Genzyme Corp. Pays $32.5 Million To Resolve Criminal Charges Related to Med Device Promotion
Last week, Genzyme Corporation, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the French company Sanofi, agreed to pay $32.5 million to resolve criminal charges that it violated the federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act (FDCA) with regard to the unlawful distribution of Seprafilm, a surgical device it markets and promotes. The DOJ targeted two aspects Seprafilm promotion in particular--that the company (1) encouraged surgeons to use its Seprafilm surgical product in unapproved ways, and (2) suggested without enough proof that it was safe for certain cancer surgeries.This follows a separate $22.28 million civil agreement the gover...
Source: Policy and Medicine - September 9, 2015 Category: American Health Authors: Thomas Sullivan Source Type: blogs
Antibiotics for Appendicitis: Penny wise but pound foolish
By SAURABH JHA
A Finnish group randomized patients with acute appendicitis to surgery and antibiotics and found that antibiotics were successful in 73 % of patients. Depending on how this is framed, you can celebrate a 70 % success or lament a 30 % failure. Much of the debate in healthcare is a battle of framing.The study has limitations. Finland is not just a land of the midnight sun but a land of fewer laparascopic surgeries than the USA. This is important because if done properly laparoscopic surgery has a lower morbidity than open surgery, as Skeptical Scalpel explains.
Should we be excited that antibiotics can be us...
Source: The Health Care Blog - August 20, 2015 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: suchandan roy Tags: THCB Saurabh Jha Source Type: blogs
What India’s Teleradiology Market Teaches Us About the Future of Medicine
By SAURABH JHA, MD
Teleradiology has the same effect on radiologists as Lord Voldemort has on Muggles. It’s the feared end point of the commoditization of imaging, with Rajeev in Bangalore outpricing Rajeev in Chicago for reading follow-up CTs for lung nodules.
But despite the fears of U.S. radiologists, their counterparts in India have more pressing things on their mind.
“U.S. radiologists think that Indian radiologists are [itching] to steal their jobs. We have plenty of work in India,” reassured Dr. Sumer Sethi, director of TeleRad Providers of New Delhi.
A tech-savvy blogger, Sethi founded TeleRad Pro...
Source: The Health Care Blog - June 10, 2015 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: John Irvine Tags: THCB Radiology Saurabh Jha Teleradiology Source Type: blogs
My Difficult Airway
Looks can be deceiving. I was not supposed to have a difficult airway, but we found out the hard way that wasn’t true. I was about to undergo an exploratory laparotomy for suspected appendicitis in 1989, and my wife was adamant that an attending anesthesiologist perform my intubation. The anesthesiology resident at a large Midwest teaching hospital made a claim that I suspect many of us did as we advanced through training and began to feel procedurally invincible. He claimed that the attending anesthesiologist rarely did intubations, and that the residents who performed them daily were more prepared. Unaware of any uniqu...
Source: M2E Too! Mellick's Multimedia EduBlog - July 2, 2014 Category: Emergency Medicine Tags: Blog Posts Source Type: blogs
My Difficult Airway
Looks can be deceiving. I was not supposed to have a difficult airway, but we found out the hard way that wasn’t true. I was about to undergo an exploratory laparotomy for suspected appendicitis in 1989, and my wife was adamant that an attending anesthesiologist perform my intubation. The anesthesiology resident at a large Midwest teaching hospital made a claim that I suspect many of us did as we advanced through training and began to feel procedurally invincible. He claimed that the attending anesthesiologist rarely did intubations, and that the residents who performed them daily were more prepared. Unaware of any uniqu...
Source: M2E Too! Mellick's Multimedia EduBlog - July 2, 2014 Category: Emergency Medicine Tags: Blog Posts Source Type: blogs
Research and Reviews in the Fastlane 034
This study was hoping to show that NAC will keep all those contrast CTs from giving our patients contrast induced nephropathy (CIN). It did not. It looks like the real answer is fluids (and that maybe we are not killing off so many kidneys anyway).
