Rodríguez and colleagues report on a prospectively enrolled cohort of 235 consecutive patients admitted to two ICUs in Spain who required mechanical ventilation for at least 48 hours and had indications for ventilatory support other than respiratory infection or acute exacerbation of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).
In this issue: Calcium supplements and MI; birth control pills and VTE; ACE inhibitors and breast cancer risk; spending on pharmaceuticals; and FDA actions.
The authors investigated whether intra-ICU clinical psychological support could impact anxiety, depression, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) rates in patients 1 year after ICU discharge.
The use of any medication during pregnancy is a concern for both the patient and physician because of the potential that the agent may have unanticipated effects on the fetus.
In a Phase 3 trial comparing the recently introduced monoclonal antibody denosumab with zoledronic acid for the treatment of patients with prostate cancer metastatic to bone, the incidence of skeletal events including pathological fracture, radiation, skeletal surgery, or cord compression was delayed on average by more than 3 months for those treated with denosumab. Adverse events were comparable. Denosumab is administered subcutaneously and can be given to patients with renal insufficiency. Clinicians have become familiar with zoledronic acid in this setting, and it remains unclear whether its role as the standard approach will be supplanted.
Deep vein thrombosis (DVT) and pulmonary embolus (PE) occur more frequently in patients with cancer, and the risk appears to vary by tumor type.
