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News Current ASH Guidelines on ITP Management 2019 – Recommendations for Newly Diagnosed ITP in Children
At the end of 2019, the American Society of Hematology (ASH) published current guidelines for immune thrombocytopenia (ITP), in which a panel of experts attempted to define evidence-based recommendations for the care management of these patients.
News How to recognize amyloidosis as a cause of heart failure?
Although the fate of patients with heart failure has improved in recent decades, it remains a disease with a poor prognosis that significantly worsens the quality of life. The prevalence of heart failure is 1-2% in the adult population, but it increases with age and is more than 10% in people over 70. In addition to well-known causes, some rare nosological units, such as amyloidosis, can also be behind the development of heart failure.
News CASE STUDY: Oral Semaglutide in a Young Diabetic = Weight Loss and CV Risk Reduction, Better Adherence and Treatment Comfort
Diabetologist MUDr. Tomáš Pfohl from the Regional Hospital Liberec illustrates the benefits of therapy with oral semaglutide in a relatively young diabetic patient with type 2 DM after unsatisfactory disease compensation was not achieved with a combination of gliptin and metformin.
News Post-COVID Depression: How Can a General Practitioner Help?
Psychiatrists confirm that mental health plays an increasingly important role in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. Although exact data will only be available over time, as the impacts in this regard will undoubtedly be long-term, it is already necessary to recognize the correlations between the psyche, the pathophysiology of COVID-19, and the pandemic state of society. What should we be prepared for in the general practitioner's office in this regard, and what therapy is a suitable choice?
News Empagliflozin Secures Reimbursement for Heart Failure Treatment
Starting May 1st, health insurance companies will cover Jardiance® (empagliflozin) for patients with heart failure with reduced ejection fraction. Cardiologists, pediatric cardiologists, angiologists, and internists will be able to prescribe it with reimbursement. This decision was made by the State Institute for Drug Control (SÚKL) in mid-April. Hundreds of thousands of Czechs suffering from this serious condition will now have access to another effective medication. The drug is manufactured by Boehringer Ingelheim.
News Biological treatment of psoriatic arthritis in the 1st line – results of the SPIRIT-H2H study after 1 year of follow-up
The SPIRIT-H2H study compared the efficacy of ixekizumab and adalimumab, either as monotherapy or with concomitant methotrexate (MTX), in patients with psoriatic arthritis (PsA) who had not been previously treated with biologics. The results of the recent work presented below after one year of follow-up suggest that the efficacy of ixekizumab remains the same regardless of the use of MTX, while the efficacy of adalimumab increases in combination with MTX.
News Treatment of Cough in Clinical Practice: Which Preparations Are Suitable and When?
In clinical practice, we differentiate the treatment of non-productive and moist productive cough. When choosing appropriate therapy, we consider the characteristics of the available medicinal products, such as sedation, route of administration, potentiation of antibiotic effect, or anti-inflammatory effect. Combining antitussive and expectorant in one dose is irrational in any case. So, how should one proceed in the treatment of cough correctly?
News Why Are Mucolytics Beneficial for Patients with COPD?
Part of the clinical picture of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) includes mucus hypersecretion in the airways and its impaired clearance, resulting in a chronic productive cough. Mucus production requires management, just like dyspnea and cough. But what can be expected from mucolytic treatment?
News Successful Resection of a Rectosigmoid Tumor After Long-term Induction Biochemotherapy – A Case Report
Neoadjuvant treatment (chemoradiotherapy) for colorectal cancer is regularly used in advanced rectal tumors, with the goal of reducing the tumor size for the surgeon and ensuring the best possible radical outcome for the patient. In metastatic tumors of the remaining parts of the digestive tract, we talk more about induction treatment, which uses a combination of targeted therapy and chemotherapy for the same purpose – reducing the extent of the tumor disease and possibly enabling surgery including radical removal of metastatic foci. The duration of this treatment is usually up to 6 months followed by surgery (surgeries). The following case report describes a successful surgical solution in a patient with an advanced sigmoid tumor even after more than 3 years of combination chemotherapy and targeted therapy.
News No deficiency of essential fatty acids in home parenteral nutrition
A Dutch-British study, the results of which were published in the Journal of Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition, addressed the issue of potential deficiency of essential fatty acids in patients using home parenteral nutrition.
News Monitoring Limits in Prescribing Incontinence Aids is Essential
The amendment to the Public Health Insurance Act, which came into effect in December 2019, brought many changes in the reimbursement of medical aids through prescriptions. The methodology for determining the degree of incontinence has changed, and it is now also possible to combine aids according to the individual needs of the patient. We summarize other novelties related to limits issues in the following text.
