PA Convicted of Fraud for Amniotic Fluid Shot Scheme
A Texas physician assistant has been convicted of fraud for giving patients unapproved injections of amniotic fluid for purported pain relief, and then illegally billing Medicare for the shots. After a 5-day trial, a jury deliberated for less than an hour to convict Ray Anthony Shoulders, PA, who had submitted $788,000 in fraudulent claims and […]
Alzheimer’s May Be Transmissible in Rare Circumstances
Alzheimer’s disease appeared to be transmissible under rare conditions, according to new research. Five patients treated with human growth hormone from cadaveric pituitary glands when they were children subsequently developed early dementia or biomarker changes consistent with Alzheimer’s disease, reported John Collinge, MD, of University College London in England, and co-authors in Nature Medicine. Four […]
Switching Twice With Infliximab Biosimilars Not Linked With IBD Flare Risk
LAS VEGAS — Biosimilar switching was not tied to flare in patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), according to a retrospective cohort study. Patients who switched from infliximab (Remicade) to an infliximab biosimilar, and then switched again to a different biosimilar or back to infliximab, were no more or less likely to experience a disease […]
A Win and A Loss for Adjuvant ICIs in Clear Cell Renal Cell Carcinoma
SAN FRANCISCO — The use of adjuvant pembrolizumab (Keytruda) boosted overall survival (OS) in post-surgical patients with clear cell renal cell carcinoma (RCC) at risk for recurrence, according to KEYNOTE-564 findings. Patients treated with the immune checkpoint inhibitor (ICI) had a 38% reduced risk of death compared to patients on placebo, reported Tony Choueiri, MD, […]
Cabozantinib Plus Atezolizumab Delays Progression in mCRPC
SAN FRANCISCO — In patients with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC) whose disease progressed on a novel hormonal therapy, the combination of cabozantinib (Cabometyx) plus atezolizumab (Tecentriq) improved radiographic progression-free survival (rPFS) versus a switch to a second hormonal agent, a phase III trial showed. The so-called CONTACT-02 study included patients with extrapelvic nodal or […]
Switch to Oral Antibiotics Noninferior in Low-Risk Staph Bloodstream Infections
An early switch to oral antibiotics in patients hospitalized with low-risk Staphylococcus aureus bloodstream infection was noninferior to IV antibiotics, according to the randomized controlled SABATO trial. In the trial’s intention-to-treat population, 13% of patients who switched to oral antibiotics developed complications related to S. aureus bloodstream infection (SAB) versus 12% in the group that […]
Morphine Quieted Cough in Patients With Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis
A brief course of morphine provided some relief for patients with cough related to idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) in a small, phase II double-blind crossover trial. Two weeks of low-dose controlled-release morphine reduced objective awake cough frequency by 39.4% over a placebo treatment phase (95% CI -54.4 to -9.4), reported Philip Molyneaux, PhD, of Imperial […]
Telehealth, Default Orders Show Promise in Palliative Care
A palliative telecare intervention improved quality of life for patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), heart failure (HF), and interstitial lung disease (ILD), the ADAPT randomized clinical trial found. Patient phone calls with a nurse and social worker — who met separately with a primary care and palliative care physician and specialists as needed […]
Gabapentinoids in COPD Patients May Raise Risk for Severe Exacerbations
Gabapentinoid use in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) was associated with a higher risk for severe exacerbations, a population-based cohort study from Canada indicated. Among more than 27,000 COPD patients, those who started therapy with the anticonvulsant for either epilepsy, neuropathic pain, or some other form of chronic pain had a 39% greater […]
Overdose Death Notices Plus Guidance Sink Opioid Prescribing
Physicians who received a letter from a medical examiner about a patient’s fatal overdose — along with suggested guidance for future visits for pain — prescribed fewer opioids, according to a cluster randomized controlled trial. Doctors who received the death notice plus guidance had a drop in weekly morphine milligram equivalents (MMEs) pre- to post-intervention […]