Patients who receive a diagnosis of the skin cancer basal cell carcinoma at a younger age – along with those who have red hair, a higher socioeconomic status and a cancerous lesion on their upper extremities – appear to be at higher risk of developing multiple cancers and require closer follow-up, according to a new [...]
Variation in survival rates for lung transplantation centres
September 3, 2010 By Leave a Comment
There is significant variation among lung transplant centres in the five-year survival rate of patients, with a higher number of procedures performed at a centre only partly associated with longer survival of patients, according to a new American study. Doctors assessed the amount of variability in long-term survival among centres performing lung transplants in the [...]
Mental issues not always Alzheimer’s
September 3, 2010 By Leave a Comment
Doctors in France have warned colleagues not to assume that elderly persons who exhibit signs of Alzheimer’s disease actually have the disease and to investigate alternative causes. The advice follows a case in which a patient thought to have Alzheimer’s disease actually had treatable limbic encephalitis. The case arose when a 70-year-old woman presented to [...]
Cognitive behavioural therapy beneficial for treatment of ADHD
September 3, 2010 By Leave a Comment
Adults with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) who received medication and individual sessions of cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) showed greater improvement in symptoms through 12 months compared to patients who did not receive such therapy, according to a new study. Doctors in the United States tested CBT for ADHD in 86 adults treated with medication but who [...]
The role of the rheumatoid factor
September 2, 2010 By Leave a Comment
Dr Fahim Khan examines the prognostic and predictive worth of the rheumatoid factor and looks at its value as a screening test to diagnose or exclude rheumatic disease Rheumatoid factor (RF) has long been known to be typical (though not pathognomonic) of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and associated with severe disease. Rheumatoid factor became part of [...]
Structured care plan from GP practice meets glucose targets
September 2, 2010 By Leave a Comment
By Gary Culliton The Bayview Family Practice in Ballyshannon, Co Donegal runs a structured general practice diabetic care programme modelled on the Heartwatch initiative. This type of approach to diabetes care is becoming increasingly common, said Dr Philip Murphy. There are eight doctors in the practice, including Dr Murphy. A diabetic register was compiled in [...]
‘Recovery’ in 70 per cent of cases after undergoing bariatric bypass
September 2, 2010 By Leave a Comment
By Gary Culliton In Sweden, which has a population of nine million, close to 7,000 bariatric procedures per year are carried out. Clearly, the Swedes believe this is an effective treatment for obesity, diabetes and sleep apnoea. However in Ireland, which has roughly half the population of Sweden, only around 200 such procedures are carried [...]
Complications of condition are serious
September 2, 2010 By Leave a Comment
By Gary Culliton Up to 20 per cent of people who have type II diabetes also have diabetic retinopathy at the time that their diabetes is diagnosed, studies show. This would indicate that they had had pre-clinical diabetes for a number of years. Complications arising from the condition can be extremely severe. Eye disease, kidney [...]
Chocolate for blood pressure hard to swallow, say patients
August 26, 2010 By Leave a Comment
A small Australian study looking at whether patients find chocolate acceptable as a long-term treatment for lowering blood pressure has found that a substantial number of patients prefer to take tablets. Dr Karin Ried, from the University of Adelaide, and colleagues found that dark chocolate was superior to placebo in reducing blood pressures of more [...]
The management of Rett syndrome
August 25, 2010 By Leave a Comment
Dr Muhammad Arshad and Prof Michael FitzGerald take a look at Rett syndrome, a complex neurodevelopmental disorder that usually affects girls “Trust the parents who make most of the diagnoses, not the physicians.” (Hajra 1943-2003). Rett syndrome (RTT) is a complex postnatal neurodevelopmental disorder that is classified as a pervasive development disorder (PDD) by DSM-IV, [...]