Health for life

The study showed that older women, non-white women, women who do not have insurance, and women who are not treated at a teaching facility where a plastic surgeon is more likely to be on hand are less likely to undergo reconstruction.

The study was presented at the annual meeting of the American Society of Breast Surgeons (ASBS) in Las Vegas.

About 40% of Early Breast Cancer Patients Undergo Mastectomy
Although studies have shown that women with early-stage breast cancer who undergo breast-conserving surgery and radiation live just as long as women who have a mastectomy, about 40% of women still choose mastectomy, says study leader Laura Kruper, MD, a breast cancer surgeon at City of Hope Medical Center in Duarte, Calif.

"Once they choose mastectomy, there are clear psychological benefits to reconstruction," she says.

So the researchers used California’s government-funded health care database for women treated for breast cancer in four counties from 2003 to 2007 to look into what factors influence their decisions to have implants.
Older Women, Non-Whites Less Likely to Have Breast Implants

Results showed that the number of mastectomies performed increased slightly between 2003 and 2007, and the reconstruction rate rose substantially, from 21% to 29%.

Further analysis showed:

• Women under age 40 had the highest rates of immediate reconstruction compared with any other age group. Compared with them, women 40 to 59 were 48% less likely, women 60 to 79 were 68% less likely, and women over age 80 were 93% less likely to have reconstruction.

• African-American women were less than half as likely as white women to undergo reconstruction, and Asian women had one-third the reconstruction rate of white women.

• Women with private insurance were nearly eight times more likely to have reconstruction than women with Medi-Cal insurance, California’s Medicaid program.

• Women treated at teaching hospitals were twice as likely to undergo reconstruction as women treated at other institutions.

Patient Perence Influences Breast Implants

ASBS spokeswoman Deanna J. Attai, MD, of the Center for Breast Care Inc., in Burbank, Calif., says that in some areas, particularly rural regions, it may be difficult to find plastic surgeons trained in reconstructive surgery.

But, she says, "sometimes its patient perence. I am continually surprised at the number of women, younger women, who feel it is just not important to them. It really is an individual issue," she tells WebMD.

John Corbitt Jr., MD, a private practitioner in Palm Beach County, Fla., was completely surprised at the studys findings.

"In my practice, closer to 90% or 95% of women opt for reconstruction," he says.

Nipple-Sparing Mastectomies Seem Safe

At the meeting, Corbitt presented a study of nipple-sparing mastectomies. The procedure is just what its name implies: intricate surgery to preserve the nipple and the areola after mastectomy.

"For years, the nipple was removed because there were worries the breast tissue it contained had breast cells with the potential to become cancerous," he says.

Once considered experimental, nipple-sparing mastectomy has become common enough that the ACSM is starting a registry to ensure women who have it fare as well as women who dont, Attai says.

In Corbitts small study, one of 228 procedures resulted in a recurrence of cancer in the nipple. "So we simply went in and removed it, and the patient had no cancer.

Treating infection-prone patients over a 12-month period with high doses of vitamin D reduces their risk of developing respiratory tract infection – and consequently their antibiotic requirement. This according to a new study by researchers at Karolinska Institutet and Karolinska University Hospital published in the online scientific journal BMJ Open.

"Our research can have important implications for patients with recurrent infections or a compromised immune defence, such as a lack of antibodies, and can also help to prevent the emerging resistance to antibiotics that come from overuse," says Peter Bergman, researcher at Karolinska Institutets Department of Laboratory Medicine and doctor at Karolinska University Hospitals Immunodeficiency Unit. "On the other hand, there doesnt seem to be anything to support the idea that vitamin D would help otherwise healthy people with normal, temporary respiratory tract infections."

Vitamin D is synthesised in the skin through exposure to sunlight and obtained through certain foods. In Sweden there is a seasonal variation in vitamin D in the blood, the trough coming during the darker half of the year. Studies have shown that low levels of vitamin D can increase the risk of infection, and it has long been known that the vitamin can also activate the immune defence.

For the present study now published in BMJ Open the researchers examined whether treatment with vitamin D can prevent and relieve respiratory tract infections in particularly infection-prone patients. All the 140 participants from the Immunodeficiency Unit had symptoms of disease in their respiratory tracts for at least 42 days prior to the study. The patients were randomly divided into two groups, one of which received vitamin D in relatively high doses, the other a placebo. They were also asked to keep a diary recording their state of health every day during the year-long study period.

The results show that symptoms of respiratory tract infection declined by almost a quarter and the use of antibiotics by almost half. Vitamin D treatment was also tolerated well by all patients and gave no serious side-effects.

