August 29th, 2011 by Elaine Schattner, M.D. in News
Tags: Adcetris, ALCL, Cancer Drugs, Cancer Treatment, Communication, FDA, FDA Approval, Hodgkin's, Lymphoma, Medical News, Office of Oncology Drug Products, Oncology, Pathology, Pharmalot, Seattle Genetics
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Recently, the FDA announced its approval, upon accelerated review, of a new drug, Adcetris (brentuximab) for patients with Hodgkin’s lymphoma that has relapsed after bone marrow transplant and for some patients with T-cell anaplastic large cell lymphoma (ALCL).
This interests me for a lot of reasons, among them that I used to work in the field of lymphoma immunology and spent some time in my life studying molecules like CD30, the protein to which the new antibody binds.
First, a mini-primer on the disease and numbers of patients involved: Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Medical Lessons*
August 29th, 2011 by Berci in News
Tags: Aase, Facebook, Health 2.0, health care conferences, Mayo Clinic, Mayo Clinic Center for Social Media, Member Community Site, Ragan Communications, Social Media, Social Media Health Network, Twitter, Web 2.0, Webinars, YouTube
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I’ve always been a great fan of what Mayo Clinic has been doing on social media. Then after Mayo Clinic Center for Social Media was launched, I became a member of the international external advisory board which I’m very proud of. I reported when they launched a patient community and also discussed how well they did this. Now the Center is 1 year old and still performs perfectly. An excerpt form their previous entry:
Here’s a sneak peek of a few topics that were discussed during Mayo’s retreat: Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at ScienceRoll*
August 28th, 2011 by GarySchwitzer in Health Tips, News
Tags: Brian Williams, Cardiology, Coronary Heart Disease, CRP, Heart Disease-Related Death, Howard Brody, John Abramson, Lacking Evidence, Life Saving, Medical History, Merrill Goozner, Nancy Snyderman, NBC, Nieman Reports, Paul Ridker, Risk Factors, Screening, Simple Blood Test, U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, Women over 40
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After seeing the NBC Nightly News last night, a physician urged me to write about what he saw: a story about a “simple blood test that could save women’s lives.”
Readers – and maybe especially TV viewers – beware whenever you hear a story about “a simple blood test.”
And this is a good case in point.
Brian Williams led into the story stating:
“Two of three women who die suddenly of cardiac heart disease have no previous symptoms which is all the more reason women may want to ask their doctors about a blood test that can be a lifesaver.”
Then NBC News chief medical editor Dr. Nancy Snyderman said:
“It’s not a new test, it’s not an experimental test but nonetheless it’s a test not a lot of people know about and that’s a problem because this simple blood test could save your life.”
The test in question is Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Gary Schwitzer's HealthNewsReview Blog*
August 27th, 2011 by Iltifat Husain, M.D. in News
Tags: 3D Images, Android, Apps, Fujifilm, iPad, iPhone, iTunes, Medical Images, Medicine, Radiology, Synapse Mobility, Synapse PACS, Synapse RIS, Technology
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Fujifilm Synapase Mobility is now available in the U.S., and not just on the iPhone, but for the Android and iPad as well. Fujifilm makes a variety of medical images devices, from ultrasound devices to computed radiology devices (x-rays).
If you use their backend server (Synapse PACS and Synapse RIS), you can now view your images on your mobile devices. What’s really interesting about their mobile suite is that it’s browser is independent, scalable, and doesn’t just display static images.
Currently the system isn’t FDA approved, but with the amount of business Fujifilm already has in the medical ecosystem, one would think this would happen sooner than later.
..It provides Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at iMedicalApps*
August 26th, 2011 by Davis Liu, M.D. in News, Opinion
Tags: Bedside Manner, Clinical Care, Compassion, Danielle Ofri, Diabetes, Doctor-Patient Communication, Dr. Brent James, Electronic Medical Records, Empathy, Goal, Humanistic, Intermountain Healthcare, Interpersonal Skills, Kaiser, New England Journal of Medicine, New York Times, NYU, Primary Care, Report Cards, Virginia Mason Hospital
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The New York Times recently published an article titled, Finding a Quality Doctor, Dr. Danielle Ofri an internist at NYU, laments how she was unable to perform as well as expected in the areas of patient care as it related to diabetes. From the August 2010 New England Journal of Medicine article, Dr. Ofri notes that her report card showed the following – 33% of patients with diabetes have glycated hemoglobin levels at goal, 44% have cholesterol levels at goal, and a measly 26% have blood pressure at goal. She correctly notes that these measurements alone aren’t what makes a doctor a good quality one, but rather the areas of interpersonal skills, compassion, and empathy, which most of us would agree constitute a doctor’s bedside manner, should count as well.
Her article was simply to illustrate that “most doctors are genuinely doing their best to help their patients and that these report cards might not be accurate reflections of their care” yet when she offered this perspective, a contrary point of view, many viewed it as “evidence of arrogance.”
She comforted herself by noting that those who criticized her were “mostly [from] doctors who were not involved in direct patient care (medical administrators, pathologists, radiologists). None were in the trenches of primary care.”
From the original NEJM article, Dr. Ofri concluded Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Saving Money and Surviving the Healthcare Crisis*
