Month: February 2021

Posted on

NCCN Now Recommends Breast Cancer Index for Predicting Benefit from Extended Endocrine Therapy

The Breast Cancer Index assay is the only of its kind to be recommended in the National Comprehensive Cancer Network Guidelines for the treatment of breast cancer as being predictive of extended adjuvant endocrine therapy.

Breast Cancer Index (BCI), a molecular gene expression–based test used for determining which patients with early-stage, hormone receptor (HR)–positive breast cancer benefit from extended endocrine therapy, is now included in the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) Guidelines for breast cancer, according to Biotheranostics, Inc.

Per NCCN recommendations, BCI can be used for consideration of extended adjuvant endocrine therapy with a 2A category of evidence and consensus, which indicates uniform consensus from the organization that the recommendation is appropriate.

Continue reading
Posted on

ED Sonographic Score Helps Rule in or Exclude Acute Cholecystitis

A bedside scoring tool could help identify or rule out sonographic acute cholecystitis (SAC) in the emergency department (ED), researchers say.

The study builds on previous work and “defines a way to potentially rule in or out acute cholecystitis at the time of initial presentation, using only history, physical exam, and bedside ultrasound,” Dr. Andrew Liteplo of Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston told Reuters Health by email.

“While mid-range scores may be indeterminate and thus require additional work-up, a low (<2) Bedside SAC Score effectively rules out acute cholecystitis and a high (7 or greater) score essentially rules it in,” he said.

“Proficiency in performance and interpretation of point-of-care ultrasound is important,” he noted, “but this is a skill that emergency physicians and doctors in other specialties learn during training and incorporate routinely into daily clinical practice.”

Continue reading
Posted on

‘Thyroid Diet’: What’s the Evidence?

A new year is upon us, and despite the challenges we’ve had to face over the past several months, there appears to be light at the end of the tunnel. Now more than ever, people are looking for ways to optimize their health, and those with thyroid conditions are no exception.

Patients will often inquire about a “thyroid diet”: dietary changes they can make, supplements they can take, or toxins they can avoid to treat or reverse their thyroid disease. How can I improve symptoms of hypothyroidism beyond traditional medical therapy? How can I lower serum thyroid autoantibody titers? How much of this food or supplement would be too much for my thyroid?

Truth be told, there is a lot of information out there that may sound compelling. However, the evidence is usually low quality and therefore is less than ideal as a basis for clinical recommendations. Here, we will discuss the most popular nutritional topics related to thyroid disease.

Iodine

Continue reading