Dapivirine Vaginal Ring, Oral PrEP Safe for HIV Prevention in Pregnancy
DENVER — The monthly dapivirine ring to reduce risk of HIV in women showed similar safety outcomes as oral pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) when used throughout the second and third trimesters of pregnancy, according to a phase IIIb open-label trial in sub-Saharan Africa. Premature births occurred in 4% of those with the ring, compared with 6% […]
Perioperative Complications Not Deciding Factor Between Two Bariatric Procedures
For patients undergoing primary bariatric surgery, perioperative complications and safety were similar between laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy and laparoscopic Roux-en-Y gastric bypass (RYGB), the randomized BEST trial found. Incidence of any adverse event (AE) at 30 days didn’t significantly differ, occurring in 4.6% of sleeve gastrectomy and 6.3% of RYGB patients (OR 0.71, 95% CI 0.47-1.08, […]
Low-Dose Intradermal Mpox Vaccine on Par With Subcutaneous Dosing
Mpox vaccination with a two-shot, low-dose intradermal approach produced similar antibody titers levels compared with the standard subcutaneous dosing regimen, an observational study showed. Two 0.1-mL intradermal doses of the modified vaccinia Ankara-Bavarian Nordic (MVA-BN) vaccine yielded geometric mean titers of immunoglobulin G (IgG) antibodies that neutralize mpox of 88.65 (95% CI 48.09-163.42), compared with […]
Semaglutide’s Weight-Loss Benefit Also Seen in Patients on Antidepressants
DALLAS — People taking antidepressants lost a similar amount of weight on semaglutide 2.4 mg (Wegovy) compared with those not taking antidepressants, according to a post-hoc analysis of four STEP trials. Participants on antidepressants taking the GLP-1 receptor agonist lost an average 10.7% to 19% of their baseline body weight compared to a 9.5% to […]
Amoxicillin Alone for Acute Sinusitis Holds Up Against Broad-Spectrum Cousin
Treatment failure with amoxicillin-clavulanate for pediatric acute sinusitis was similar compared with amoxicillin alone, but the broad-spectrum antibiotic may be associated with more adverse events, an examination of a large commercial claims database revealed. The two frequently prescribed antibiotics were similar in their risk for treatment failure (1.7% with amoxicillin-clavulanate vs 1.8% with amoxicillin; RR […]
CDC: Bivalent COVID Vaccines Stop Illness From XBB.1.5
Currently authorized bivalent COVID-19 boosters demonstrated similar protection against symptomatic illness from the XBB/XBB.1.5 Omicron subvariants as from BA.5-related subvariants, according to a CDC study. From December 2022 to January 2023, the bivalent boosters’ vaccine effectiveness (VE) against symptomatic infection was a similar 48% versus XBB/XBB.1.5-related strains and 52% versus BA.5-related sublineages, reported Ruth Link-Gelles, […]
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 […]
Lingering Effects Seen With Non-COVID Respiratory Illness Too
People with acute respiratory illness during the pandemic suffered similar levels of poor well-being in the months afterward whether they tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 or not, a registry study showed. In a cohort of people who all had initial symptoms suggestive of COVID-19, those who had moderate to severe scores at 3 months on the […]
Injections Go Head to Head With Surgery for Peyronie’s Disease
MIAMI — Men receiving collagenase clostridium histolyticum (CCH; Xiaflex) injections for Peyronie’s disease had similar levels of overall satisfaction to surgery, and with fewer adverse effects, but they also experienced less curvature correction, a small randomized trial found. All 40 patients in the randomized study received traction and sildenafil (Viagra), but no significant differences at […]
Shorter Course of Radiation Therapy Proves Mettle in High-Risk Prostate Cancer
SAN ANTONIO — A shortened radiation therapy (RT) protocol for high-risk prostate cancer led to similar outcomes with no increase in toxicity compared with the standard treatment schedule, a randomized trial showed. Overall survival (OS) at 7 years was 82%, with no difference between standard RT and hypofractionation that reduced treatment duration from 8 to […]