NEW YORK (Reuters Health) – Health-related quality of life (HRQOL) improves in the year after transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI), researchers from UK and Germany find in 2 separate studies. “These findings are clinically significant, as improvement in both quality and quantity of life is...

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) – Giving adolescent mothers postpartum contraceptive implants is an effective curb on further pregnancies within a year, researchers report in an April 18th on-line paper in the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology.” “Initiation of the etonogestrel implant...

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) – Getting a second opinion of surgical breast pathology often leads to changes that impact treatment in women with node-negative breast cancer or ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS), clinicians with the British Columbia Cancer Agency (BCCA) in Vancouver have found. In an email to...

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) – Earlier tracheostomy improved outcomes in patients who needed prolonged mechanical ventilation after cardiac surgery without increasing the occurrence of mediastinitis, clinicians from Ohio’s Cleveland Clinic found in a look-back study they performed. “In this select...

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) – In patients with schizophrenia, chronic use of benzodiazepines is associated with an increased risk of death, whereas treatment with an antidepressant or several concomitant antipsychotics is not, according to a Finnish study published this week. Long-term use of...

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) – Confirming recommendations, titrating beta-blocker dosage in ambulatory patients with heart failure up to an equivalent of 50 mg/d carvedilol reduces all-cause deaths and hospitalizations, according to a report in the July 17 issue of the Journal of the American College of...

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) – Chemotherapy given before surgery in patients with small-cell urothelial cancer (SCUC) downstages tumors and results in significantly improved survival, a team from the University of Texas M.D Anderson Cancer Center reports. “Although limited by a small sample size and...

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) – Metformin appears to lower the risk of developing liver cancer in patients with type 2 diabetes, according to the results of a meta-analysis reported in the July issue of the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism. However, “Further investigation, including...

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) – Despite the supposed advantage of off-pump coronary artery bypass grafting for elderly patients with ischemic heart disease, a Danish study found no significant difference in outcomes between on-pump and off-pump procedures in this population. “Both techniques are relatively...

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) – After a standard course of combination chemotherapy for advanced non-small-cell lung cancer, maintenance therapy with a single agent improves overall survival and progression-free survival, results of a meta-analysis show. However, “statistical significance was only noted with...