Feb 21st, 2021 - A relatively simple and accessible Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved method of visually classifying flortaucipir PET accurately predicts cognitive deterioration, new research shows. The results from two independent studies consistently showed that patients with a flortaucipir advanced tau pattern had greater mean deterioration across several clinical endpoints within 18 months. Dr Min...

Dec 28th, 2020 - There is a substantial mismatch between patient and physician reports of toxicity during radiotherapy for breast cancer, according to an analysis of nearly 10,000 U.S. patients. Researchers assessed physician underrecognition of four key symptoms – pain, pruritus, edema, and fatigue – during radiotherapy. Physicians underrecognized one of these four symptoms at least once in 53.2% of patients w...

Nov 1st, 2020 - French investigators are suggesting that sentinel lymph node (SLN) biopsy should replace neck lymph node dissection as the new standard for detecting occult metastases in patients with T1-T2N0 oral and oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma. In a randomized trial involving 279 patents, oncologic outcomes at 5 years were similar with both techniques, but there was substantially less morbidity wit...

Oct 21st, 2020 - LONDON (Reuters) - UK scientists seeking approval to deliberately infect healthy people with COVID-19 in trials must first convince ethics specialists that, among other things, they have potential "rescue therapies" or antidotes to halt the disease. The problem is that, for the novel coronavirus, there is still no effective treatment or cure.

Oct 21st, 2020 - LONDON (Reuters) - UK scientists seeking approval to deliberately infect healthy people with COVID-19 in trials must first convince ethics specialists that, among other things, they have potential "rescue therapies" or antidotes to halt the disease. The problem is that, for the novel coronavirus, there is still no effective treatment or cure.

Sep 9th, 2020 - Thyroid storm is a life-threatening endocrine emergency for which, remarkably, there are no definitive diagnostic tests, and the management of which is supported by a startlingly weak evidence base. "What's tricky is there really are no specific biochemical level cutoffs for thyroid storm, and also no unique laboratory abnormalities. So in the end, it's a clinical diagnosis and a clinical judgm...

Jul 1st, 2020 - Taking vitamin D before starting immune checkpoint inhibitor (ICI) therapy may decrease the risk for treatment-related colitis, say researchers in an article published online on June 22 in the journal Cancer. The study is the first to find a link between pretreatment vitamin D use and decreased risk for ICI colitis, they comment. They caution that the results are preliminary and require confirm...

Jan 1st, 2020 - For years, the antipsychotic olanzapine (Zyprexa, Lilly) has been used off label for chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting (CINV), but the currently recommended 10-mg dose causes daytime sedation. Now a phase 3 randomized controlled trial has shown that a 5-mg dose is effective at controlling CINV but does not have sedation as a side effect. The results could change clinical guidelines from ...

Jan 1st, 2020 - For years, the antipsychotic olanzapine (Zyprexa, Lilly) has been used off label for chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting (CINV), but the currently recommended 10-mg dose causes daytime sedation. Now a phase 3 randomized controlled trial has shown that a 5-mg dose is effective at controlling CINV but does not have sedation as a side effect. The results could change clinical guidelines from ...

Apr 24th, 2019 - A new approach by the pharmaceutical industry and regulators is needed to ensure that people with cancer have faster access to innovative treatments, specialists have said. A 10-point manifesto published by the Institute of Cancer Research (ICR) set out "radical action" needed to make drugs more affordable, prioritise genuinely innovative treatments, and overhaul the clinical trials process. It...

Apr 24th, 2019 - A new approach by the pharmaceutical industry and regulators is needed to ensure that people with cancer have faster access to innovative treatments, specialists have said. A 10-point manifesto published by the Institute of Cancer Research (ICR) set out "radical action" needed to make drugs more affordable, prioritise genuinely innovative treatments, and overhaul the clinical trials process. "I...

Mar 10th, 2019 - This transcript has been edited for clarity. This is the Medscape Psychiatry Minute. I'm Dr Peter Yellowlees. In routine clinical practice, antidepressants are increasingly being combined. However, there are few clinical trials investigating the effectiveness of this practice. Now, a team from Bristol Medical School in England has investigated the effectiveness of combining mirtazapine with a s...

Feb 12th, 2019 - Population-based studies have suggested that, compared with white men, black men are at higher risk of dying from prostate cancer. However, recent findings show that that isn't necessarily the case. In the latest study, survival was longer for African American patients who were treated with the newer hormonal therapies. The findings come from an analysis of chemotherapy-naive patients with meta...

Feb 12th, 2019 - Population-based studies have suggested that, compared with white men, black men are at higher risk of dying from prostate cancer. However, recent findings show that that isn't necessarily the case. In the latest study, survival was longer for African American patients who were treated with the newer hormonal therapies. The findings come from an analysis of chemotherapy-naive patients with meta...

Jan 28th, 2019 - Antiphospholipid syndrome (APS) is a systemic autoimmune disease in which antiphospholipid antibodies (aPL) increase the risk for thrombosis, pregnancy morbidity, and other nonthrombotic complications such as thrombocytopenia. Doruk Erkan, MD, MPH Thanks to the concerted efforts of a small but active community of researchers, our understanding of this rare disease has expanded, and there is inc...

Dec 26th, 2018 - The first meta-analysis of long-term pharmacologic treatments for knee osteoarthritis (OA) found little evidence that most currently prescribed medications improve pain control or preserve joint structure after 12 months of treatment. There was a small but statistically and clinically significant benefit from prescription-grade glucosamine sulfate. The study, by Dario Gregori, PhD, from the Uni...

Dec 26th, 2018 - The first meta-analysis of long-term pharmacologic treatments for knee osteoarthritis (OA) found little evidence that most currently prescribed medications improve pain control or preserve joint structure after 12 months of treatment. There was a small but statistically and clinically significant benefit from prescription-grade glucosamine sulfate. The study, by Dario Gregori, PhD, from the Uni...

Sep 13th, 2018 - Good morning. My name's Brenda Banwell. I'm the chief of neurology at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. I serve as the director of the Pediatric Multiple Sclerosis Clinic at CHOP. I recently served as one of the co–principal investigators of the first-ever pediatric multiple sclerosis (MS) clinical trial, a trial that compared fingolimod, or Gilenya®, to interferon beta-1a by a subcutane...

Jun 5th, 2018 - Introduction While attending the 2018 American Academy of Neurology meeting in Los Angeles, California, Medscape contributor Andrew N. Wilner, MD, interviewed Kimberley Allen-Philbey about her research into personalized treatment of multiple sclerosis (MS).[1] Allen-Philbey is a research assistant at the Royal London Hospital in England and is currently working at Massachusetts General Hospital...

Mar 4th, 2018 - Hi. This is Dr Kathy Miller from Indiana University, just back from vacation. I had a great time skiing. Today I want to talk about an article I saw in the New York Times while I was away. The article, "Doctors Said Immunotherapy Would Not Cure Her Cancer. They Were Wrong," by Gina Kolata,[1] one of the ace science reporters in the country, is in the February 19, 2018, issue. This is a fascinat...