Recommended by: Zack Repanshek
Pediatrics
9. Wang J, Xu E, Xiao Y. Isotonic versus hypotonic maintenance IV fluids in hospitalized children: a meta-analysis. Pediatrics. 2014 Jan;133(1):105-13 PubMed PMID: 24379232
Meta-analysis of 10 RCTs looking at maintenance IV fluids in hospitalized pediatric patients. The study found a RR = 2.24 for hyponatremia in comparing hypo...
Source: Life in the Fast Lane - June 12, 2014 Category: Emergency Medicine Authors: Anand Swaminathan Tags: Anaesthetics Cardiology Emergency Medicine Featured Health Intensive Care Pediatrics Pre-hospital / Retrieval Renal Resuscitation Trauma critical care literature R&R in the FASTLANE recommendations research and reviews Source Type: blogs
Stopping Hemorrhage by Aortic Compression
Limb exsanguination is no longer the most common cause of preventable death on the battlefield because of emergency tourniquets. Hemorrhage control for wounds in the junction between the trunk and the limbs and in the neck are an obvious care gap, most commonly in the pelvic area, including the buttocks and groin proximal to the inguinal ligament. (US Army Med Dep J 2011 Apr-Jun:38.) Managing hemorrhagic shock also requires support of central aortic pressure to maximize perfusion of the brain and heart and to control bleeding effectively.
Noncompressible torso hemorrhage is recognized as the leading cause of death in ...
Source: M2E Too! Mellick's Multimedia EduBlog - June 4, 2014 Category: Emergency Medicine Tags: Blog Posts Source Type: blogs
Stopping Hemorrhage by Aortic Compression
Limb exsanguination is no longer the most common cause of preventable death on the battlefield because of emergency tourniquets. Hemorrhage control for wounds in the junction between the trunk and the limbs and in the neck are an obvious care gap, most commonly in the pelvic area, including the buttocks and groin proximal to the inguinal ligament. (US Army Med Dep J 2011 Apr-Jun:38.) Managing hemorrhagic shock also requires support of central aortic pressure to maximize perfusion of the brain and heart and to control bleeding effectively.
Noncompressible torso hemorrhage is recognized as the leading cause of death in tr...
Source: M2E Too! Mellick's Multimedia EduBlog - June 4, 2014 Category: Emergency Medicine Tags: Blog Posts Source Type: blogs
Emmanuelism provided the Core Values to the developing occupational therapy profession
As part of a multi-year research effort into the nature of Social Justice I have been participating in an lengthy conversation about this topic on the OT Connections forum, which is an official message board for the American Occupational Therapy Association.From the beginning of the discussion some have claimed that Social Justice is a Core Value in occupational therapy. This has been a difficult claim to validate, because there does not seem to be a a standard definition of 'Core Value' just as there does not seem to be agreement on the definition of Social Justice itself."In 2003, members of the AOTA Representative...
Source: ABC Therapeutics Occupational Therapy Weblog - May 7, 2014 Category: Occupational Therapists Tags: history Source Type: blogs
Cases: "Am I really going to have to live like this?": The Role of Octreotide in Patients with Persistent Nausea and Vomiting after Venting Gastrostomy
Discussion:Malignant bowel obstruction can occur with any cancer but is most commonly associated with advanced ovarian cancer, where it occurs in up to 50% of patients. It generally indicates a poor prognosis and carries a heavy symptom burden predominated by nausea, vomiting and abdominal pain. Patients with carcinomatosis, like Ms BB, are generally not candidates for surgical correction of the obstruction or endoscopic stenting. Fortunately, medical management can be very effective. Abdominal pain is treated with opioids and nausea is treated with metoclopramide in partial obstructions and haloperidol in complete obstruc...
