Hemopurifier Filters Ebola, Hep C, Metastatic Melanoma: Interview with James A. Joyce, CEO of Aethlon Medical
Filtering infectious pathogens and cancer cells directly from whole blood has been an almost fantastic proposition, but the Hemopurifier from Aethlon Medical does just that. We’ve been covering it for over 10 years on Medgadget as it proves itself in clinical trials and new applications for it are discovered. It has already been studied as a treatment option for hepatitis C, metastatic melanoma, and the Ebola virus. Recently at the 2017 BIO International Convention in San Diego, virus capture data was presented from a study of the Hemopurifier involving health-compromised patients infected with a virus.
We wer...
Source: Medgadget - July 18, 2017 Category: Medical Devices Authors: Editors Tags: Exclusive Medicine Oncology Source Type: blogs
An elderly woman with dyspnea, asystolic arrest, resuscitated
911 was called for a very elderly dialysis patient for acute onset of dyspnea.On arrival, medics found the patient with agonal respirations. Chest compressions were started and 2 doses of epinephrine givne, and she was found to be in asystole, which then changed to PEA at some point, then to ventricular tachycardia. A King airway was placed.This is her prehospital ECG:What do you think?My thoughts are below.On arrival, she was hypertensive and tachycardic. Due to concern for hyperkalemia, Calcium was given empirically. Cardiac ultrasound showed poor LV function and normal RV size. K returned at 5.8...
Source: Dr. Smith's ECG Blog - July 15, 2017 Category: Cardiology Authors: Steve Smith Source Type: blogs
A 60-something dialysis patient with complete heart block: ultrasound before and after treatment
A 60-something dialysis patient complained of weakness. He was hypoxic and in some respiratory distress.He had these prehospital ECGs:Rhythm Strip only, with very slow rate. There appear to be some P-waves that are dissociated from the QRS. This appears to be complete heart block with ventricular escape.More of the same, but with some narrow complex beats, perhaps junctional, or perhaps with some conduction.The exact ECG diagnosis is not as important as the management.A 12-lead was recorded:P-waves are difficult to consistently identify, but there is a wide complex ventricular escape, with a RBBB and LAFB mo...
Source: Dr. Smith's ECG Blog - July 5, 2017 Category: Cardiology Authors: Steve Smith Source Type: blogs
An interesting finding, and absence of another, in an intoxicated patient found down
CONCLUSION: Administration of subcutaneous terbutaline obviates the need for intravenous access and should be considered as an alternative to nebulized or inhaled beta-agonists to treat acute hyperkalemia in patients with CKD. As with the use of any beta-adrenergic agonist, close cardiovascular monitoring is necessary to avoid or minimize toxicity during therapy.Hypokalemic effects of intravenous infusion or nebulization of salbutamol in patients with chronic renal failure: comparative study.AULiou HH, Chiang SS, Wu SC, Huang TP, Campese VM, Smogorzewski M, Yang WC SOAm J Kidney Dis. 1994;23(2):266. To exami...
Source: Dr. Smith's ECG Blog - July 1, 2017 Category: Cardiology Authors: Steve Smith Source Type: blogs
Palliative care and loss of appetite
It's summer and life is in full swing. I'm keeping quite busy but thought it was time for an update on the diabetes front.We had an interesting visit with a palliative care nurse from our HMO. Palliative care is pre-hospice. We had gone to see the Endocrinologist and I asked a simple question: Who do I call if he goes into a coma?He does not want to go to a hospital. He does not want dialysis. He does not want a kidney transplant. So when something happens, who do I call?By having palliative care set up - I can now simply call Hospice and they will take over his care if he is in a coma. H...
