In research published last winter in Science Translational Medicine, scientists reported that they were able to successfully use a device to close a hole in the heart of animal models without the need for open-heart surgery. Pedro del Nido (Boston Children’s) is a contributing author on the study.
Potential pain treatments are struggling to prove their worth over a rising placebo effect seen in US trials. Ted Kaptchuk (Beth Israel Deaconess) is quoted.
Potential pain treatments are struggling to prove their worth over a rising placebo effect seen in U.S. trials. Ted Kaptchuk (Beth Israel Deaconess) is quoted.
Minimally invasive surgery does not match standard surgery for the treatment of rectal cancer, new research indicates. Andrew Chan (Mass General) is quoted.
Mass killings like the one Thursday at the Umpqua Community College in Roseburg, Oregon, scraped nerves raw, commanded headlines and prompted an anguished President Barack Obama to take to the airwaves—again—to condemn gun violence. Helen Farrell (Beth Israel Deaconess) is quoted.
Research from Harvard Medical School has calculated how many minutes patients spend seeking medical care—and the dollar value of their lost time. Ateev Mehrotra (HMS) is senior author of the study.
A new study of people who had an inexpensive heart scan found that half of those who were statin candidates had no signs of plaque in their heart and very little chance of having a heart attack in the next decade. Peter Libby (Brigham and Women’s) is quoted.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration plans to encourage testing of medicines that have been around longer than the modern FDA itself, and so have never gotten formal approval. Companies that do the tests are rewarded with licenses that can temporarily give them monopoly pricing power as most rivals are eased or kicked off the market. The result has been a surge in the cost of drugs. Aaron Kesselheim (Brigham and Women’s) is quoted.
