Study shows surprising decreased surgical infection risk after age 65
...olved prospectively collected data on thousands of patients in multiple hospitals undergoing various surgical ... indeed, there were no surgical site infections in patients who were older than age 95. The explanation for these surprising findings is unknown, but the possib...New treatment 'roadmap' improves odds for unusual brain aneurysm
...ent "roadmap" that should mean better outcomes for patients with this unusual medical problem. UCSF Medical Ce...sel. In an attempt to develop better ways to treat patients with thrombotic aneurysms, the research team studied 68 patients with the disorder. The researchers...Northwestern's cancer genetics program finds gene variants that greatly increase breast cancer risk
...levant variants. Blood tests were performed on 660 patients with breast cancer and 880 healthy females for two TGF-beta variants: TGFBR1*6A and TGFB1 T29C. "Our study shows that TGFBR1*6A is associated with a 120 percent increased risk of breast cancer among women older than 50," says study author Boris Pasc...American Thoracic Society Journal news tips for April 2005 (second issue)
...awing of life-sustaining therapy in critically ill patients showed that in 15 of 51 conferences physicians mis...g life-sustaining therapy. When this occurs, most patients are unable to communicate for themselves, so decision-making is delegated to family members and clin...MR spectroscopy may be superior for determining prostate cancer prognosis
...re they die of unrelated causes, and treating such patients could cause more harm than benefit, Cheng notes. So finding a better way to determine which patients need aggressive treatment and which can try watchful waiting has been a major challenge. Another pr...Measuring enzymes at end of cancer pathway predicts outcome of Tarceva, Taxol
... may make it possible to accurately assess whether patients are responding to these agents, as well as potenti..." he says. Such a test, however, will require that patients be given the drug for a short period of time so that the agent's effect on CDK2 activity can be asse...NCI's Patient Navigator Research Program: Questions and answers
...ormal finding. The patient navigator will assist patients and their families through the cancer care continu... who functions as a "guide." Navigators help their patients move through the complexities of the healthcare system getting them more timely treatment, more inf...Mesotherapy not proven as a safe alternative to liposuction
...f the American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS), patients should be wary of mesotherapy until the safety and...ix treatments required. This can prove costly for patients who may not receive the desired results. "Plastic surgeons are constantly researching better methods...SKCC's Gennadi Glinsky addresses predicting risk in cancer treatment outcome
...predicting risk in the treatment outcome of cancer patients at the 96th Annual Meeting of the American Associa...tant metastasis, and death after therapy in cancer patients diagnosed with 10 distinct types of cancer, including prostate, breast, lung, ovarian, bladder, lymp...Gene expression pattern predicts multiple drug resistance, treatment failure in pediatric leukemia
...were isolated from the bone marrow or the blood of patients with newly diagnosed disease who were being treate... this pattern of gene expression. Cross-resistant patients had significantly worse outcomes as a group. Among patients whose ALL cells were cross-resistant, on...Obesity adds risk of cardiovascular disease in siblings in families with a history of heart problems
...research fellow at Hopkins. "When monitoring these patients with traditional Framingham Risk Scores, physicians should also closely monitor body mass index, even when it is mildly elevated, and incorporate weight reduction programs into treatment plans accordingly. These siblings really need to watch their w...Columbia study shows women benefit from drug-eluting stents as much as men
...uld be receiving this treatment less than men." In patients with narrowing of arteries due to clogging, drug e...dy also showed that doctors re-intervene in female patients twice as often as in men. Dr. Lansky says the higher re-intervention rate in women may be related ...Scientist works to reduce side effects of radiation therapy
...is an effective treatment, but 20 to 40 percent of patients who get whole-brain radiation develop cognitive im... brain injury from radiation. About 175,000 cancer patients each year receive radiation treatments that target the whole brain or large areas of the brain. Cur...Drugs targeted at muscle cells
... that one of the problems with insulin therapy for patients with Type 2 diabetes is that they eventually devel...at they could one day be used for the treatment of patients who have developed insulin resistance."...Melbourne researchers develop safer and more effective 'aspirin'
... the heart or brain. Patients (except those stroke patients whose illness is caused by bleeding into the brain...ally important in treating heart attack and stroke patients by stopping formation of the problem-causing blood clots without causing excessive bleeding. "Aspiri...Dermatologists use knowledge of patterns to recognize melanoma
...ient should lead physicians to listen carefully to patients who want a mole resected [removed], because patients may perceive subtle changes that they may be unable to communicate."...Gastric bypass patients fare better as surgical programs' experience increases
... bariatric surgeons are well aware, morbidly obese patients do not tolerate complications," the authors write.... medical records of 750 consecutive morbidly obese patients who underwent laparoscopic Roux-en-Y gastric bypass surgery at Tufts-New England Medical Center from...Patients' lives at risk from substandard drugs say heart specialists
... awareness that poor quality drugs exist may cause patients excessive worry, but lack of vigilance could generate distrust by consumers and professionals. "It is essential to bring the issue to public attention as a first step in reinforcing surveillance," said Dr Andreotti of the Institute of Cardiology at t...Variant in gene associated with telomeres predicts longer survival of deadly brain tumor
ANAHEIM - An exceptionally large study of patients with glioblastoma multiforme has found an associat... the researchers believe is the largest to date of patients with glioblastoma multiforme, found that the 36 patients (about 11 percent) who had the "SS" variant......lly more use of psychoactive medications to subdue patients and greater use of physical restraints. "We don't really know what it is about not-for-profit homes that allows them to perform better," says Hillmer. "It could be as simple as them being required to put any profits back into the homes." He strongly...