Deep Brain Stimulation for Tardive Dyskinesia
Tardive dyskinesia (TD) can be addressed by the right intervention even in severe, refractory cases. These cases, characterized by involuntary muscle movements, are most often caused by antipsychotics, and addressing them often involves discontinuing use of the drug. Treatment with VMAT2 inhibitors like valbenazine (Ingrezza) and deutetrabenazine (Austedo) also is an option. In rare cases […]
Benralizumab Matches Mepolizumab for Rare Vasculitis
WASHINGTON — Treatment with benralizumab (Fasenra) was noninferior to mepolizumab (Nucala) for relapsing or refractory eosinophilic granulomatosis with polyangiitis (EGPA), the randomized MANDARA trial showed. Among 140 patients receiving standard therapy, the adjusted percentage of patients with remission at weeks 36 and 48 was 59% in the benralizumab group and 56% in the mepolizumab group, […]
Chronic Cough Drug Shows Some Benefit, but Taste-Related Events an Issue
MILAN — Twice-daily doses of the oral P2X3 receptor antagonist gefapixant may improve refractory or unexplained chronic cough, but at the cost of adverse events, a meta-analysis and systematic review found. Moderate-certainty evidence indicated that a 45-mg dose led to a small (17.6%, 95% CI 10.6-24.0) decrease in awake cough frequency, a small (16.0%, 95% […]
AML Study Suggests Intensive Chemo Unnecessary Before Allo-HCT
NEW ORLEANS — Patients with relapsed or refractory acute myeloid leukemia (AML) achieved similar outcomes with allogeneic hematopoietic stem-cell transplant (allo-HCT) whether they went to transplant as soon as possible or underwent intensive salvage chemotherapy first, the randomized ASAP trial suggested. At day 56 post-transplant, complete remission (CR) rates were a similar 84.1% for patients […]
Early Promise With Fluoxetine for Refractory Nocturnal Enuresis in Children
Children with refractory primary monosymptomatic nocturnal enuresis (PMNE) obtained significant short-term symptom relief with the selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) fluoxetine, a small placebo-controlled trial showed. Two-thirds of patients in the fluoxetine arm had more than a 50% reduction in wet nights by 4 weeks, as compared with 16.7% of the placebo group. By 12 […]
CAR-T Therapy Effective in Youngest Kids With ALL
The use of tisagenlecleucel (Kymriah) in children younger than 3 years of age with relapsed or refractory B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) was as effective, and safe, in a retrospective cohort study as it was previously seen to be for older children in the ELIANA trial. In an analysis of 38 patients – most of […]
How CAR T-Cell Therapy Measures Up in Follicular Lymphoma
In relapsed or refractory follicular lymphoma, treatment with the chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy axicabtagene ciloleucel (axi-cel, Yescarta) was associated with better outcomes compared with currently available therapies, a comparative analysis of the ZUMA-5 and SCHOLAR-5 trials suggested. Overall response rate (ORR) was higher, and both progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) were […]