Portable MRI provides life-saving information to doctors treating strokes
When patients exhibit stroke symptoms, doctors must quickly make a life or death determination: Are their symptoms caused by a clot that can be treated with blood thinners or by bleeding in the brain, which may require surgery? A new Yale-led study shows that a portable MRI device can help identify such intracranial hemorrhages, potentially […]
PD-1 Inhibitor OK’d as Adjuvant Therapy for Bladder Cancer
The FDA has approved nivolumab (Opdivo) as an adjuvant therapy for patients with urothelial carcinoma (UC) who are at high risk of recurrence after undergoing radical resection, regardless of prior neoadjuvant chemotherapy, nodal involvement, or PD-L1 status, Bristol Myers Squibb announced. Nivolumab becomes the first PD-1 inhibitor in UC with an indication in the adjuvant […]
Clinical Challenge: Sorting Through Treatment Options for Hidradenitis Suppurativa
To clear the air from the outset, treating hidradenitis suppurativa (HS) has always been challenging. Many patients delay seeking treatment until the condition has reached moderate or severe stages. Others seek help earlier, only to face misdiagnosis and misunderstanding by clinicians who are not familiar with the condition or who do not take the time […]
A Gut-Wrenching Pandemic for Patients With Functional GI Issues
Patients with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), gastroparesis, or functional dyspepsia had more gastrointestinal symptoms during the pandemic, a retrospective single-center study found. Compared to the 6 months before the pandemic, more patients with common functional gastrointestinal and motility disorders (FGIMD) experienced symptoms during the pandemic, including nausea or vomiting (16% vs 22%, respectively), constipation (13% […]
Incomplete Polyp Resection Proves Tricky Business for Cancer Risk
Patients with incomplete colorectal polyp resections were at higher risk for more metachronous neoplasia and advanced neoplasia compared to patients who had a complete polyp resection, a post-hoc analysis suggested. More neoplastic polyps were found in patients with incomplete resections compared to complete resections (mean 0.8 vs 0.3, P=0.008), and these incomplete segments were at […]
Chemo Triplet May Boost Survival in Rare Soft-Tissue Sarcoma
Adding temozolomide to a combination of vincristine and irinotecan (VIT) improved tumor response and survival in patients with relapsed or refractory rhabdomyosarcoma in a European phase II trial. In the trial of over 100 patients, the group who received temozolomide had a numerically improved objective response rate (ORR) after two cycles of treatment versus the […]
More than one in ten COVID-19 patients infected in hospital in UK’s first pandemic wave, study finds
More than one in ten COVID-19 patients in 314 UK hospitals caught the infection in hospital during the first pandemic wave say researchers conducting the world’s largest study of severe COVID-19. The research into hospital-acquired infections (HAIs) was led by Dr Jonathan Read from Lancaster University with colleagues from other UK universities including the Universities […]
Can a Doctor Have a Personality?
Can doctors have personalities? I get this question a lot, or, rather, I get told by patients as a running joke that physicians typically lack the fun gene. Understandably, we have dedicated our youth to the medical profession and have missed out on most of our 20s and 30s by completing rigorous training and building […]
USPSTF Again Backs Universal Screening for Gestational Diabetes
Clinicians should continue to screen for gestational diabetes in all asymptomatic pregnant patients during the second trimester, according to a recommendation from the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF). Providers should screen for gestational diabetes at 24 weeks’ gestation or later to improve maternal and fetal outcomes (grade B recommendation), stated Karina W. Davidson, PhD, […]
Anti-CD7 CAR-T Therapy Yields High Response Rate in Acute Leukemia
Donor-derived anti-CD7 chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy led to complete responses in 18 of 20 patients with relapsed or refractory (r/r) T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), a first-in-human clinical trial showed. After a median follow-up of 6.3 months, 15 of the 18 responding patients remained in remission, and seven patients had undergone stem-cell transplantation […]