At a conference on hematologic oncology, two sickle cell experts faced off in a debate about whether gene therapy or alternative stem-cell transplant is the best option for patients who don’t have an available matched sibling donor. “If there is an indication for intervention, for a curative therapy…
TOPLINE: The use of regional anesthesia reduces acute postoperative pain associated with noncardiac surgery. It also decreases the incidence of prolonged opioid use and chronic postoperative pain at 3 and 6 months after surgery. METHODOLOGY: Researchers conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis of 37 randomized controlled trials involving 4948 adults (age…
Despite years of national strategies to address the suicide crisis in the U.S., rates continue to rise. A chorus of researchers and experts say the interventions will work — but that they’re simply not being adopted by state and local governments…
MedPage Today) — Adding prophylactic left atrial appendage (LAA) closure to planned cardiac surgery was linked to lower stroke risk for patients without atrial fibrillation (Afib, or AF), based on a meta-analysis. Pooling six observational and…
At age 39, I had two open heart-surgeries in less than a year…
MedPage Today) — Not all defibrillator pad positions may work equally well for patients with shockable out-of-hospital cardiac arrest. (JAMA Network Open) Medical therapy for aortic stenosis? Early clinical data on evogliptin were disappointing…
Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain Quitting cigarettes can significantly lower a person’s risk of atrial fibrillation (AFib) compared to those who continue to smoke, according to a study published in JACC: Clinical Electrophysiology. The findings show that the benefits of quitting start right away, suggesting that it is possible to reverse the risk of negative health
MedPage Today) — Immediately linking chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and asthma patients who smoke to an appointment at a smoking cessation clinic significantly improved quit rates, a multicenter trial from Turkey showed. Among…
Credit: Ketut Subiyanto from Pexels Weight loss interventions could reduce the risk of severe cases of flu and other infections in people with diabetes, suggests new research being presented at the annual meeting of the European Association for the Study of Diabetes (EASD) in Madrid, Spain (9-13 September). The study, by Rhian Hopkins and Ethan
LONDON — Two new trials have confirmed that time of day does not matter when it comes to taking antihypertensive medication. Both the BedMed and BedMed-Frail trials, presented at the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) Congress, showed no difference in death or cardiovascular events between patients taking their antihypertensive medication at night and those taking