FDA announces class 1 recall for disposable biopsy needle kit
Editor's Note Microscopic stainless steel debris on the insides of biopsy needles prompted the FDA to issue a class 1 recall—indicating risk of death or serious injury—for Elekta Instrument’s Disposable Biopsy Needle Kit, which is used with the Leksell Stereotactic System for brain tissue sampling during neurosurgery, the disposable biopsy…
FDA approves imaging drug for detecting cancer after lumpectomy
Editor's Note The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved Lumisight (pegulicianine), a fluorescent imaging drug used to detect cancerous tissue during lumpectomy, on April 17. Administered intravenously prior to surgery, Lumisight is designed for use with the Lumicell Direct Visualization System (DVS) or another imaging device that is FDA-approved…
Unveiling ECRI’s 2024 Top 10 Patient Safety Concerns list
From integrating new technology to navigating shifts in care delivery and mitigating burnout, the most pressing challenges for healthcare organizations tend to be multifaceted problems that demand multifaceted solutions. For evidence of that, look no further than the Top 10 Patient Safety Concerns 2024 list from ECRI. For every risk…
Artificial intelligence (AI) captures uncertainty in medical scans
Editor's Note Artificial intelligence (AI) is a useful tool for helping clinicians to determine health problems from medical imaging, but AI often provides just one answer, when there may be a number of possible interpretations. Now, researchers from MIT, the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, and Massachusetts General Hospital…
Researchers develop fast, accurate blood test for sepsis, septic shock
Editor's Note A new blood test developed by researchers in Australia could help diagnose sepsis and septic shock in just one hour, compared to the current multi-day methods. The Journal of Proteome Research reported the findings on March 21. Researchers collected blood plasma samples from 152 ICU patients. They used…
Laparoscopic cholecystectomy could benefit patients with normal ejection fraction
Editor's Note Patients with biliary symptoms can benefit from laparoscopic cholecystectomy even with a normal ejection fraction (greater than 35%), according to a study published November 30 in the American Journal of Surgery. Although previous data have shown the surgery to improve biliary symptoms (such as abdominal pain) in patients…
Report illuminates how AI transforms hospitals, healthcare
Editor's Note A paper published March 29 in the journal Bioengineering examines the growing integration of artificial intelligence (AI) into hospital and healthcare systems and the way in which it is augmenting clinical decision-making, optimizing hospital operation and management, improving medical image analysis, and transforming patient care and monitoring through…
New hope for Black kidney disease patients awaiting organ transplants
Editor's Note A standard kidney function test has been underestimating the seriousness of disease in Black patients, delaying their eligibility for transplants, The Associated Press reported March 31. Now, that test is changing – and Black patients awaiting kidneys are moving up the list. Among other factors, transplant eligibility is…
Blood test could help identify risk of sepsis, organ failure in children
Editor's Note Measuring gene activity in blood samples could help determine whether a child is at risk of sepsis and organ failure, according to findings published March 18 in The Lancet Child & Adolescent Health. It is often difficult for clinicians to diagnose sepsis because the symptoms are similar to…
Diagnosis delays more likely for EDs with fewer pediatric patients
Editor's Note Emergency departments (EDs) that see more young patients tend to deliver more timely diagnoses than those that see fewer young patients, where diagnosis is more likely to be delayed. The findings appeared February 12 study in JAMA pediatrics. The cohort study examined data from January 2015 to December…
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- Simulation-based training boosts scrub nurses’ confidence in OR non-technical skills
- New AHRQ toolkit empowers OR teams to cut MRSA, SSI risk
- Study: Long working hours alter brain regions tied to emotion, cognition
- Survey: Burnout, rigid schedules push nurses to leave
- UCLA surgeons perform world’s first bladder transplant
- AHA urges HHS to cut regulations that burden hospitals and staff
- Commentary: Overlooking, underfunding perioperative mental health threatens patients
- Study: Fewer men undergo unnecessary prostate cancer surgery amid rise in active surveillance
- OpenAI benchmarking tool tests healthcare LLMs