Source: Wife of a Diabetic - June 27, 2017 Category: Endocrinology Source Type: blogs
3 points on dialysis John Oliver forgot to make
Dear John Oliver,
First of all, thank you for your recent segment on dialysis. Kidney disease deserves much more attention and discussion than it currently receives. Thank you also for your full-throated support of transplantation and the need for more kidney donors. As a practicing nephrologist, there is nothing better than hearing that one of my patients has been given a transplant. Finally, thank you for pointing out that end-stage renal disease is the lone pocket of universal health care in this country. We’ve been the government’s testing ground for years, and we have a lot of experience to share.
Most of the neph...
Source: Kevin, M.D. - Medical Weblog - June 15, 2017 Category: General Medicine Authors: < a href="http://www.kevinmd.com/blog/post-author/katherine-kwon" rel="tag" > Katherine Kwon, MD < /a > Tags: Physician Nephrology Source Type: blogs
Dichotomous Endings: A Physician ’ s Personal Reflection
My grandfather was the patriarch of his family, at the center of a tightknit Lebanese immigrant community in Toronto, Canada. Some of my warmest childhood memories are from Sundays at my grandparents’ home, where there was always family, community, and delicious food. Both in their mid-seventies, they remained exceptionally active and maintained an impressive social calendar. From my perspective as barely a teenager, it somehow seemed that family life would go on forever in this way. So, it is not surprising that I remember vividly when my grandfather first became ill. He had learned from his doctor that his kidneys were...
Source: Health Affairs Blog - June 8, 2017 Category: Health Management Authors: Ryan Van Wert Tags: End of Life & Serious Illness Quality advance care planning Cancer end-stage renal disease Hospice care Source Type: blogs
Medical Futility and Religious Free Exercise
University of Utah law professor Teneille Brown has just posted a copy of "Medical Futility and Religious Free Exercise" recently published in First Amendment Law Review.
"A tragic scenario has become all too common in hospitals across the United States. Dying patients pray for medical miracles when their physicians think that continuing treatment would render no meaningful benefit. This situation is unfortunately referred to as 'medical futility.'"
"In these cases, physicians, who are less likely than their patients to rely on God as a means of coping with major illness, are at an impasse. Their patients request ever...
Source: blog.bioethics.net - June 3, 2017 Category: Medical Ethics Authors: Thaddeus Mason Pope, JD, PhD Tags: Health Care syndicated Source Type: blogs
California ’s Coverage Expansion: Fiscal And Political Risks
Young people growing up in California lived under the dark shadow of the risk of a cataclysmic earthquake (also known as “The Big One”) that would destroy their homes and lives. Two significant earthquakes—the 1971 Sylmar quake in the Los Angeles’ suburban San Fernando Valley (6.6 on the Richter Scale) and the 1989 Loma Prieta quake (6.9 on the Richter Scale) in the southern mountains of the San Francisco Bay Area—killed dozens, reminding residents of nature’s frightening hidden power. But these quakes left the rest of California intact. So far, the Big One has not arrived.
On May 4, 2017, with the pass...
Source: Health Affairs Blog - May 30, 2017 Category: Health Management Authors: Jeff Goldsmith Tags: Costs and Spending Following the ACA Insurance and Coverage Payment Policy ACA repeal and replace American Health Care Act California Covered California Medi-Cal Source Type: blogs
GOP Senators Send Letter to CMS, Requesting MA Changes
In a recent letter to the CMS Administrator, Republican Senators highlighted specific policy recommendations they would like to see incorporated into Medicare Advantage (MA) plans. This includes measures relating to the fee-for-service normalization factor, plan performance rating methods and employer group waiver plans. The Senators also noted the importance of CMS’s willingness to work with stakeholders and Congress on these issues.
The letter was signed by: Senate Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch (Utah), Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and Finance Committee Senators Chuck Grassley (Iowa), ...
Source: Policy and Medicine - May 29, 2017 Category: American Health Authors: Thomas Sullivan - Policy & Medicine Writing Staff Source Type: blogs
Current State of Telemedicine
As we previously reported, the CHRONIC Care Act of 2017 was introduced by Senate Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch and Ranking Member Ron Wyden, along with Johnny Isakson and Mark Warner, the co-chairs of the Committee’s Chronic Care Working Group. The bill is largely unchanged from the previous version, which was introduced in December 2016. The bill will have an especially large impact on telehealth services in the United States by allowing MA plans the ability to include telehealth services; gives some ACOs the opportunity to provide telehealth services; gives those receiving dialysis treatments at home the abili...
