Tag: Medical Care

Sepsis, toxic response to infection, contributes to up to half of all hospital deaths in the U.S., according to a study presented at the American Thoracic Society's 2014 annual conference in San Diego. Although many studies have examined the incidence and mortality of patients diagnosed with sepsis in the U.S. over time, the study authors say that so far, the impact of sepsis on overall hospital mortality has been poorly understood.

Johns Hopkins researchers say they have developed a technique that can predict with 95 percent accuracy which stroke victims will benefit from intravenous, clot-busting drugs and which will suffer dangerous and potentially lethal bleeding in the brain.

Reporting online May 15^th 2014 in the journal Stroke, the Johns Hopkins team says these predictions were made possible by applying a new method they developed that uses standard magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans to measures damage to the blood-brain barrier that protects the brain from drug exposure.

A “physician partner” who can handle a doctor’s administrative tasks will help lighten the practitioner’s burden and increase patient care satisfaction, according to a study from UCLA.

The study, published in the journal JAMA Internal Medicine, focused on the implementation of electronic medical records.

The National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization launched a national awareness campaign on May 15^th 2014 called "Moments of Life: Brought to You by Hospice."

Harvard scientists have merged stem cell and “organ-on-a-chip” technologies to grow, for the first time, functioning human heart tissue carrying an inherited cardiovascular disease. The research appears to be a big step forward for personalized medicine because it is working proof that a chunk of tissue containing a patient's specific genetic disorder can be replicated in the laboratory.

When you have blood work done during a physical exam, you have to wait several weeks for the results because your doctor sends the sample to a lab for analysis. That’s not a problem if you’re healthy and simply getting a routine checkup but if you have worrisome symptoms, both you and your physician would benefit from knowing very quickly whether something is amiss.

More than half of all operations are performed on patients 65 years and older in the United States. Frail elderly patients who undergo surgery are more likely to have postoperative complications. But tools to estimate operative risk have their limitations because they often focus on a single organ system or solitary event. In geriatric medicine, the comprehensive geriatric assessment (CGA) is widely used to detect disabilities and conditions associated with frailty.

The risk of dying from, melanoma, the most dangerous type of skin cancer is significantly reduced with regular doctor visits, according to a study done in Detroit at Henry Ford Hospital. The researchers believe that this is the first study to link melanoma mortality with routine health care use.

By Oleg Siniaguine Ph.D.

Unlike medical records kept in paper charts, electronic health records (EHR) provide numerous access points to clinicians to review a patient's medical history. A multi-university study published in the May 2014 issue of Health Affairs has found that access to electronic health records in acute care situations may influence the care given to that patient, and in some cases, failure to review the EHR could have adversely affected the medical management.

The upside of new cancer therapies that block vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) signaling is that these agents have improved the outlook for patients with some cancers and are now used as a first line therapy for some tumors. However the downside is that almost 100% of patients who take VEGF inhibitors (VEGFIs) develop high blood pressure, and a subset develops severe hypertension. That is the finding of a study done at the Institute of Cardiovascular and Medical Sciences, University of Glasgow.

Mayo Clinic researchers have found that a uniform method to treat lower-risk cardiac surgery patients can improve outcomes, reduce time in the hospital and lower patient cost by 15 percent.

The study was published in the journal Health Affairs.

Despite their findings, researchers didn’t discount a remaining need for care that doesn’t necessarily adhere to their model.

An article published in May 2014 in Mayo Clinic Proceedings links some nerve damage after hip surgery to a condition called inflammatory neuropathy. Until now, nerve damage from hip surgery has been attributed to mechanical factors caused by anesthesiologists or surgeons, such as positioning of the patient during surgery or direct surgical injury of the nerves.

A release from the clinic explains that inflammatory neuropathies occur when the immune system attacks the nerves, causing weakness and pain. Inflammatory neuropathies may be treated with immunotherapy.

By Frederick Frost, MD

 

It’s high time for patients to take an active role in their own healthcare.

There was a time when many people had long-term relationships with a family doctor – someone who knew them and their families well.

Research done at North Shore University Hospital on Long Island demonstrated a very significant reduction in hospital readmissions after coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) surgery for patients who received home health care through the “Follow Your Heart” program. The study was published in the May 2014 issue of The Annals of Thoracic Surgery.

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