A comprehensive audit showed that the number of lung cancer patients who have undergone lung cancer surgery in the United Kingdom has increased by twofold over the last five years.

The National Lung Cancer Audit 2010 revealed that one in seven patients, or nearly 4,500 people each year, have chosen to remove tumours through surgery. This is in comparison to the gathered data five years ago that showed only one in eleven patients go through surgical procedures to treat the condition.

Lung cancer is the most common cause of cancer deaths in the United Kingdom. It is usually detected at an advanced stage leading to nearly three-fourths of patients not fit for surgery.

However, the increased rate of lung cancer surgeries suggests that experts have acquired better surgical knowledge and have gained more access to complicated surgical techniques, which could offer more surgical options to borderline cases.

Dr. Mick Peake, NHS Cancer Improvement and National Cancer Intelligence Network clinical lead, said that there was apparent evidence that the standards of care are improving. He even claimed that the audit process was one of the major factors behind the improvement of care.

Yet, he said that there are still differences in the standard of care offered among various hospitals. However, he said to continue doing their best so that such standard of care is given to all patients in all units.

Meanwhile, chief executive Dr. Rosemary Gillespie of The Roy Castle Lung Cancer Foundation said that they would like to see an improvement on survival rates, which remain low until now.

A current study found that close to a million children in the United States are prescribed with antibiotics for asthma even though the actual guidelines do not recommend its use. Dr. Ian Paul, the lead researcher and a professor of pediatrics at the Pennsylvania State University College of Medicine, said that they try really hard not to prescribe unnecessary antibiotics but their study shows that pediatricians are prescribing the drug too often.

Paul said that it is unclear why doctors prescribe antibiotics to treat severe asthma. He, however, said that doctors may feel that they need to cover all bases and also prescribe antibiotics. There are also times when parents themselves ask their doctors for antibiotics.

The one finding that Paul thought to be encouraging is that education regarding asthma plays an important role in the prescription antibiotics. It appears that when astham education was delivered during the visit, antibiotics are only prescribed 11% of the time; in comparison to 19% when asthma education is not given.

Paul further said that this means we can decrease the likelihood of the use of antibiotics in treating asthma by educating families and patients.

In addition, the doctor said that most antibiotics have side effects and patients may develop antibiotic-resistant bacteria which are life threatening. That is why unnecessary prescription of antibiotics is definitely discouraged.

This report was published on “Pediatrics” on the 23rd of May. Pediatrics is an online medical magazine.

16-year old Courtney Montgomery had a heart that was failing really fast, but she furiously refused when she was urged by her mother and her doctors to get a heart transplant.

Montgomery said that her previous heart surgeries have not helped her at the very least; she did not think a riskier and scarier surgery would either. She added that back then, she thought she did not want the heart transplant and if she ought to die, she’d rather do. She now realizes that she was not thinking straight at that time.

It took another teenager who was also dealing with a new heart to make her think twice.

Doctors said that heart transplants are far more complicated in teenagers than in adults. Although they are still minors, they cannot be forced in to taking the transplant because they will be the ones who are given the burden of taking care of their new heart; no one else can do it for them. Anger, self-pity, depression, and overall adolescent pangs can interfere with the anti-rejection treatment and the heart transplant can all go to waste.

In general, our ability to decide rationally does not mature until our late 20s, said Dr. Robert Jaquiss chief of pediatric heart surgery in Duke University Medical Center. Also, teenagers who have to go through heart transplants feel isolated. There is a very slim chance that someone among their peers has to go through the same ordeal.

Because Courtney was steadfast in her decision not to receive heart transplant, a social worker introduced her to a teenager who also received a heart transplant at Duke. Josh Winstead had a very successful heart transplant; he is now back at school and is living a normal teenage life.

His life story inspired Courtney and she immediately changed her mind about the transplant. She received her new heart a month ago and at present she is shaping up with the hopes of going back to her cheerleading squad.

Government researchers have reported recently that one in every six American children born today has developmental disability which includes ADHD and autism. That is a sharp 17% rise from the data collected 10 years ago.

The study that was published in “Pediatrics”, discovered that around 15% of American children between 3 and 17 years old have been diagnosed with the disorder between 2006 and 2008; that is a total of 10 million children. In comparison, only 8 million children were diagnosed between 1997 and 1999.

Although researchers saw a general increase in developmental disability cases, including learning disabilities and stuttering, the increases were most significantly seen in ADHD and autism cases. ADHD cases, for example, rose from 5.7% in 1997-1999 to 33% in 2006-2008.

