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Hospital groups fight over patients

News outlets report on a variety of issues affecting hospitals and doctors.

21 May 2011

Artificial discs a viable alternative to fusion surgery for two-level lumbar degenerative disc disease

When two adjacent discs in the low back wear out, become compressed and cause unmanageable pain, numbness or other symptoms, replacement with artificial discs can be a viable alternative to standard fusion surgery, based on two-year post-surgery data from a randomized, multicenter trial recently published in the Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery.

21 May 2011

Feeding SimplyThick to premature infants may cause NEC, warns FDA

FDA is warning parents, caregivers and health care providers not to feed SimplyThick, a thickening agent for management of swallowing disorders, to infants born before 37 weeks.

21 May 2011

Decade-long study demonstrates immediate, long-term benefits of holmium laser treatment for enlarged prostate

New research presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Urology Association (AUA) in Washington, DC demonstrates that holmium laser therapy is a safe and durable treatment option for Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia (BPH) - an enlargement of the prostate that affects most men as they age.

21 May 2011

Cordis EXOSEAL Vascular Closure Device receives approval in the U.S.

Cordis Corporation, a worldwide leader in the development and manufacture of interventional vascular technology, today announced the approval of the EXOSEAL Vascular Closure Device in the US. EXOSEAL incorporates a number of new advances in technology and simplicity of design to provide precise and secure extravascular arterial closure.

21 May 2011

Pediatric pain experts discuss safety, efficacy of pain medications in children

Can we be certain that pain medications considered safe for adults, based on extensive clinical data and experience, are equally safe for use in young children? Pediatric pain experts discussed this question today in a panel session at the American Pain Society, www.ampainsoc.org, annual scientific meeting and agreed more short term and long-term clinical data are needed to provide assurances about the safety and efficacy of several pain medications in children.

21 May 2011

Free skin cancer screenings for local community

The John Theurer Cancer Center at Hackensack University Medical Center's Cutaneous Malignancies Program has partnered with The Promise Foundation to host a skin cancer screening event on Thursday, June 2 from 10am -5pm. This program will feature educational information on skin cancer prevention and offer free skin cancer screenings by appointment only for the community.

21 May 2011

Study examines long-term GI complications in childhood cancer survivors

Individuals who are treated for cancer during childhood have a significantly higher risk of developing gastrointestinal complications - from mild to severe - later in life, according to a study led by the University of California, San Francisco. The findings underscore the need for childhood cancer survivors and their physicians to be aware of these risk factors to ensure patients' ongoing health care needs are met.

21 May 2011

Research roundup: Closing E.R.S; Predicting future health costs; Providing rural residents with specialized care

Factors Associated With The Closures Of Emergency Departments In The United States -- This study looks at the community, market and medical factors that led to an increase of urban hospital-based emergency department closures.

20 May 2011

HSS researchers develop new tool to compare efficacy of different brachial plexus surgical treatments

The way that clinicians report outcomes of surgery for a traumatic nerve injury involving the arm is not standardized, and it is thus difficult to compare the efficacy of different surgical treatments, according to a study by researchers at Hospital for Special Surgery (HSS) in New York.

20 May 2011

Merck's VICTRELIS receives European CHMP positive opinion for treatment of chronic HCV genotype 1 infection

Merck, today announced that the Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use of the European Medicines Agency has adopted a positive opinion under accelerated assessment recommending approval of the investigational medicine VICTRELIS (boceprevir) for the treatment of chronic hepatitis C virus genotype 1 infection, in combination with peginterferon alfa and ribavirin, in adult patients with compensated liver disease who are previously untreated or who have failed previous therapy.

20 May 2011

Frequent, consistent exercise may help women curtail cigarette cravings

Dozens of studies on whether moderate exercise can curb the nicotine cravings of women smokers have added up to an apparent contradiction: it seems to work in short-term, well controlled lab experiments, but then fizzles out in treatment trials. A new study may explain why and help researchers devise a practical therapy.

20 May 2011

Curcumin compound can help head and neck cancer cells overcome resistance to chemotherapy drugs

A primary reason that head and neck cancer treatments fail is the tumor cells become resistant to chemotherapy drugs. Now, researchers at the University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center have found that a compound derived from the Indian spice curcumin can help cells overcome that resistance.

