Overall, the survival hazard improved by 27%-36% in women with known receptor status (estrogen, progesterone, and HER2) treated with systemic therapy plus surgery with or without radiation therapy. Women […]
Nonsteroidal MRA Drug Cuts Risks in Earlier Diabetic Kidney Disease
Finerenone (Kerendia) prevents cardiovascular (CV) and some renal events in type 2 diabetes patients with earlier stages of kidney disease, the FIGARO-DKD trial showed. In the trial’s stage 1 to 4 kidney disease patients with moderate-to-severe albuminuria, the nonsteroidal mineralocorticoid receptor antagonist (MRA) reduced the composite of CV death, nonfatal myocardial infarction or stroke, or […]
Finerenone improves outcomes in patients with mild-to-moderate kidney disease and diabetes
Finerenone reduces the risk of cardiovascular morbidity and mortality in patients with mild-to-moderate kidney disease and type 2 diabetes. That’s the finding of late breaking research presented in a Hot Line session today at ESC Congress 20211 and published in the New England Journal of Medicine2. Diabetic kidney disease develops in approximately 40% of patients […]
Ablation, CRT Boost Survival in Permanent Afib With Narrow QRS
A “pace-and-ablate” strategy substantially boosted survival for permanent atrial fibrillation (Afib) patients with a narrow QRS across the range of left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF), the APAF-CRT trial showed. While relatively small with 133 patients after being stopped early for efficacy at a median 29 months of follow-up, the trial showed a relative 74% survival […]
COVID Hospitalizations Soared With Delta
COVID-19 patients infected with the Delta variant (B.1.617.2) were more likely to need a higher level of care compared with those with the Alpha variant (B.1.1.7), British researchers found. Patients infected with Delta were more than twice as likely to be admitted to the hospital within 14 days after PCR testing versus those with the […]
How Long Exactly Is Long COVID?
Almost half of patients hospitalized with COVID-19 early in the pandemic had at least one lingering symptom a year after symptom onset, researchers in Wuhan, China found. A total of 49% of patients had at least one post-COVID symptom 1 year later, which included sleep difficulties, palpitations, joint pain, or chest pain, though that was […]
High-Dose HBV Revaccination Better Protects HIV Patients
In HIV patients who failed to achieve protection from the hepatitis B virus (HBV) vaccine, a high-dose revaccination schedule led to better serological responses versus standard dosing, a randomized single-center trial in Chile showed. In an intention-to-treat analysis involving over 100 patients, 72% of those revaccinated with three doses of a high-dose recombinant HBV vaccine […]