A patient wrote to me and asked when he should speak up and how to ask his doctor questions. I’m not sure I have all the answers. I hope some of my physician colleagues will comment. There is a fine and very fuzzy line between...
Read MoreThe U.S. Food and Drug Administration today expanded the approved use of Stivarga (regorafenib) to treat patients with advanced gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GIST) that cannot be surgically removed and no longer respond to...
Read MoreThe U.S. Food and Drug Administration today approved Kadcyla (ado-trastuzumab emtansine), a new therapy for patients with HER2-positive, late-stage (metastatic) breast cancer. HER2 is a protein involved in normal cell growth. It...
Read MoreAccording to a new report released this week from Healthgrades, of the nation’s 50 top hospitals in terms of patient outcomes, 21 (42%) are in 7 Midwestern states. And of the nation’s top 20 cities with the lowest...
Read MoreAcross general abdominal surgical procedures among obese patients, laparoscopic surgery appears to reduce the risk of surgical site infections (SSIs) by 70% to 80%, when compared with open surgery. A meta-analysis of 44 studies...
Read MoreVolume-based referral policies do not appear to steer patients toward hospitals with high average costs for inpatient surgery in the elderly. A University of Michigan study found that the lowest-volume hospitals had considerably...
Read MoreThe rate of immediate reconstruction (IR) use for women with breast cancer who undergo mastectomy appears to have increased significantly between 2000 and 2010, according to a large analysis. Several modifiable factors strongly...
Read MoreMiddle-aged patients infected with HIV appear to have a high risk for falls. A study found that multiple comorbidities, medications, and functional impairment were predictive of falls. Of 359 subjects, 250 persons (70%) reported...
Read MoreSurvey results of pediatric primary care and emergency medicine providers suggest that these physicians may not have adequate training or infrastructure to systematically diagnose and manage concussions despite regularly caring...
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