News Effect of Beta-Blockers on Glucose Metabolism and Their Use in Diabetics with Hypoglycemic Episodes
Beta-blockers, through their mechanism of action, can lead to the deepening or direct initiation of both hypoglycemia and hyperglycemia. The study presented below, published last year, evaluated the impact of beta-blocker treatment, their selectivity, and the predisposition of patients to hypoglycemia on the risk of mortality.
News Tofacitinib Through the Eyes of Patients: Rapid Response After Treatment Initiation
How does tofacitinib fare in the treatment of ulcerative colitis in real clinical practice from the patients' perspective? This was addressed in a recent study published in the journal Inflammatory Bowel Diseases.
News Summary Analysis of HAVEN 1–4 and Patient Case Studies from ÚHKT
MUDr. Věra Geierová from the Institute of Hematology and Blood Transfusion in Prague prepared a summary of what was discussed about emicizumab during the ASH 2020 congress for this year's Prague Hematology Days. In this context, she highlighted the comprehensive analysis of phase 3 HAVEN 1–4 studies, which assessed the safety and efficacy of emicizumab in individuals with hemophilia A with or without FVIII inhibitors.
News Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy: When Bigger Does Not Mean Better
Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) is a hereditary disease that, in some patients, proceeds asymptomatically, while others struggle with arrhythmias or heart failure, and in some individuals, the first manifestation of the disease can be sudden cardiac death. More about the etiology and diagnosis of HCM is discussed in the following overview.
News Invasive Pneumococcal Disease – Current Czech Data
The number of reported cases of invasive pneumococcal disease (IPD) returned to levels comparable to those before the COVID-19 pandemic in 2022. Regarding age-specific morbidity, the most at-risk groups are children under 1 year of age and seniors over 65 years old. The specific data for 2022 is provided by a report from the Center for Epidemiology and Microbiology of the National Institute of Public Health (SZÚ).
News Prolonged Course of Metastatic Stomach Cancer with Long-term Stabilization – Case Report
In the following case report, we present the case of a patient with a prolonged oncological disease – stomach cancer. The patient has been asymptomatic for a long time and in good performance status despite multiple lung metastases, thanks to stabilization with trifluridine/tipiracil treatment.
News Artificial Intelligence Helps in Selecting Influenza Strains for Vaccine Production
Vaccination is one of the most important and effective preventive measures in the fight against seasonal epidemics caused by influenza viruses each year. For vaccines to work, they must match the currently circulating influenza strains. The timely selection of appropriate influenza strains, which will be the most widespread in the population in the upcoming period, and their yield are crucial for vaccine development. The new MAIVeSS (Machine-learning Assisted Influenza Vaccine Strain Selection) method, which uses artificial intelligence and machine learning algorithms for direct analysis of clinical samples, could help with this process.
News Criteria for Progression in Fibrotic Non-IPF Interstitial Lung Disease
Fibrotic interstitial lung disease (fILD) is a challenging condition to manage with limited therapeutic options and a poor prognosis. The currently published review analyzes the criteria for its progression defining the presence of progressive pulmonary fibrosis (PPF), describes their relative prevalence, and prognostic significance.
News What a General Practitioner Needs to Know About Gliflozins
The revolutionary benefits of gliflozins have completely changed the perspective on the choice of pharmacotherapy for diabetes. They have attracted not only diabetologists but also cardiologists and nephrologists after the favorable effects of this group of drugs on heart failure and renal functions were demonstrated even in patients without diabetes. Dapagliflozin and empagliflozin were subsequently included in recommendations for the treatment of heart failure regardless of the presence of diabetes. Dapagliflozin has also been approved for the treatment of patients with chronic kidney disease.
News STADA Brings Innovative Drug for Treatment of Advanced Parkinson's Disease to Czech Republic
STADA PHARMA CZ is introducing a new system for continuous delivery of 3 active substances for the treatment of advanced stages of Parkinson's disease (PD) to the Czech market. It is one of the major innovations in the care of PD patients in the last two decades. The drug, which STADA acquired the rights to in 2020, had already been introduced in the Nordic countries where this treatment is successfully underway. In the Czech Republic, it has been fully covered since April 1, 2022.
News How does Benzalkonium Chloride and Prostaglandins Affect Meibomian Gland Epithelial Cells?
Benzalkonium chloride is commonly used in eye drops intended for glaucoma treatment due to its preservative effect. However, in recent years, it has been shown to cause damage to both superficial and deeper eye tissues and also provoke other difficulties. The study presented below examined its effect on the epithelium of the Meibomian glands.
News Definition and Classification of Chronic Kidney Disease According to KDIGO
We provide a brief overview of the definition and classification of chronic kidney disease based on the updated KDIGO (Kidney Disease: Improving Global Outcomes) clinical practice guidelines from 2012 (published in 2013).