Jun 26, 2012

In the United States, use of anesthesia during gastrointestinal endoscopies and colonoscopies appears to have increased substantially from 2003 to 2009, according to a retrospective analysis of claims...

Jun 26, 2012

Researchers in Tennessee have found that early appendectomy for children with perforated appendicitis appears to be associated with significantly lower hospital charges and costs when compared with in...

Jun 19, 2012

Although the adoption of radial coronary angiography and radial PCI in the United States lags behind that of other countries, particularly those in Europe and Asia, transradial coronary intervention h...

Jun 15, 2012

Here is an extreme “system error” type of response to an event that seems to have been a human error. According to CBS News: “Mowing at all national parks has been suspended indefinitely beca...

Jun 12, 2012

Medications are effective in about 70% of patients with essential tremor and work well for most with Parkinson’s disease (PD). Many patients with essential tremor, however, are unable to complete ac...

Jun 12, 2012

The American Medical Association has launched an online training module to help clinicians counsel patients on healthy eating through use of ChooseMyPlate.gov, which explains the MyPlate icon that rec...

Jun 12, 2012

Women with heart failure (HF) appear to have better survival than men irrespective of ejection fraction, according to a large meta-analysis. The mortality rate for women with HF was 25%, compared with...

Jun 12, 2012

One of the great challenges for physicians is to motivate their patients to make positive health behavior changes. Unfortunately, training on motivation, communication, and patient psychology is typic...

Jun 05, 2012

Bariatric surgery is indicated for certain high-risk patients who have clinically severe obesity. A key aspect of care for the post-bariatric surgery patient population is addressing non-surgical aspe...

Jun 05, 2012

There has been increased focus on the need for higher-quality, safer, and more appropriate care in hospitals nationwide. One of the most important components of this mission is to reduce the risk of c...

Jun 05, 2012

The success of radiofrequency ablation (RFA) treatment of small renal masses appears to be strongly correlated with tumor size. University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center researchers found that 3...

Jun 05, 2012

An investigation of older, opioid-naïve patients who were given an opioid within 1 week of a short-stay surgery has found that this population appears to be frequently prescribed analgesics immediate...

Jun 05, 2012

French research suggests that running is possible for patients after they undergo hip resurfacing arthroplasty, with some runners returning to varying levels of competition postoperatively. Among part...

Jun 05, 2012

A CT scanner (Aquilion Prime CT system, Toshiba) capable of generating 160 unique slices per rotation has been approved by the FDA. The system was designed for facilities that perform a variety of adv...

Jun 05, 2012

The FDA has granted 510(k) marketing clearance for a sheathed bipolar sealer (Aquamantys SBS 5.0, Medtronic) for use in spinal surgeries. The device provides hemostatic sealing capabilities for both i...

Jun 05, 2012

Preliminary data in a report from the CDC indicate that births in the United States dropped 3% between  2009 and 2010 to about 4 million. According to the report, available at www.cdc.gov/nchs, the c...

Jun 05, 2012

Metal-on-metal total hip replacement appears to be associated with high failure rates, according to a large British analysis. Among metal-on-metal replacements, failure occurred earlier with large hea...

Jun 05, 2012

A levonorgestrel-releasing intrauterine system appears to be effective and well accepted by patients in the long-term treatment of those with moderate-to- severe endometriosis-related pain following c...

May 30, 2012

When patients are facing a cancer diagnosis, they often need help understanding their treatment options as well as the risks and benefits of each choice. Treatment decisions can become fraught with em...

May 30, 2012

Admission for sepsis through the ED, when compared with direct admission to the hospital, appears to be associated with lower early and overall inpatient mortality. Results from a large national sampl...