Standard Drug Tx as Good as Stem Cell Transplant for Scleroderma?
Patients who underwent autologous stem cell transplantation (ASCT) for diffuse cutaneous systemic sclerosis (dcSSc), also known as scleroderma, did no better than others receiving conventional treatment, researchers found. In an analysis of systemic sclerosis patients enrolled in an Australian cohort study, those who would have been eligible for ASCT in either of two clinical trials […]
Oldest Patient ‘Cured’ of HIV Still in Remission 5 Years After Transplant for AML
A 68-year-old man with HIV-1 who underwent hematopoietic cell transplant (HCT) for acute myelogenous leukemia 5 years ago has been free of HIV infection for 35 months after stopping antiretroviral treatment (ART), according to a case report. The patient received an HCT from a donor with the rare delta-32 mutation, which causes a CCR5 deletion […]
Bariatric Surgery Cuts All-Cause Mortality Rate Over Many Years
SAN DIEGO –Patients who underwent bariatric surgery saw a reduction in all-cause mortality that held strong over multiple years, researchers reported. In a retrospectives study, bariatric surgery patients were 16% less likely to die from any cause than their matched non-surgical counterparts over a median 13.2 follow-up period (hazard ratio 0.84, 95% CI 0.79-0.90, P<0.001), […]
Intraoperative Catheter Disappoints for Urinary Retention After Hernia Repair
The use of an intraoperative catheter did not protect against the development of postoperative urinary retention (PUR) for patients who underwent laparoscopic inguinal hernia repair surgery, a randomized trial found. Among over 450 such patients, no significant difference was observed in the rate of PUR for those who received an intraoperative catheter placement versus those […]
Pediatric Sarcoma Patients Face Late Amputation Risk Decades Later
BALTIMORE — Pediatric patients who underwent limb salvage surgery (LSS) for lower extremity sarcomas had a substantial risk of undergoing late amputation, a researcher reported. In a retrospective analysis of data from the Childhood Cancer Survivor Study (CCSS), the cumulative incidence of late amputation at 20 years after LSS was almost one out of every […]