Thousands of women receive unnecessary surgical breast biopsies in Florida each year, researchers say, which carry greater health risks and are more expensive and less invasive than a needle biopsy.
“Open surgical biopsy is not accounting for 10 percent or 5 percent of initial breast biopsies, which is what’s recommended,” said Dr. Luke Gutwein, a surgical [...]
The strongest medication-related safety warnings that can be placed in a drug’s labelling are not always consistent within drug categories, a new study suggests.
These black box warnings, as they are known, should be rendered uniform for all medications within a single class of drugs, according to a team of researchers from Greece and the United [...]
Removing many lymph nodes may not be necessary in women with early breast cancer who undergo a lumpectomy to remove the mass, followed by radiation.
According to a new study, women who just had the sentinel lymph note removed – the first lymph node to which cancer is likely to spread – did not have worse [...]
Three makers of TMJ devices have been ordered to conduct postmarket studies to determine how long the implants last before patients have them removed for pain or other reasons.
This action comes after the US Food and Drug Administration analyzed temporomandibular joint (TMJ) implant related adverse event reports submitted between April 30, 2004 and Aug. 17, [...]
A troubling new trend is putting infants at a higher risk for birth injuries. Unnecessary early Cesarean sections may be convenient for doctors and parents, but a patient-safety support group warns that these elective deliveries can put infants at risk for injuries that cause permanent problems and even death.
The Leapfrog Group, a hospital quality watchdog, [...]
Look-alike and sound-alike drug names contribute to a large portion of the prescription errors that are made in US hospitals, a new study shows.
The drug error rate was nearly 3 per 1,000 prescriptions in hospitals, based on a study published in The Journal of Pain, the peer-review journal of the American Pain Society. Error rates [...]
There isn’t evidence to support the widespread screening or routine ultrasound for blocked neck arteries that could lead to stroke, according to new guidelines from the American Heart Association.
When the carotid arteries on the side of the neck or vertebral arteries alongside the spinal column become clogged, less blood gets to the brain and the [...]
Many people who are sent home with narcotic painkillers following an urology procedure often end up with a dangerous surplus in their medicine cabinets at home, a new study suggests.
Researchers found that of the 275 patients sent home with narcotics, 67 percent had leftover medication from the initial prescription and 91 percent kept the medication [...]
A new study shows that quality improvement programs at hospitals can help save the lives of its patients.
Previous research has shown that targeted quality improvement programs can reduce healthcare-associated infections, but this study is the first to link these programs to reduced death rates.
Researchers led by Allison Lipitz-Snyderman, Ph.D., of The Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School [...]
A new analysis of cancer drug Avastin reveals an increased risk of patient deaths when used in combination with other therapies.
The analysis of previous studies shows that compared with chemotherapy alone, use of Avastin in combination with chemotherapy or biological
therapy is associated with an increased risk of treatment-related death, according to an article in the [...]