The effect of vitamin D on respiratory tract infection is controversial, and a major study from New Zeeland published recently in the scientific journal JAMA found that it did not reduce the incidence or severity of viral respiratory tract infections. However, the present study differs from the JAMA study in several important respects, which could explain their different results. The JAMA study examined a group of healthy people with initially normal levels of vitamin D in the blood, and used bolus dose administration (i.e. large doses on fewer occasions), which is thought to be less effective that daily doses.

"However, the most important difference is probably due to the fact that our participants had much lower initial levels of vitamin D than those in the New Zealand study," says Dr Anna-Carin Norlin, doctoral student and co-lead author of the study along with Dr Bergman. "There is evidence from previous studies that vitamin D supplements are only effective in patients who fall well below the recommended level, which also suggests that it would be wise to check the vitamin D levels of patients with recurrent infections."

Publication: Vitamin D3 supplementation in patients with frequent respiratory tract infections - a randomized and double blind intervention study, Bergman P*, Norlin AC*, Hansen S, Rekha RS, Agerberth B, Björkhem-Bergman L, Ekström L, Lindh JD, Andersson J (*equal contribution), BMJ Open, online 13 December 2012.

AstraZeneca and Ardea Biosciences today presented results from a large study of allopurinol, a treatment commonly used to lower uric acid in patients with gout. The LASSO (Long-term Allopurinol Safety Study evaluating Outcomes in gout patients) study was a multinational, 6-month, open, prospective observational study involving 1,735 patients with gout and was designed to evaluate the safety and efficacy of medically appropriate doses of allopurinol. Results of the LASSO study showed no new safety signals with allopurinol doses of approximately 300mg/day. The study also revealed that at the time of last dose fewer than half (43%) of patients taking allopurinol achieved the target serum uric acid (sUA) level of <6.0 mg/dL, the level recommended by the American College of Rheumatology (ACR) and the European League Against Rheumatism (EULAR). Results of the LASSO study were presented today at the ACR Annual Meeting in San Diego, CA.

Allopurinol, the most commonly used treatment to lower blood uric acid levels in gout, is a generic treatment that has been available for more than 50 years. It is a xanthine oxidase inhibitor, a class of drugs intended to reduce the bodys production of uric acid. Allopurinol is recommended at doses between 100mg and 900mg per day, depending upon disease severity. The LASSO study encouraged investigators to increase, or titrate, the dose of allopurinol over the six months of the study to a medically appropriate dose. There was a high rate of adherence to therapy (97% across doses) and the most commonly used dose was 300mg. Approximately 45% of patients finished on the same dose as their baseline dose. Results show that even among patients titrated to final doses above the most commonly used dose of 300mg/day, approximately 46% did not reach target sUA levels of <6.0 mg/dL.

"Gout is a painful form of arthritis that is often misunderstood and inadequately treated. The LASSO study demonstrates that many patients with gout fail to reach the recommended treatment goal," said study co-author Nicola Dalbeth, MD of the University of Auckland. "Failing to reach the recommended sUA target leaves patients with gout at risk for further disease progression and long-term consequences of gout."

The results of this large, multinational, prospective observational study of gout are consistent with published literature confirming many patients do not reach sUA targets with allopurinol therapy as currently used.

Specific findings from LASSO include:

- The study revealed no new safety signals with allopurinol (approximately 300mg/day).
- There were no cases of allopurinol hypersensitivity syndrome in this study.
At the time of last dose 43% of all patients in the study achieved target sUA levels of <6.0 mg/dL.
- Of patients in the study at final doses above 300mg/day, approximately 54% achieved target sUA levels of <6.0 mg/dL.
- Gout is the most common form of inflammatory arthritis with a prevalence of 8 million in the U.S. Gout is commonly misrepresented as a lifestyle disease. While diet can contribute to elevated levels of uric acid, the majority of uric acid is produced by the bodys naturally occurring processes, and gout is most often caused by the inefficient excretion of uric acid by the kidneys.
- In patients with gout, abnormally high levels of uric acid in the blood known as hyperuricemia lead to deposition of needle-like crystals in joints and soft tissues throughout the body, causing inflammation. Hyperuricemia results when the kidneys do not efficiently remove enough uric acid, or when the body produces too much. A persons genetics play a significant role in their risk of developing gout. The most common symptom of gout is extremely painful arthritis. Over time, the deposits of uric acid crystals may lead to joint damage, visible nodules called tophi, and impaired quality of life. Additionally, gout has been associated with serious health problems including cardiovascular disease, diabetes and kidney damage.