Latest Conference Articles

The AleCardio trial was halted early due to safety concerns and lack of efficacy. Investigators reported patients with diabetes and acute coronary syndrome experienced elevated risk of heart failure, gastrointestinal hemorrhage, and renal dysfunction with no mitigating cardiovascular benefit.

Study results presented at ACC.14 show treatment with PCSK9 inhibitor evolocumab significantly reduces LDL-cholesterol levels in patients with hypercholesterolemia.

Collaboration between American Heart Association, American College of Cardiology, Heart Rhythm Society, and the Society of Thoracic Surgery includes guidance on the use of new oral anticoagulants.

Patients with severe aortic stenosis deemed at high surgical risk who were treated with Medtronic's CoreValve self-expanding transcatheter aortic valve had higher one-year survival rates compared to patients treated with surgical aortic valve replacement.

Study data announced at ACC.14 demonstrate renal denervation does not significantly reduce blood pressure in resistant hypertension, contradicting previous studies showing the benefits of the procedure.

Scientists are able to predict the body's response to neuropathic pain treatment, according to a study presented at the 30th Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Pain Medicine.

As long-term cancer survival rates continue to surge, an increasing percentage of patients with cancer-related pain are progressing to the chronic pain arena, which necessitates more contemporary treatment approaches to cancer pain management.

Although they have all participated in the development of treatment guidelines for a variety of pain conditions, 3 comprehensive pain experts openly acknowledged and discussed the practical limitations of published evidence-based recommendations during the closing session of the American Academy of Pain Medicine 2014 Annual Meeting.

Reducing high-dose opioid therapy does not worsen pain severity, functional ability, or aberrant drug-related behaviors in chronic pain patients when concurrent biopsychosocial services are offered.

Sometimes, chronic pain patients intentionally magnify or downplay their physical and mental symptoms during office visits. Despite that fact, little attention in the clinical setting is paid to underlying motives for positively or negatively biased self-reports.

Even if a chronic pain patient had been taking opioid medications exactly as prescribed, it would still be possible for the patient to experience negative cognitive and emotional responses to dose tapering that could amplify sensory pain and lead to opioid addiction.

In light of the fact that many physicians continue to rely on observational analysis and patient self-reporting to monitor opioid addiction or misuse, results from a scientific poster reinforced the benefits of routine urine drug testing in improving compliance with prescribed opioid medications and ultimately enhancing pain care.

Though different sets of treatment recommendations for knee osteoarthritis send conflicting messages to practicing physicians, James W. Atchison, DO, pointed out that the guidelines focus solely on the knee, while pain management specialists focus on the whole person.

Preliminary research data revealed a significantly higher incidence of opioid-induced constipation among patients taking opioid analgesics for chronic non-cancer pain than self-reported constipation complaints suggest.

The annual meeting of the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology was held from Feb. 28 to March 4 in San Diego and attracted more than 5,000 participants from around the world, including clinicians, academicians, allied health professionals, and others interested in allergic and immunologic disease. The conference highlighted recent advances in allergy, asthma, and immunology.

Although fibromyalgia lacks an effective standardized treatment, one part of the problem is the condition's diverse constellation of symptoms that include chronic widespread pain, fatigue, and even depression.

Glucocorticosteroids have been shown to be effective for treating chronic rhinosinusitis associated with allergic rhinitis and nasal polyps. There are several formulations of topical and oral agents available to clinicians.

Do asthma and COPD share enough characteristics such as reduced rate of airflow resulting from increased inflammation, along with similar responses to some forms of treatment, reduce the importance of differential diagnosis?

Research into the pathogenesis of chronic rhinosinusitis has shed new light on the association between asthma and CRS while also providing new insight into CRS disease endotypes, enabling clinicians to individualize treatment regimens.

A pilot program that uses text message medication reminders has led to reduced asthma exacerbations and fewer hospitalizations among participating inner-city adolescents.

Although the mechanisms of disease severity for this form of asthma are not fully understood, progress has been made in identifying promising targets for new treatments.

Successful applications of nanotechnology in the field of immunology will enable new generations of vaccines, adjuvants, and immunomodulatory drugs that aim to improve clinical outcomes in response in a range of infectious and non-infectious diseases.

Due to its ambiguous etiology, the low cost-to-benefit ratio associated with many laboratory tests used in assessment and diagnosis, and the low-to-moderate strength of evidence supporting many pharmacologic approaches to treatment, chronic urticaria can be one of the most difficult inflammatory skin conditions for clinicians to manage.

A review of the various guidelines on the treatment of chronic urticaria shows there is limited evidence demonstrating the efficacy of many commonly used medications, with the strongest evidence supporting the use of one or more second-generation antihistamines.

Research shows that although mast cells are key effector cells in the pathogenesis of urticaria, targeting individual mast cell mediators is often not therapeutically effective

With reimbursement increasingly tied to quality measures and other metrics, the question of whether best practices actually produce improved outcomes has taken on greater importance for clinicians and their patients.

Improved control of allergic rhinitis with allergy immunotherapy can mitigate the development and severity of other allergic and respiratory diseases, leading to a reduction in the use of outpatient services.

New research suggests that patients with allergic rhinitis face significantly lower risks for heart attacks, cerebrovascular disease, and all-cause mortality.

There are several known risk factors and "red flags" that should prompt clinicians to suspect nonalcoholic steatohepatitis or nonalcoholic fatty liver disease and conduct appropriate testing.

The recently approved antivirals boast improved rates of sustained virologic response and fewer, less-severe side effects compared with older treatments.