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Rapid increase of opioids benefits some dying pediatric cancer patients

Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have found that terminally ill children with cancer who have neuropathic pain require more opioids during the final days of life than those without neuropathic pain. In addition, the team found preliminary evidence that a “cocktail” of several narcotics was significantly more effective at treating these patients than dramatically increasing the dosage of two commonly used opioids — morphine and benzodiazepine.

Combination Pacemaker-Defibrillator Prevents Death from Heart Failure

A new implantable device has been found to reduce the risk of death from congestive heart failure by 40 percent, triggering the early halt of a national trial of the device. “This trial was the largest one in history to test an implanted pacemaker or defibrillator, and it represents a landmark study for the treatment of congestive heart failure,” says Mitchell N. Faddis, M.D., Ph.D., assistant professor of medicine at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. “I think this is one of the most important therapies developed in the last decade for treatment of severe heart disease.”