Otolaryngology News & Journal Articles

• NCCN Guidelines Downloaded 10 Million Times in 2018 The National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) Clinical Practice Guidelines in Oncology were downloaded 10 million times in 2018, which is a 26% increase from the previous year.
  Medscape Medical News, January 2019
• Malpractice Case: The Danger of Not Referring to a Specialist Although primary care physicians are handling more of their patients' ailments, they should always seek specialty guidance when needed.
  Cooperative of American Physicians, January 2019
• Hearing Aid Users Often Don't See Doctors to Ensure Devices Help In 2020, a new U.S. law will allow people to buy hearing aids over-the-counter, but that may not improve access to hearing care, a new study suggests - because many older people who already wear hearing aids don't see doctors to ensure the devices are achieving optimal results.
  Reuters Health Information, January 2019
• Nearly 1 in 4 Antibiotic Rx Still Inappropriate in US Almost one quarter of outpatient antibiotic prescriptions are inappropriate, according to an analysis of data from 19.2 million patients.
  Medscape Medical News, January 2019
• Certain Dental Flosses Raise Body Levels of Toxic Chemicals Flossing teeth with Oral-B Glide and similar brands could inadvertently increase exposure to PFAS chemicals, a number of which have been linked to cancer and thyroid disease, a US study indicates.
  Medscape Medical News, January 2019
• High Rate of Complications in 'Real-World' Lung Cancer Scanning When performed in a community setting rather than as part of a clinical trial, the rate of complications from lung cancer screening are twice as high.
  Medscape Medical News, January 2019
• Daily Aspirin May Curb COPD Exacerbations Daily aspirin use appears to reduce the risk of exacerbations and have other beneficial effects in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), according to an observational study.
  Reuters Health Information, January 2019
• U.S. Kids Often Get Inappropriate Antibiotics in the ED In U.S. emergency departments (EDs), especially non-pediatric EDs, children often receive antibiotics inappropriately, a retrospective study suggests.
  Reuters Health Information, January 2019
• Should Minimally Invasive Esophagectomy Now Be Standard? With hybrid minimally invasive esophagectomy, the incidence of complications is lower than with open esophagectomy, but the overall survival rates are similar.
  Medscape Medical News, January 2019
• Allow Docs to Recycle Chemo Pills, Already Currently, some physicians take discarded oral cancer drugs from one patient and pass them on to another, but the activity occurs in a legally murky zone.
  Medscape Medical News, January 2019
• Cancer Mortality Continues to Spiral Downward in the US National snapshot of cancer in the US shows a continued decline in mortality rates for the most common cancers in men and women with a few notable exceptions.
  Medscape Medical News, January 2019
• Medicare Coverage Could Help Older Adults Maximize Hearing A new law allows over-the-counter hearing aids, but if older consumers cannot afford hearing services, they may not use the aids or will miss out on essential care, authors of a new report say.
  Medscape Medical News, January 2019
• College Students at Heightened Risk for Meningitis B Infections College students may be much more likely than others in their age group to be infected with meningococcal disease serogroup B, develop a rare but potentially fatal infection that can be prevented with vaccination, a U.S. study suggests.
  Reuters Health Information, January 2019
• Treatment Efficacy Differs for Positional and Nonpositional OSA Treatments to resolve anteroposterior velum- and tongue-related airway obstruction may be more effective in patients with positional obstructive sleep apnea (POSA) than in those with nonpositional OSA, researchers say.
  Reuters Health Information, December 2018
• U.S. Quality of Care for Head and Neck Cancers Varies Widely The quality of care received by patients with head and neck cancers in the U.S. varies widely and is unaffected by the size of the hospital or the volume of patients treated in a year, a study shows.
  Reuters Health Information, December 2018
• MI, Stroke Risks Rise Months Before Cancer Diagnosis About 5 months before a cancer diagnosis, the risk for arterial thromboembolism increases and continues to climb as the diagnosis date draws closer.
  Medscape Medical News, December 2018
• The Year's Top 10 Gastroenterology Articles Dr David Johnson comments on the latest recommendations and clinical studies that are reshaping how we treat some of the most common gastrointestinal disorders.
  Medscape Gastroenterology, December 2018
• Malpractice Case: When 'Normal' Test Results Get You Into Trouble Sometimes after a bad result, the only error a physician makes is trying to do too much without a specialist's assistance.
  Cooperative of American Physicians, December 2018
• In Adolescents, Daytime Sleepiness May Predict Suicidal Behavior Adolescents who don't get enough quality nighttime sleep and are sleepy during the day may be at risk for suicide, research conducted in China suggests.
  Reuters Health Information, December 2018
• Open-Label Placebos: Why Are They Effective? We don't know why they work for some patients, or whether their effects can be sustained.
  Medscape, December 2018