Source: Policy and Medicine - May 26, 2017 Category: American Health Authors: Thomas Sullivan - Policy & Medicine Writing Staff Source Type: blogs
Weakness and Hypotension, with Bradycardia.
This dialysis patient called 911 for weakness. Medics found the patient to be hypotensive and bradycardic.The patient was taking carvedilol and amlodipine, but denied overdose.The medics recorded this ECG:The medics were considering external pacing.What is a better initial therapy?The patient was stable enough that no therapy was needed, but the correct therapy would be IV Calcium. This ECG represents hyperkalemia until proven otherwise and, if it is due to hyperK, it will often respond immediately to calcium therapy.He arrived and had this ED ECG recorded:There are no visible P-waves. Rate is 35.There is a narro...
Source: Dr. Smith's ECG Blog - May 18, 2017 Category: Cardiology Authors: Steve Smith Source Type: blogs
Direct, Sequoia Interoperability Projects Continue To Grow
While its fate may still be uncertain – as with any interoperability approach in this day and age – the Direct exchange network seems to be growing at least. At the same time, it looks like the Sequoia Project’s interoperability efforts, including the Carequality Interoperability Framework and its eHealthExchange Network, are also expanding rapidly.
According to a new announcement from DirectTrust, the number of health information service providers who engaged in Direct exchanges increased 63 percent during the first quarter of 2017, to almost 95,000, over the same period in 2016. And, to put this growth in per...
Source: EMR and HIPAA - May 15, 2017 Category: Information Technology Authors: Anne Zieger Tags: Direct Project EHR Electronic Health Record Electronic Medical Record EMR Health Insurance Exchanges Healthcare HealthCare IT HIE Carequality CommonWell Health Alliance DirectTrust Health Data Interoperability Health Data Sharing Source Type: blogs
Funtabulously Frivolous Friday Five 188
LITFL: Life in the Fast Lane Medical Blog
LITFL: Life in the Fast Lane Medical Blog - Emergency medicine and critical care medical education blog
Just when you thought your brain could unwind on a Friday, you realise that it would rather be challenged with some good old fashioned medical trivia FFFF…introducing Funtabulously Frivolous Friday Five 188.
Question 1
Churchill claimed to have been cured of depression (or his “black dog”) by a doctor. Churchill wrote about this with some excitement in a letter to his wife, Clementine: “I think this man might be useful to me – if my black dog returns. He s...
Source: Life in the Fast Lane - May 5, 2017 Category: Emergency Medicine Authors: Neil Long Tags: Frivolous Friday Five angioma racemosum arthritis black dog cannabalism Compound E cortisone Jendrassik manoeuvre koro kuru Nicoladoni reflexes speed Winston Churchill Source Type: blogs
I want to quit medicine, and it has nothing to do with patients
I think a lot about quitting medicine lately. A lot.
Then I have a morning like yesterday morning:
I see a patient I’ve known for more than twenty years, caring for him through an adrenal tumor, a major gastrointestinal surgery and now renal failure, for which he needs a kidney transplant. As we review his last set of labs (stable, thank goodness), he is sanguine, hopeful. He may have found a donor, and he might make it to transplant without dialysis. He has to live — he has a wife and a child.
Next, I mess up my schedule entirely by spending more than half an hour with a patient who only came in to talk —...
Source: Kevin, M.D. - Medical Weblog - May 5, 2017 Category: Journals (General) Authors: < a href="http://www.kevinmd.com/blog/post-author/rosalind-kaplan" rel="tag" > Rosalind Kaplan, MD < /a > Tags: Physician Primary care Source Type: blogs
