Latest Conference Articles

Treatment for irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is significantly more expensive when treated in secondary care settings than it is when treated in primary care settings -- without a corresponding increase in treatment effectiveness.

Researchers assessed the effect of epoetin alfa biosimilar both with and without iron supplementation on CIA in patients undergoing treatment for oncologic and hematologic malignancies.

Analysis of study data from patients in real-world clinical setting showed a rapid increase in mean hemoglobin levels in this patient population, often as early as 3-4 weeks following initiation of treatment.

Researchers show that treatment with epoetin alfa biosimilar effectively reduces the symptoms of chemotherapy-induced anemia. Patients with absolute iron deficiency who also took iron supplements achieved improved response to treatment.

Sickle cell disease, as debilitating as it is, is associated with the progressive complication of renal damage – beginning with hyerfiltration in childhood to glomerular filtration rate (GFR) decline and chronic renal failure in approximately 12 % of HbSS sickle cell adults.

In cardioverting a patient with atrial fibrillation, physicians accidentally overstimulated an implanted vagal nerve stimulator, harming the patient.

Do patients with primary immune thrombocytopenia (pITP) have worse health-related quality of life? Francesco Rodeghiero, from S. Bortolo Hospital in Italy, and colleagues set out to investigate this overlooked part of the disease.

Pain crises are common in those with sickle cell disease, but now new research may have identified biomarkers for patients whose pain becomes chronic.

Detecting iron deficiency or iron-restricted erythropoiesis (the presence of multiple iron deficiency syndromes) can be a challenge when inflammatory disease is thrown into the mix.

Patients suffering from the most common hereditary bleeding disorder von Willebrand disease (VWD) also undergoing surgical procedures are recommended specific treatment methods to manage perioperative anticoagulation.

Thirty-day emergency room readmissions due to acute pain is not uncommon in children with sickle cell disease, and researchers suspect that opioid prescription practices has something to do with it.

Although peripheral blood stem cell transplant (PBSCT) can cure sickle cell disease, the treatment runs the risk of permanent infertility.

In the effort to help the growing number of people with liver disease new medications are constantly being developed. This is true for a wide range of conditions including cirrhosis and fibrosis.

A considerable amount of research has been done looking at how liver disease can progress in patients, but a recent study looked at possible regression in conditions like cirrhosis and fibrosis.

In the past, patients deemed obese (especially those who were morbidly obese) may have been passed over for a life-saving liver transplant. A recent study showed they may be just as viable candidates for the procedure as others in the patient population.

Obese people are generally less healthy than those of normal weight, but that should not be a barrier to liver transplantation, researchers said at the 2015 Liver Meeting (AASLD) in San Francisco, CA.

Price is still the main obstacle in getting hepatitis C direct-acting antivirals to nations that need them, panelists agreed at a "global challenges" forum at the 2015 Liver Meeting in San Francisco, CA.

Donor livers are scarce, donated organs are precious, and transplant surgeons make the final call on whether to transplant. When the question of whether to give a liver to a patient who uses marijuana, drinks too much alcohol, or even smokes tobacco comes up, the issue gets tricky.

The annual US cost of HCV treatment before direct-acting antivirals was $7 billion and since then it has grown to $21 billion, but that cost should drop when generics arrive, to $14 million annually by 2030. Making it a rare disease over the next 25 years will take $106 billion, researchers project.

Researchers see promise in vitamin E treatment for NASH.

All is not lost when hepatitis C genotype 1 patients fail to benefit from treatment with direct-acting antivirals (DAAs). Reporting at the 2015 Liver Meeting (AASLD) in San Francisco, CA, Fred Poordad, MD, of the Texas Liver Institute/University of Texas Health Science Center in San Antonio, TX, and colleagues said they had success retreating patients who had failed DAAs.

One of the largest populations of patients with hepatitis C is those who use injectable drugs. Despite this, many of these patients do not receive the medications they need to treat their conditions.

Georgraphy matters in getting a liver transplant. Boston researchers found that living a long distance from a transplant center increased a child's risk of dying while on an organ waiting list, even though that distance did not mean a longer waiting time.

When a doctor's prescription is denied by an insurance company it can create issues not only for that doctor but also the patient beyond what the medication is being prescribed for.

An estimated 10 million people in China have hepatitis C but the only treatment available there is interferon/ribaviron. Though the drug-approval process in China is slower than in other nations, a phase 3 trial of two Bristol-Myers Squibb direct-acting antivirals has been completed, putting access to DAAs closer.

Whether accidental or on purpose, acetaminophen overdose is a common finding in liver poisoning. Researchers at the 2015 Liver Meeting said they have zeroed in on the mechanism at work.

With more treatments on the market for hepatitis C, the costs of treatment have actually gone up in recent years. However, if more patients receive the care they need those costs could eventually go down.

A regimen of grazoprevir, elbasvir, and a Merck agent known as MK-3682, or a second agent called MK-8408 (or both), showed "strong results" company researchers said in data presented at the 2015 Liver Meeting (AASLD) in San Francisco, CA.

With an aging veteran population there are a number of conditions that need to be treated in these patients as well as others of their generation, particularly in when it comes to liver disease.

Although there are now effective treatments for several genotypes of hepatitis C, certain patient groups continue to present challenges for the pharmaceutical and medical communities. Work is being done to overcome those challenges around the world.