The study noted that more boys were diagnosed with the disability than girls. Males have higher tendencies of inheriting genetic disabilities than females. Also, ADHD symptoms are more pronounced in boys than in girls; thus, the former is more easily diagnosed than the latter.

Some other important findings of the study include the fact that ADHD and autism cases are higher among children on Medicaid and those who are from low-income families. Also, researchers noticed that cases of developmental disabilities are lower among Hispanic children than black or white Americans. They, however, noted that the language barrier may be the reason for this data and it may not necessarily reflect the correct rate.

It is still unclear to the researchers why there was a significant increase in the cases of ADHD, autism, and developmental disability in general. However, they said that it may be due to the increase of preterm labor and the mother’s age during pregnancy. Children born prematurely have 30% to 60% more chances of developing ADHD than those who were born full term. Also, mothers who give birth in their 40s have greater chances of having an autistic child than those who are in their 20s.

A new treatment for HIV has been approved by the US Food and Drug Administration on Friday. The medication is used with other antiretroviral drugs, which blocks the replication of the virus that causes the disease.

TMC278 or rilpivirine is a pill developed by Johnson & Johnson and will be given mainly for patients who have never started treatment for HIV, the FDA said in a report released on Friday. The American pharmaceutical company will sell it in the market under the brand name Edurant. It will be consumed once a day with meals.

According to Dr. Edward Cox, Office of Antomicrobial Products director in the Center for Drug Evaluation and Research in FDA, patients respond variously on the given HIV treatments; thus, the approval of Edurant provides an alternative option for patients who will start its therapy.

Two clinical trials were performed before the new medication was approved. The trials were carried out to 1,368 adults who had not yet received any treatment against HIV. Researchers randomly assigned patients with certain medications, which include rilpivirine, efavirenz and other pharmaceutical products.

In the trials, about 83% of the patients who received the new treatment suppressed the replication of the HIV virus at untraceable levels. Also, the same occurred to about 80% of the patients who have received efavirenz.

The results of the trials showed that rilpivirine works as well as efavirenz, also called as Sustiva by the Bristol-Myers Squibb. Most of the side effects that patients experienced while they took Edurant included headache, rashes, insomnia and depression.

The agency warned that rilpivirine does not cure infections with HIV. It advised that patients must have continuous therapy with the new pill to manage the condition and reduce the risk of spreading the illness.

A 19-year-old lady has been able to flash a grin just a couple of months after she has undergone a delicate transplant surgery. Caitlin Cowen had lost her ability to smile in a surgery that removed a brain tumor in 2008.

After doctors removed the tumor deep-seated within her brain, Cowen had suffered from right-side facial paralysis and had no power over the left-side of her body. The brain surgery had also caused her double vision and difficulty of walking.

Todd Cowen, Caitlin’s father who is also a physician that rehabilitates patients with injuries in the brain, believed that there was a way to help her. He researched through literature and reached out to medical experts who might help her daughter.

Eventually, Mr. Cowen found Dr. Tessa Hadlock, a facial nerve surgeon from Boston. She has been dealing with cases of partial facial paralysis for several years and has been giving back smiles to people who had suffered from the condition. Most of them were kids who had acquired the condition through a defect in birth, accident, or surgical procedure such as Caitlin’s.

Dr. Hadlock performed a two-part procedure on Caitlin in 2009. A thigh muscle has been transplanted to Caitlin’s cheek, where it was attached to blood vessels and nerves there. Nerve connections took few months to grow in the transplanted muscle.

By May, Caitlin had seen the first signs of her fresh smile and since October, she has been able to show a full smile every time she wants. Caitlin became the queen of Mardi gras dance last March and flashed her smile the entire night.

The results of Caitlin’s surgery can be seen in the Archives of Facial Plastic Surgery. Reportedly, Hadlock already had 15 successful surgeries out of 17 young patients.

Researchers have discovered that the severity of cystic fibrosis is influenced greatly by variations in genetics. Cystic fibrosis is a hereditary condition that has claimed so many lives by affecting the lungs and digestive system.

Dr. Garry Cutting, a member of John Hopkins Hospital’s McKusick-Nathans Institute for Gentic Medicine, said in a news release by the hospital that the majority of people born with cystic fibrosis live up to their mid-30s. Some die before their 10th birthday, while several others live to see their 50th birthday. Dr. Cutting wants to know why some cystic fibrosis patients live longer than others.

The study that was published on Nature Genetics – an online publication – used DNA from a total of 3,467 cystic fibrosis patients. The pool includes unrelated patients from the Genetic Modifier Study in the University of North Carolina, related patients from the CF Twin and Sibling Study at John Hopkins, and the Canadian Consortium for Genetic Studies in the University of Toronto.

