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This study of potentially life-threatening changes in patient condition during trips to the radiology department of a large academic medical center found that such events occurred about once a week, involved both ward and ICU patients who had comorbidities and high overall mortality, and were often unanticipated by vital sign changes or other recognized warnings.
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Limited data on the use of high-flow nasal cannula oxygen therapy suggests it is associated with improvement in physiologic parameters.
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In this paper, the authors performed a pharmacoepidemiologic study on the relationship between azithromycin, a frequently used broad-spectrum macrolide antibiotic, and cardiovascular death. The authors analyzed data from the Tennessee Medicaid program.
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Lorcaserin for weight loss; statins and fatigue; treatment-resistant gonorrhea; hydrocodone classification changes; USPSTF recommendations; and FDA actions.
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Scenario: The 12-lead ECG shown above was obtained from a previously healthy 30-year-old man who presented to the emergency department with new-onset palpitations. No prior ECG was available for comparison. The patient was alert and hemodynamically stable at the time this tracing was recorded. What is the rhythm? Is this rhythm likely to respond to adenosine?
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A 78-year-old female had been generally well with no known chronic medical conditions and was taking no medications when she presented to her primary care physician with lower abdominal pain and urinary frequency of one month's duration. Physical examination at the time revealed a well-appearing woman with normal vital signs and no abnormal physical findings except a palpably enlarged uterus by bimanual pelvic examination. CT scan confirmed the presence of a uterine mass suspicious for malignancy. She was referred to a gynecologic oncologist and had a total abdominal hysterectomy and salpingo-oophorectomy with partial infracolic omentectomy and pelvic debulking of what appeared to be a large (15 cm) tumor mass. Final pathology was high-grade leiomyosarcoma with microscopic invasion of the colon and bladder.
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In this case-control study, dietary lignan intake was inversely associated with risk of breast cancer in both premenopausal and postmenopausal women. Also noted were more favorable prognostic characteristics associated with lignan intake, especially in premenopausal women.
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Four large data sets were analyzed to evaluate the effect of adjuvant treatment on survival in patients with stage III colon cancer diagnosed after age 75. While adjuvant chemotherapy was associated with a survival benefit, oxaliplatin-based regimens offered no more than a small incremental benefit over non-oxaliplatin-containing regimens.
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Side effects of finasteride; new ruling on pharmaceutical companies paying generic manufacturers; and FDA actions.
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A multi-institutional study examined the addition of a purine analog, either cladribine or fludarabine, to the standard induction regimen ("7 & 3") in adult patients 60 years of age and younger with acute myelogenous leukemia, and found improved outcomes for those receiving cladribine. The added benefit from cladribine appears to be the result of a reduction in the incidence of resistant disease. The study arm containing cladribine, daunorubicin, and cytaribine yielded an overall survival at 3 years of 45% while conventional "7 & 3" therapy was only 33% at 3 years. Cladribine added to daunorubicin and cytarabine during remission induction improves leukemia control and patient survival for those 60 years of age and younger.
