Sunday, October 9, 2005
The Cervical Cancer Vaccine
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The Well Timed Period offers some (well referenced) Q's and A's about the cervical cancer vaccine:
"Q: Why do we need to vaccinate the population at large?
Q: Why are the vaccine trials focused on preferentially vaccinating young women?
Q: Why are HPV 16 and 18 the target of Merck's vaccine?
Q: Are the researchers working on the HPV vaccine aware of potential barriers to its acceptance?
"
She concludes:
" The HPV vaccine is an extremely significant development because it offers tremendous possibility in helping reduce the incidence of abnormal Pap smears, cervical cancer, and genital warts in the United States as well as worldwide. "
I Am A Propofologist
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I've decided to change my title from 'Anesthesiologist' to the more descriptive 'Propofologist.' Maybe it's because I've been doing lots of sedation for colonoscopies and esophagogastroduodenoscopies (EGD) for which I use propofol/lidocaine only. When someone asks for anesthesia services, especially outside the operating room, what they're really asking for is someone who can give propofol to the point of loss of consciousness--hence the (new) term. Your heard it here first.
Monday, August 22, 2005
NYT: Sick and Scared, and Waiting, Waiting, Waiting
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NYT: Sick and Scared, and Waiting, Waiting, Waiting
Medicine from the patient's side. A must read article no matter what specialty you're in.
Thursday, July 7, 2005
We are all Britons
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[Shape of Days]
Friday, July 1, 2005
My take on the rumored iPhone
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Podcasts. Everybody's talking about music, but I'd listen to podcasts (like this Make podcast on biodiesel). Any good medical podcasts out there yet?
Med Mal Costs 2004
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Med Mal Costs 2004:
"Where is the most expensive place to defend oneself against malpractice in 2004? Florida is tops and Wyoming is the least expensive."
Hmmm. From the summary, it looks like my state (Pennsylvania) is 5th for costs incurred...
[Via PointOfLaw Forum]
How to survive a deposition
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"Malpractice: How to survive a deposition"
"Be concise, be cool, be prepared, and don't try to outwit the plaintiff's attorney."
[Via Overlawyered]
Friday, June 17, 2005
Review: Chronic Stable Angina
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The NEJM has a very nice review article titled Chronic Stable Angina.
"It is useful to classify therapeutic drugs into two categories: antianginal (anti-ischemic) agents and vasculoprotective agents. Although medications for angina are widely used, therapy to slow the progression of coronary artery disease, to induce the stabilization of plaque, or to do both is a newer concept and these forms of treatment are underprescribed."
Medical Simulation Weblog
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I found a neat new weblog called SimBlog. Associated with the Society for Medical Simulation, it appears to be edited by Jeff Taekman, formerly of Penn State and the person I came to Hershey to work with. Jeff had moved to Duke by the time I arrived, and is now the Associate Dean for Technology in Education there.
Saturday, June 11, 2005
NEJM -- Two-Years after Endovascular Repair of Abdominal Aortic Aneurysms
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Very interesting Dutch study on Two-Year Outcomes after Conventional or Endovascular Repair of Abdominal Aortic Aneurysms in the NEJM. This is the first study to look at prolonged survival (2 years) after placing a tube stent into a dilated abdominal aorta (aneurysm) to prevent rupture. We know that early survival is better with the stent vs. open repair. But what about after the first month? This study shows that after two years, the survival is about the same:
" The cumulative rates of aneurysm-related death were 5.7 percent for open repair and 2.1 percent for endovascular repair. This advantage of endovascular repair over open repair was entirely accounted for by events occurring in the perioperative period, with no significant difference in subsequent aneurysm-related mortality. "
To try to explain this, the authors discuss the following possibilities:
"There may be two possible explanations for the convergence of survival curves in our study. One is that patients who have survived the stress of open repair may be somewhat less likely to die in the first few months after surgery than patients who have undergone endovascular repair, since the latter group has not been subjected to a conventional surgical procedure.
...[snip]...
Another possible explanation for the convergence of survival curves is the failure of endovascular repair to prevent rupture of the aneurysm."
I wonder about a third possibility: did patients having an open repair make lifestyle change that those having the less stressful endovascular repair did not? I ask because one of the frustrations in taking care of patients with vascular disease is the extent to which they do NOT change their eating or smoking habits and so need to come back for yet another procedure at yet another time. The study lists baseline characteristics (55% smoked in the open group and 64% smoked in the endovascular repair group. Half in each group had hyperlipidemia), but no characteristics are given at the two year point. Can the lack of survival advantage after endovascular repair be explained by differences in rates of smoking, hyperlipidemia, and other risk factors at two years?
And thanks to the power of Google, I've sent the lead author an e-mail with just this question!
8: 00 A.M., the lead author writes back:
"We haven't studied that in this 2-year analysis but it is part of our long-term study."
