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The new standards for heart failure (HF) staging proposed in the 2022 American College of Cardiology (ACC)/American Heart Association (AHA)/Heart Failure Society of America (HFSA) clinical practice guideline has led to a considerable change among community-based individuals from stage A to B.
An electronic brain implant that acts as a “digital bridge” between the brain and the spinal cord has enabled a 40-year-old man with chronic tetraplegia to stand and walk on his own.
Treatment with teduglutide for 48 weeks results in increased intestinal absorption and decreased parenteral nutrition (PN) dependency in children with short bowel syndrome (SBS)-related intestinal failure (IF), as shown in a study.
Combination treatment with pioglitazone plus a sodium-glucose co-transporter 2 (SGLT2) inhibitor helps reduce the risk of developing major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE) and heart failure in individuals with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) who have no history of cardiovascular disease (CV), as reported in a study.
Children and adolescents with better cardiorespiratory endurance appear to have a reduced risk of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), as shown in a study.
Not enough children in Singapore are getting vaccinated against influenza, whereas the number of those who are receiving pneumococcal shots has steadily increased over time.
Treatment with pazopanib combined with chemotherapy leads to better overall response rate (ORR) in patients with recurrent or persistent ovarian cancer but falls short of improving survival, reveals a study. In addition, the combination therapy contributes to an increase in several adverse events (AEs).
Special Reports
Dengue is regarded as the most eminent mosquito-borne viral disease by the World Health Organisation. In Malaysia, dengue fever has the highest incidence rate among communicable diseases, with 397.71 cases per 100,000 populations. Dengue Prevention Advocacy Malaysia (DPAM), an independent advocacy group was set up to enhance dengue prevention, management, and control within the country.
Dr Jeremy Quah, Cardiology Fellow at National Heart Institute, talks about a rare disease known as transthyretin amyloidosis (ATTR).
Amyloidosis is the extracellular tissue deposition of fibrils. There are two major forms of cardiac amyloidosis, namely light-chain amyloidosis (AL) and ATTR-CM. The clinical manifestations of ATTR-CM can vary greatly but essentially it presents as either new or worsening heart failure or new conduction system disease.
Amyloidosis is the extracellular tissue deposition of fibrils. There are two major forms of cardiac amyloidosis, namely light-chain amyloidosis (AL) and ATTR-CM. The clinical manifestations of ATTR-CM can vary greatly but essentially it presents as either new or worsening heart failure or new conduction system disease.
Atrial fibrillation (AF) is one of the most prevalent forms of cardiac arrhythmias, particularly among the ageing population. It is projected to affect about 8 and 17 million individuals in the United States and Europe in 2050, respectively. Although the prevalence of AF among Asians is relatively lower, the disease burden is high owing to the growing ageing population; approximately 72 million individuals are expected to receive an AF diagnosis in the next few decades. Stroke is a clinically important complication observed in patients with AF as its incidence rate is 4- to 5-fold higher than that in patients without AF. In particular, Asians have a higher incidence of AF-related risks of bleeding and stroke when compared with non-Asians. The annual risk of ischaemic stroke in Asian patients with AF was reported to be approximately 3%. As such, stroke prevention is an important aspect in the management of AF.
Paediatric patients with spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) have increased chances of survival and improved quality of life when managed by a multidisciplinary team of healthcare professionals. Dr Poorani Anandakrishnan, a paediatric neurologist from Hospital Tunku Azizah, explains how a multidisciplinary team can contribute to the optimal management of SMA patients.
At the recent 20th Malaysian Society of Haematology Annual Scientific Meeting, Associate Professor Dr Azlan Husin, clinical haematologist, Hospital USM, discussed the diagnosis and treatment of polycythaemia vera (PV). Subsequently, he explored the issue of hydroxyurea intolerance and resistance in PV.
Dr Shalini C Sree Dharan, a consultant endocrinologist, discusses the benefits of treatment options for type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) that also address a patient’s underlying cardiovascular and hepatic dysregulation. Here, Dr Shalini discusses a case study where a fixed dose combination of a sodium/glucose cotransporter-2 inhibitor (SGLT-2i) and dipeptidyl peptidase-4 enzyme inhibitor (DPP-4i) provided benefits for both glucose control and cardiovascular risk reduction.
The WHO defines long COVID as a condition that occurs 3 months from COVID-19 onset, whose symptoms last ≥2 months and cannot be attributed to an alternative diagnosis. In an interview with MIMS Doctor, Professor Ghassan Dbaibo of the Center for Infectious Diseases, American University of Beirut, Beirut, Lebanon, describes the evolving attitudes towards long COVID among healthcare professionals (HCPs), some unexpected predisposing factors, potential biological mechanisms behind prolonged symptom duration and shares data on vaccination’s protective effects against long COVID.
Conference Reports
First-line treatment with cemiplimab, either as monotherapy or in combination with platinum-based chemotherapy, provides clinical benefits to patients with unresectable locally advanced nonsmall cell lung cancer (NSCLC) who are not candidates for definitive concurrent chemoradiation, as shown by long-term follow-up data from EMPOWER-Lung studies.
Treatment with liposomal irinotecan in adults with relapsed small cell lung cancer (SCLC) achieves similar overall survival (OS) when compared with topotecan, but the former is associated with a higher overall response rate (ORR), according to the results of RESILIENT, randomized, open-label phase III trial.
In the 3-year analysis of the phase III CheckMate 816 trial, neoadjuvant nivolumab plus platinum doublet chemotherapy (nivo-chemo) continued to provide durable benefit for individuals with resectable non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC).
COVID-19 remains a global health concern, and children and adolescents are equally affected. In fact, COVID-19 hospitalization rates in children increased during the Omicron era. [MMWR 2022;71:271-278] In children aged 5–11 years who were hospitalized during the predominance of Omicron, nearly 90 percent were unvaccinated. [MMWR 2022;71:574-581]
In individuals with hepatorenal syndrome (HRS) compounded by alcoholic hepatitis (AH), treatment with the synthetic, long-acting vasopressin analogue terlipressin led to the achievement of verified HRS reversal, a subgroup analysis of the phase III CONFIRM trial has shown.
In the new analysis of the REGENERATE trial, the FXR* agonist obeticholic acid (OCA) was generally well tolerated and demonstrated a favourable safety profile in patients with nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH).
Administration of maternal influenza vaccine during the first- or second-trimester of pregnancy reduces the risk of influenza-like illness (ILI) in the offspring, according to a study presented at ESPID 2023.
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