Cutting said that in order for them to get findings that will extend the life expectancy of cystic fibrosis patients, all proponents of the three studies must work hand-in-hand.

So far, their collaboration have led them to identifying a region, covered by two genes in chromosome 11, that is linked to severe cases of cystic fibrosis. Another region in chromosome 11 was also pinned down.

Cutting explained that they already know the gene that basically causes cystic fibrosis; what they discovered are genes that directly affect the severity of the condition. Hopefully, their findings will help in making unique treatments for individual patients.

Maryanne Godbolo’s frustration over her daughter’s physical impairment led to a 12-hour standoff when police officers came to take her daughter away. She also lashed out on what Godbolo considers to be inappropriate state interference on her child’s medical care.

When the 12-hour standoff ended, Godbolo was in handcuffs and her child was placed in a children’s psychiatric hospital.

Godbolo is in a battle with the Department of Human Services of Michigan over her right as a mother to determine whether or not her daughter should continue receiving an anti-psychotic drug called Risperdal. The agency insists that it is one of the government’s responsibilities to protect children’s welfare even if it is against their parents.

Godbolo refuses to trust doctors as she blames them for some of her child’s medical problems. She says that some of her daughter’s illnesses could be due to physician negligence and possible complications from childhood immunizations. She, however, did not name her daughter’s doctors and did not provide the press a copy of her daughter’s medical records.

Godbolo insists that her daughter responds better to treatments that do not include the anti-psychotic drug Risperdal. On the other hand, the state firmly stands by its belief that without the ideal medical attention and treatment, Ariana (Godbolo’s daughter) is at risk.

Ariana stayed in a psychiatric facility for a month following her mother’s confrontation with the police and is now currently staying with her aunt, Godbolo’s sister.

The Food and Drug Administration has announced Thursday that retail pharmacies will stop selling the controversial oral diabetes drug Avandia starting November, because of the possible cardiovascular problems it may cause to patients.

Based on the new set of rules set by the FDA, Avandia will only be sold to patients who have been using the drug safely for a long time, patients whose blood sugar levels can only be successfully controlled by Avandia, and those patients who already know the risks the drug poses but still choose to use it. The rules will take effect on November 18, 2011.

Those patients who are qualified to take the drug or who will sign a consent stating he or she knows the risks and still willingly take the drug will be enrolled in a program. Only those who are enrolled in FDA’s special program will gain access to the drug.

Following the Avandia-Rosiglitazone Medicines Access Program, all medicines with rosiglitazone content will only be sold to enrolled patients. Certified pharmacies that participate in the program will release the drug by mail order. The agency said on Wednesday that GlaxoSmithKline – the drug manufacturer – will withdraw all rosiglitazone medicines from their supply chain. They will also provide pharmacies with specific instructions in returning the said medicines.

Rosiglitazone have other drug mixes such as Avendamet which is a combination of rosiglitazone and metphormine (hypoglycemic drug) and Avandaryl, a combination of rosiglitazone and glimeperide. These new FDA rules apply to all drug combinations of rosiglitazone.

GlaxoSmithKline spokesperson Mary Anne Rhyne announced that the company will inform doctors and pharmacists regarding the access program over the next two months; meanwhile, the company advices patients to discuss treatment options with their doctors first before making any changes.

Generic drugs may stunt the growth of prescription drugs in the market. In fact, IMS Health said that sales and production of the latter may be cut in half within the next five years. This is due to the fact that huge brands are losing patent protection and consumers prefer generic drugs over prescriptions as they are cheaper.

IMS Health executive, Murray Aitken, said that they see an unprecedented play in dynamics between the consumers and drug companies. Many people are now shifting to generic drugs from branded products. These patterns of spending show clues on the face of the drug industry by 2015. Aitken’s company monitors sales and trends of prescription drugs.

A generation of new generic drugs are approaching as several drug companies lose their U.S. patent protection in 2015. Those companies include Pfeizer Incorporated’s cholesterol-lowering drug Lipitor, Eli Lilly and Company’s drug for schizophrenia Zyprexa, and Plavix, a blood clot fighting drug by Bristol-Myers Squibb Company; all of which generate a total of $10 billion per year.

Meanwhile, cancer drugs expenditures may rise in a much slower rate than in the past couple years because of the innovations in biotech treatments. That treatment is currently used in developed countries. On the other hand, annual spending in medicines for diabetes is expected to increase by up to 7% through 2015 because of the changes in the lifestyle and eating habits of people in developing countries.