Hospital Medicine

Based on reports of a disturbingly high rate of significant intraoperative hyponatremia during major pediatric craniofacial surgery, researchers at Women's and Children's Hospital in Adelaide, Australia, embarked on a study to establish the incidence, severity, and associated risk factors of hyponatremia during and after major craniofacial surgery for craniosynostosis in their institution.

People with one or more risk factors for cardiovascular disease in middle age are significantly more likely to suffer a major cardiovascular event, such as heart attack or stroke, for decades afterwards, a large-scale analysis of previous studies indicates.

Participants in the London marathon have a spotty understanding of the causes and potential dangers of exercise-associated hyponatremia, researchers at the Centre for Sports and Exercise Medicine at the University of London have found.

Complications as a result of prostate needle biopsy (PNB) have increased in recent years, though they remain infrequent enough that patients should go through with the procedure when deemed necessary by medical providers, researchers report.

Doctors may be halting use of anti-tumor necrosis factor (anti-TNF) medications too early in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients who are set to undergo surgery, researchers at the Hospital for Special Surgery (HSS) in New York City have found.

Hospitals looking to be prepared for a sharp increase in patients during flu season may be better off monitoring trends in Internet search traffic than waiting for lagging government reports to arrive, Johns Hopkins University researchers report.

Hyponatremia is independently associated with a long-term increase in mortality and rehospitalization for chronic heart failure patients, researchers at the Duke Clinical Research Institute have found.

The anticoagulant dabigatran has been linked to a heightened risk of myocardial infarction in a wide range of patients when compared to other medications.

Janssen Research & Development has submitted an application to the FDA requesting approval of Xarelto (rivaroxaban) to decrease the risk of thrombotic cardiovascular events in patients with acute coronary syndrome.

On January 5, Becker's Orthopedic & Spine author Rachel Fields posted a list, "40 of the Most Powerful People in Healthcare."

In hospitals and other medical settings, any surface touched by multiple people can serve as a medium for spreading viruses and bacteria-even a computer keyboard. That's where the Vioguard self-sanitizing keyboard, which was approved for use in health care settings last week by the FDA, comes in.

Hospitals are increasing their use of cardiac monitors to detect heart rhythm abnormalities and reduce staffing needs, but this may end up inadvertently harming patients, a report in the Boston Globe suggests.

Patients in the US who have had an ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) are more likely to be readmitted to the hospital within 30 days of discharge than patients in a number of other countries, researchers have found.

Tribal violence in a remote area of South Sudan has caused facilities run by the international medical relief organization Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors Without Borders/MSF) to cease operation and over 100 local MSF staffers to flee into the surrounding countryside.

Levels of the protein troponin I in patients admitted to emergency care for chest pain may help doctors rule out or confirm a diagnosis of heart attack, researchers in Germany have found.

Thiazide-induced hyponatremia is associated with an increased risk of fracture, but this is due to confounding factors, not hyponatremia itself, researchers at the Chinese University of Hong Kong have found.

A vaccine that significantly decreases tumors in a mouse model closely imitating 90% of human breast and pancreatic cancer cases-including ones that do not respond to traditional therapies-has been developed by Mayo Clinic researchers.

The FDA mandated a new safety warning for the heart rhythm drug Multaq after studies showed that it doubled the risk of heart-related complications in patients with permanent atrial fibrillation.

In a recent study, an increase of 44% was observed in the number of hospitals that provide high quality emergency care to patients stricken with heart attacks since 2001-but an increase of only 1% occurred in access to that care.

As the number of digital devices in the hospital setting multiplies, we may be entering a "digital nightmare" in which health care providers are so preoccupied with gadgets that patient care suffers significantly.

Hyponatremia is a significant risk factor for falls in the elderly, finds a new study conducted by researchers at Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center in El Paso.

Tolvaptan appears to have both clinical and economic benefits for heart failure patients with hyponatremia, reports a new study.

Cancer patients with hyponatremia have longer hospital stays and increased mortality, a new study finds.

During his presentation, Dr. Carlos Camargo reviewed recent studies on the effects of menarche, menopause, and pregnancy on asthma, and described the implications for patients with asthma.

According to a recent report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the death rates caused by overdoses of prescription painkillers has more than tripled in the past decade, surpassing the total number of deaths caused by heroin and cocaine combined.

On Monday, President Obama signed an executive order directing the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to take measures which will reduce drug shortages.

HCPLive recently spoke with Dr. Joseph Davis, founder of MX.com, about controlling the high cost of drugs, reducing readmissions, and tracking adverse events in hospitals.

Washington Hospital Center has unveiled a secure mobile application for smartphones, desktops, and tablets developed in conjunction with AT&T that streams real-time video and audio from critical care situations such as ambulances in transit to awaiting emergency care centers.

Two new articles underscore the continuing disparities in access to medical care among disabled and poor Americans.

The latest clinical research in the diagnosis and treatment of hyponatremia.