Malpractice Insurance for Bariatric Surgeons Increasing
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Other Perils of Overweight - New York Times:
" But after several years in which the surgery was seen as the last best hope by many obese people, a growing array of scientific data shows that the risks are greater than patients realized. One new study reported that almost one in 5 patients had complications after surgery. For one in 20 patients, the complications were serious, including heart attacks and strokes. Another recent study said the mortality rate for the most common type of bariatric surgery, gastric bypass, was one in 200 - a rate higher than for coronary angioplasty, which opens blocked heart vessels.
For thousands of patients, the weight-loss surgery has eliminated debilitating diseases and improved the quality of life. But the threat of malpractice lawsuits against doctors and hospitals, as well as the reluctance of health plans to cover the surgery costs, is creating difficulties for people now seeking treatment. "
The article points to an Annals of Internal Medicine article titled Meta-Analysis: Surgical Treatment of Obesity (Annals is another one of those nice free full-text journals).
[Via Common Good]
Friday, May 27, 2005
Medical Malpractice Law in the United States - Kaiser Family Foundation
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Medical Malpractice Law in the United States - Kaiser Family Foundation:
" The Kaiser Family Foundation today issued a new report that explains how medical malpractice law in the United States works and provides an overview of recent trends and reform approaches. The Foundation also posted state-specific data on medical malpractice claim payments on statehealthfacts.org, the free online source of current health and health policy data for all 50 states. "
Average U.S. Family of 4 Will Use $12,214 in Medical Products, Services in 2005
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Kaisernetwork.org--Average U.S. Family of 4 Will Use $12,214 in Medical Products, Services in 2005, Study Says - :
" The average U.S. family of four will use $12,214 worth of medical products and services in 2005, up 45% from $8,414 in 2001, according to a new report by Milliman, the Washington Times reports (Higgins, Washington Times, 5/26). The report -- the first on consumer health care costs culled from the new Milliman Medical Index -- was based on health insurance information for more than 15 million insured U.S. residents (Whitehouse, Dow Jones/Wall Street Journal, 5/26). The report examined medical costs for a family with two adults and two children under age 10 who were covered by a PPO. It focused solely on costs for medical care at the point of service and did not include health insurance premiums (Washington Times, 5/26). The report also did not examine over-the-counter drug spending and the cost of medical treatments not covered by health insurance (Croghan, New York Daily News, 5/26).
The report found that the average family will pay about 17% -- or $2,035 -- of its total health care costs in 2005, with a health plan paying the remainder. "
The whole report is available here ![pdf]()
.
Thursday, May 26, 2005
Face-Lift Played Major Part in Woman's Death
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Face-Lift Played Major Part in Woman's Death, City Finds - New York Times:
You may remember the story several weeks ago about an Irish citizen who died the morning after a face lift in a plastic surgeon's office in New York. I've kept a Google Alert on this subject and this popped up today:
" An investigation by the New York City Medical Examiner's Office has concluded that the death of a 42-year-old Irish woman earlier this year was caused in significant part by face-lift surgery she underwent in the Manhattan office of a doctor who has repeatedly been sued for malpractice. "
Not much (any) detail. Maybe more will come out soon.
[Via ]
Thursday, May 19, 2005
Neuromuscular blocker binders around the corner?
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Organon is working on the first of a new class of drugs called selective relaxant binding agents (SRBA). The first drug, called Org 25969, is about to enter phase three trials in the US. These drugs can supposedly reverse neuromuscular blockade at any depth of neuromuscular block by binding the neuromuscular blocker.
Though this news release and the Organon website are short on details, this site has the scoop:
"The novel concept of using a ring-shaped cyclodextrin to engulf a neuromuscular blocking drug is fascinating.2 Cyclodextrins are cyclic oligosaccharides which are recognised to encapsulate lipophilic molecules such as steroids. They are water soluble and well tolerated biologically. Org 25969 consists of eight such sugar molecules in a ring, the outside of which is hydrophilic, and the inside, hydrophobic. The size and shape of the ring is designed to produce a cavity into which a neuromuscular blocking drug such as rocuronium will tightly fit. Org 25969 is capable of forming a binary host – guest complex of high affinity with rocuronium, for two of its externally charged side-chains react with the quaternary nitrogen groups of the muscle relaxant. It is able to encapsulate all four steroidal rings of rocuronium within its lipophilic cavity. This encapsulation or chelation reverses the effect of rocuronium, by preventing its access to the nicotinic receptor and promoting its dissociation from it."
[via Medical News Today]
Saturday, May 7, 2005
25 Years and a 1288% Increase in Malpractice Premiums
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"...losses paid out per doctor rose much faster than premiums paid per doctor (1288% vs. 312%), or medical care inflation (480%), from 1975-2001 (see this graph). After 2001, when med-mal insurers were exiting the market in response to this reality, insurance regulators permitted substantial premium price increases that began to correct for these imbalances (though far from fully -- really returning medical malpractice paid-loss ratios to 1995 levels, which were still 150% higher than they were in 1975). It is an unavoidable fact that the exceptional growth in losses paid per doctor over time explains medical malpractice premium growth..."
[via PointofLaw.com]
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Aug Nov
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