Emergency department CT scans can change physicians' diagnoses, management decisions

After viewing CT scan results, physicians in the emergency departments of four major academic medical centers made key changes in clinical decision-making for patients with symptoms frequently seen in emergency rooms, a new report suggests.

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Teens value results of genetic tests to inform future life decisions

Most teens in grades 7-12 would prefer to know the results of unanticipated findings found in whole exome sequencing genetic testing, even if the findings are not medically actionable until adulthood, according to survey data. The survey addressed secondary findings gleaned from sequencing the protein-coding regions of a person's genome.

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Babies born extremely premature may benefit from proactive, coordinated care

There are striking differences across U.S. hospitals in the decision to initiate or withhold treatment at 23 weeks of gestation. A new, retrospective study looked at 101 infants born at 23 weeks gestation between 2004 and 2013 who received comprehensive perinatal and neonatal care. Sixty infants survived to hospital discharge and more than half of the survivors evaluated at 18 to 22 months had little to no neurological complications.

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Many physicians feel uninformed about diagnostic and treatment approaches for cryptogenic stroke

Results from a new survey finds that only half of healthcare professionals consider themselves to be adequately equipped with information about cryptogenic stroke, a stroke in which the underlying cause is still unknown after extensive testing. Depending on their specialty, 51-70 percent of physicians admit being uncertain about the best approaches to finding the underlying causes of these strokes.

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Electronic tracking helps reduce blood transfusions and infection rates, new study shows

An electronic system developed and implemented by Intermountain Healthcare that monitors how physicians give blood to patients after a surgical operation has enabled the healthcare system to significantly reduce the amount of blood transfusions patients receive, cutting costs by $2.5 million over two years and contributing to lower infection rates without harming patients, according to a new study.

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Surgical resection prolongs survival for patients whose melanoma has spread to the abdomen

Surgical removal of melanoma that has metastasized, or spread, to the abdomen appears to help patients live more than twice as long as those who receive only medical therapy, according to study results.

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Many colonoscopy patients do not accurately recall important exam details as time lapses

As time lapses, many colonoscopy patients become less and less likely to recall when and where they last had the procedure performed; who the doctor was who performed it; whether polyps were found, and, if so, the number and size of those polyps, according to new study results.

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