Hopkins experts highlight strategies to raise levels of so-called good HDL cholesterol
...t intake. The patient lost nearly 50 pounds while undergoing treatment. To raise HDL cholesterol levels, the researchers recommend a regular exercise program of brisk aerobic exercise for 30 minutes, several times per week, if not every day. Quitting smoking, they point out, provides an average increase in...New blood transplant method stops fatal side effect, Stanford study finds
... an effect that turned out to be beneficial before undergoing a hematopoietic (blood) stem cell transplantation, a common treatment for blood cancers. Blood stem cell transplantation replaces the cancerous blood cells of a leukemia or lymphoma patient with those from a healthy donor. The transplantation cures t...Biomarkers used to predict recurrent disease in hepatitis C transplant patients
... develop fibrosis or cirrhosis within two years of undergoing a transplant. Antiviral therapy is not highly effective in transplant patients and poses additional problems for these individuals, who may have difficulty tolerating the potent drugs it involves. However, antiviral therapy might be useful for those ...Radiation dose reduction in liver cancer
...anel system reduces the radiation dose to patients undergoing interventional treatment for liver cancer by about one-fourth, a new study shows. The study compared the radiation dose to patient's skin during transcatheter arterial embolization, a procedure that blocks the flow of a blood to a tumor. Doses were a...Pulmonary artery catheter use neutral for patient outcomes
...U), patients with severe heart failure or patients undergoing surgery, until further studies can uncover any correlations between outcomes from the use of the device with specific treatments. In using the device, physicians insert a catheter into the venous system around the heart to obtain information about a ...Use of pulmonary artery catheterization does not show benefit for severe heart failure patients
...ases. Eligible studies included patients who were undergoing surgery, in the ICU, admitted with advanced heart ...ents with decompensated heart failure, or patients undergoing surgery until or unless effective therapies can be found that improve outcomes when coupled with thi...Early treatment of macular degeneration with macugen may help patients preserve their vision
...RS eye chart, compared with 50 percent of patients undergoing usual care. In group 2, that proportion was 80 percent and 57 percent, respectively. A number of patients treated with pegaptanib even regained some sight. In addition, patients who underwent usual care for AMD were 10 times more likely to experience...Radical surgery best option for most ovarian cancer patients with cancer in diaphragm
... disease (less than 1 cm) was 55 percent for those undergoing diaphragm surgery versus 28 percent for those who did not. The study group included 244 consecutive patients with primary ovarian cancer who were operated on at Mayo Clinic from 1994 through 1998 and from Aug. 1, 2002, through Aug. 31, 2004. Dr. C...Cold treatment protects against infant disability and death from oxygen loss
...igned at random to 1 of 2 groups, with 102 infants undergoing the experimental cooling (hypothermia) treatment and 106 receiving standard care. Standard care for HIE may involve placing the infant on a ventilator to assist breathing monitoring blood pressure, and providing fluids intravenously, and other newb...Elevated blood levels of a protein are linked to asbestos-induced cancers
...tients suffered from pleural mesothelioma and were undergoing surgery. Those individuals exposed to asbestos for less than 10 years showed the lowest levels of osteopontin. Those levels doubled in people with more than 10 years of exposure. The osteopontin levels rose as changes on their lungs, such as scarrin...Therapeutic vaccine for ovarian cancer in clinical trials
... early results on the progress of patients already undergoing treatment, including the safety of the procedure and vaccine, is currently under way and is due for completion on schedule by December 2005. The analysis will provide information to the SAP and form the basis of its recommendation to Prima management...Radiation after prostate cancer surgery increases survival
...n therapy. Researchers found that the 213 patients undergoing radiation therapy had significantly improved five- and 10-year prostate cancer-free survival rates compared to their counterparts. At both five and 10 years, radiation reduced the risk of recurrence by 25 percent. The adjuvant radiation also reduced...Radiation, chemotherapy before surgery controls rectal cancer
...rst received radiation alone for five weeks before undergoing surgery to remove the cancer. The second group received chemotherapy in addition to five weeks of radiation therapy prior to surgery. "The standard treatment for rectal cancer has been radiation therapy alone before surgery, but this is the first ra...CT scan can spare some head and neck cancer patients surgery
...e safely spared the risk and expense of surgery by undergoing a CT scan to predict whether the disease is in check after radiation therapy, according to study findings University of Florida doctors released today (Oct. 18) at the annual meeting of the American Society for Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology. Res...Steroids and chicken pox not a good mix
...er issue of Pediatrics, says that children who are undergoing steroid treatments for diseases like childhood leukemia are at increased risk of contracting a more severe form of chicken pox, which may result in death. "Steroids are used to treat leukemia and they suppress the immune system," said Thomas McLean, ...Bariatric surgical procedures increase substantially
...in may explain the imbalance between men and women undergoing an elective procedure for weight loss. Type of insurance coverage also may play a role in socioeconomic disparities," the researchers write. "Other sources of disparities include the possibility that cultural attitudes toward morbid obesity may diffe...Risk of death from bariatric surgery among Medicare patients higher than previously estimated
...ly postsurgical death among Medicare beneficiaries undergoing open bariatric surgery. The study examined early (...ly postsurgical death among Medicare beneficiaries undergoing bariatric surgery was considerably higher than prior case series have suggested and was strongly ass...Study examines safety of radical prostatectomy for older men
...educe the risk of major complications in older men undergoing radical prostatectomy."...