FDA has issued a warning against the use of surgical robots in mastectomies and other surgeries for the treatment or prevention of cancer. The safety and effectiveness of surgical robots have not been established for use in mastectomies or for surgeries to prevent or treat breast and other cancers, according to the agency, which said […]
Medicare’s bundled ortho payments yield modest savings
Medicare’s randomized trial of a new bundled payment model for hip and knee replacement surgeries led to $812 in savings per procedure, a 3.1% reduction in costs when compared with traditional means of paying for care, according to new research. The study from Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and Harvard Medical School found that the […]
St. Jude Medical’s HeartMate 3 implantable pump beats HeartMate II in pivotal trial
The next-generation HeartMate 3 implantable pump St. Jude Medical (NYSE:STJ) acquired when it paid $3 billion for Thoratec last year proved superior to the older HeartMate II device at 6 months in pivotal clinical trial results released today. The Momentum 3 study enrolled more than 1,000 patients for a short-term outcome after 6 months and a longer-term, […]
Study finds high rate of overdiagnosis from mammograms
(Reuters) – Better treatment and not earlier detection with screening mammography may be the reason rates of death from breast cancer have declined in recent years, according to controversial results from a large U.S. database study. In addition, the research team reports in The New England Journal of Medicine, “women were more likely to have […]
Amid public feuds, NEJM finds itself under attack
by Charles Ornstein, ProPublica. The New England Journal of Medicine is arguably the best-known and most venerated medical journal in the world. Studies featured in its pages are cited more often, on average, than those of any of its peers. And the careers of young researchers can take off if their work is deemed worthy […]
Medical journals propose mandatory data sharing
Editors of some of the most prominent medical journals – including the New England Journal of Medicine, the Journal of the American Medical Assn., the Annals of Interal Medicine and the British Medical Journal – are proposing to require researchers to share the data behind their published studies. “[T]here is an ethical obligation to responsibly share data […]
Medtronic sponsors Harvard Business School, NEJM value-based healthcare brain trust
Medtronic (NYSE:MDT) said today it is exclusively sponsoring the Insight Center, a collaborative program between the Harvard Business Journal and the New England Journal of Medicine focusing on value-based healthcare. The Insight Center aims to provide an online forum for leaders in policy, medicine and academia, Medtronic said. This year’s theme for the center is “Measuring […]
Study: Artificial pancreas outperforms pump therapy
Data from 2 new studies of closed-loop artificial pancreas indicates the device outperformed sensor-augmented pump therapy treatment for patients with Type 1 diabetes. The findings were presented September 17 at the European Association for the Study of Diabetes 2015 meeting in Stockholm, Sweden, and published in the New England Journal of Medicine. After 12-weeks being […]
Bard touts publication of Lutonix study in NEJM
C.R. Bard (NYSE:BCR) said last Thursday that a 2-year study of its Lutonix drug-coated balloon catheter was published in The New England Journal of Medicine. The 2-year Levant 2 study data showed non-inferiority of the device and a trend towards superiority, compared to standard percutaneous transluminal angioplasty, in the treatment of peripheral artery disease, the company said. “We want to thank […]
Study: Overweight diabetics outlive slimmer patients
(Reuters) — Patients with Type II diabetes who are overweight but not obese outlive diabetics of normal weight, scientists reported yesterday, in another example of the "obesity paradox."
More good news for stent thrombectomy
A pair of clinical trials comparing treatment with anti-stroke drugs and stent thrombectomy with drug therapy alone showed reduced disability in stoke patients, bringing more good news for stent thrombectomy device makers.