20 May 2011

Monitoring adherence to mandatory hand-washing protocols can help stop outbreaks of C. diff bacteria

Just like intelligence agents watching for the real terrorists threatening to attack, monitoring healthcare worker adherence to mandatory hand-washing protocols via hand-washing squads in hospitals can go a long way to stop outbreaks of the opportunistic C. diff bacteria, says Irena Kenneley, an infection prevention and control expert and assistant professor of nursing from the Frances Payne Bolton School of Nursing at Case Western Reserve University.

20 May 2011

The Chartis Group and HPMG partner to help providers improve outpatient care delivery systems

HealthPartners Medical Group and Clinics and The Chartis Group today announce a unique collaboration to help hospitals and health systems achieve superior performance in health care quality and patient service, while simultaneously lowering costs.

20 May 2011

Cholesterol drug may help treat mitochondrial diseases

A human drug that both prevents and cures kidney failure in mice sheds light on disabling human mitochondrial disorders, and may represent a potential treatment in people with such illnesses.

20 May 2011

Electrical disturbances in injured brain lead to poor recovery

Electrical disturbances that spread through an injured brain like tsunamis have a direct link to poor recovery and can last far longer than previously realized, researchers at the University of Cincinnati Neuroscience Institute have found.

20 May 2011

Surgeon's choices and choice of surgeons influence hospital charges for spinal fusion surgery

Hospital charges for spinal fusion surgery in the upper spine vary considerably—with the surgeon's choice of spinal hardware being the largest source of variation, reports a study in the May 15 issue of Spine.

20 May 2011

HealthGrades identifies major flaws in hospital ratings study

The findings of a journal article published in the May issue of the Archives of Surgery are fundamentally flawed and could undermine patients ability to find high quality hospital care, according to HealthGrades. The article, Evaluating Popular Media and Internet-Based Hospital Quality Ratings for Cancer Surgery, compared outcomes for gastrointestinal cancer patients who underwent surgery at hospitals on HealthGrades' "America's 50 Best Hospitals" and US News and World Report's "America's Best Hospitals" lists.

20 May 2011

ViroPharma commences VP 20621 Phase 2 study for prevention of recurrent Clostridium difficile infection

ViroPharma Incorporated today announced initiation of a Phase 2 dose-ranging clinical study to evaluate the safety, tolerability, and efficacy of VP 20621 for prevention of recurrence of Clostridium difficile infection (CDI) in adults previously treated for CDI.

20 May 2011

Hospital News and Research

Hospital groups fight over patients

Artificial discs a viable alternative to fusion surgery for two-level lumbar degenerative disc disease

Feeding SimplyThick to premature infants may cause NEC, warns FDA

Decade-long study demonstrates immediate, long-term benefits of holmium laser treatment for enlarged prostate

Cordis EXOSEAL Vascular Closure Device receives approval in the U.S.

Pediatric pain experts discuss safety, efficacy of pain medications in children

Free skin cancer screenings for local community

Study examines long-term GI complications in childhood cancer survivors

Research roundup: Closing E.R.S; Predicting future health costs; Providing rural residents with specialized care

HSS researchers develop new tool to compare efficacy of different brachial plexus surgical treatments

Merck's VICTRELIS receives European CHMP positive opinion for treatment of chronic HCV genotype 1 infection

Frequent, consistent exercise may help women curtail cigarette cravings

Curcumin compound can help head and neck cancer cells overcome resistance to chemotherapy drugs

Monitoring adherence to mandatory hand-washing protocols can help stop outbreaks of C. diff bacteria

The Chartis Group and HPMG partner to help providers improve outpatient care delivery systems

Cholesterol drug may help treat mitochondrial diseases

Electrical disturbances in injured brain lead to poor recovery

Surgeon's choices and choice of surgeons influence hospital charges for spinal fusion surgery

HealthGrades identifies major flaws in hospital ratings study

ViroPharma commences VP 20621 Phase 2 study for prevention of recurrent Clostridium difficile infection

Managing vibration in IVF laboratories

Improving healthcare sustainability through carbon data

A New Approach to Preventing Bladder Cancer Recurrence

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