Source: Pallimed: A Hospice and Palliative Medicine Blog - April 10, 2014 Category: Palliative Carer Workers Authors: Christian Sinclair Source Type: blogs
Prince Philip Abdominal Surgery Worrisome for Cancer?
Although we are not participating in the care of Prince Philip, husband to Queen Elizabeth of England, we have noted news reports that the prince consort is scheduled for “exploratory surgery” shortly after findings of abdominal.
He was admitted to the hospital today under his own power after attending an afternoon garden party for a planned surgery for abnormal abdominal findings detected during a staged medical workup.
Prince Philip is expected to be in the hospital for two weeks.
This announcement by Buckingham Palace is very carefully worded and is likely not sharing all the details known to the Palace at t...
Source: Inside Surgery - June 6, 2013 Category: Surgeons Authors: Editor Tags: Medical News Wire exploratory Prince Philip Queen Elizabeth surgery Source Type: blogs
Gitmo Force Feedings
In response to over a decade of indefinite detention without charges or trial, with no foreseeable hope of ever being repatriated home, with no hope of ever seeing wives and children again, over 100 inmates at the American Gulag in Cuba are now participating in a mass hunger strike. Of the 100, our medical personnel in Guantanamo are now force feeding 21 of them using silastic nasogastric tubes. (The above image is the chair at Gitmo used to restrain prisoners while the tubes are forcibly inserted.)
The American Medical Association (AMA) has again gone on the record condemning the prac...
Source: Buckeye Surgeon - May 2, 2013 Category: Surgeons Authors: Jeffrey Parks MD Source Type: blogs
Gitmo Force Feedings
In response to over a decade of indefinite detention without charges or trial, with no foreseeable hope of ever being repatriated home, with no hope of ever seeing wives and children again, over 100 inmates at the American Gulag in Cuba are now participating in a mass hunger strike. Of the 100, our medical personnel in Guantanamo are now force feeding 21 of them using silastic nasogastric tubes. (The above image is the chair at Gitmo used to restrain prisoners while the tubes are forcibly inserted.)The American Medical Association (AMA) has again gone on the record condemning the practi...
Source: Buckeye Surgeon - May 1, 2013 Category: Surgery Authors: Jeffrey Parks MD FACS Source Type: blogs
The LITFL Review 101
Conclusion: Imaging and repeat imaging in sciatic doesn’t really change the management..So why do it then!Focus Article: Early Imaging After Arrest Often Finds the Culprit. Bottom line from this study: The use of an early diagnosis protocol with immediate coronary angiography and/or CT scan provided the etiology of nearly two thirds of OHCA cases.ECG of the WeekECG of the Week – It looks bad and wide – whats going on!Ultrasound PodcastULTRASOUND OF RADIUS FRACTURE! What? That’s right. Diagnose it and guide your reduction with US!TJdogmaICE 007 – another great ICE case, simple, short and infor...
Source: Life in the Fast Lane - April 8, 2013 Category: Emergency Medicine Doctors Authors: Kane Guthrie Tags: Education eLearning Emergency Medicine Featured Intensive Care LITFL review LITFL R/V Source Type: blogs
The LITFL Review 101
Conclusion: Imaging and repeat imaging in sciatic doesn’t really change the management..So why do it then!
Focus Article: Early Imaging After Arrest Often Finds the Culprit. Bottom line from this study: The use of an early diagnosis protocol with immediate coronary angiography and/or CT scan provided the etiology of nearly two thirds of OHCA cases.
ECG of the Week
ECG of the Week – It looks bad and wide – whats going on!
Ultrasound Podcast
ULTRASOUND OF RADIUS FRACTURE! What? That’s right. Diagnose it and guide your reduction with US!
TJdogma
ICE 007 – another great ICE case, simple, s...
Source: Life in the Fast Lane - April 8, 2013 Category: Emergency Medicine Doctors Authors: Kane Guthrie Tags: Education eLearning Emergency Medicine Featured Intensive Care LITFL review LITFL R/V Source Type: blogs
