Current medical research and opinion
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PainDETECT (PD-Q) is a patient reported screening questionnaire to identify patients with neuropathic pain based on questions regarding typically sensory symptoms of neuropathic pain. The aim of the present investigation was to assess the test-retest stability of pain descriptors of the PD-Q within a time window of 1-3 weeks. ⋯ The individual PD-Q pain descriptors showed accurate test-retest stability as a prerequisite for use in repeated measurements (e. g. post baseline or follow up data) in clinical trials.
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Warfarin is efficacious for reducing stroke risk among patients with nonvalvular atrial fibrillation (NVAF). However, the efficacy and safety of warfarin are influenced by its time in therapeutic range (TTR). ⋯ Many warfarin-treated NVAF patients have a low warfarin TTR. NVAF patients with low vs. patients with high warfarin TTR used healthcare resources to a greater extent, which was reflected in higher healthcare costs.
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To describe multiple myeloma (MM) treatment patterns and comorbidities over time in the US. ⋯ MM treatment patterns have been dynamic over time. Comorbid conditions and myeloma-related complications increase as patients progress and may worsen MM patients' prognoses over time. Combination regimens such as lenalidomide + bortezomib are more widely used as first- and second-line therapy. Newly approved agents (carfilzomib, pomalidomide) are the prevailing treatments in the third line and are under further investigation for earlier lines of therapy.
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Letter Case Reports
Clinical use of plasma chitotriosidase in severe sepsis.
Plasma chitotriosidase activity (ChT) was previously proposed to quantify severity of sepsis. In a complex surgical case, with prolonged sepsis and consistently high ChT, we found that the least increased values occurred in stages of extreme illness, with profound hypocholesterolemia. ChT needs better characterization before becoming a reliable biomarker of septic evolution.