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DePuy Synthes Products Inc. announced it has acquired Innovative Surgical Solutions LLC, doing business as Sentio LLC. Sentio markets nerve localization technology for spine surgery. According to a company press release, financial terms of the acquisition have not been disclosed. Sentio’s platform offers real-time feedback to surgeons about nerve location with use of adhesive “smart” sensors applied to a patient’s skin. The system reportedly has a minimal footprint in the OR, can be set up by OR personnel and does not require a neuromonitoring specialist.

The cost savings that would be realized under the Senate’s proposed health care bill would have a dramatic negative effect on the quality of health care offered in the United States, according to policy experts and physicians.“What we knew qualitatively was that the bill was more about cutting taxes, slashing the social safety net and shifting health care costs onto average Americans,” Caitlin McCormick Brault, associate director of the Center for Health Law and Policy Innovation at Harvard Law School, told Healio.com. “[The Congressional Budget Office] has now quantified the depth and severity of those cuts.”

Recently published results showed no statistically significant differences in re-rupture and clinical outcomes among the use of the 5-strand hamstring autograft the quadruple autograft larger than 8 mm in ACL reconstruction. Francisco Figueroa, MD, and colleagues divided patients with MRI-diagnosed ACL ruptures and clinical instability with semitendinosus gracilis (ST-G) reconstructions and final graft size larger than 8 mm based on whether they received a quadruple ST-G graft (group A; n=33) or a 5-strand graft due to insufficient graft diameter (group B; n=37). The primary outcome measure was re-rupture rate in both groups, while secondary outcome measures included graft diameter smaller ...

As part of its effort to increase competition in the prescription drug market, the FDA released a list of drugs that are off-patent and off-exclusivity without approved generics and produced a revised manual of policies and procedures for review of abbreviated new drug applications, including prioritization for generic products.“No patient should be priced out of the medicines they need, and as an agency dedicated to promoting public health, we must do our part to help patients get access to the treatments they require,” Scott Gottlieb, MD, commissioner of the FDA, said in an agency press release. “Getting safe and effective ...

AAFP has unleashed a new round of criticism in the wake of the Congressional Budget Office releasing an analysis of the Senate health care bill known as the Better Care Reconciliation Act. The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) report, released yesterday, states that although the proposed Senate legislation would reduce the cumulative federal deficit by $321 billion by 2026, it would increase the number of people who are uninsured by 22 million in 2026, meaning that an estimated 49 million people would be uninsured that year.

Erelzi, a biosimilar to Enbrel, has been approved by the European Commission for all indications of the reference product, according to a company press release.“Immunology is a priority for us and today’s approval of Erelzi, the second in this therapy area in as many weeks, clearly demonstrates our commitment to patients,” Carol Lynch, global head of Biopharmaceuticals at Sandoz, said in the release. “This can also be seen in the progress we are making in our immunology pipeline with two recent file acceptances in Europe. As part of the wider Novartis immunology portfolio, Erelzi further expands the offering to health ...

Results from this study demonstrated soccer players who showed signs of concussion after a head collision should be assessed by an independent health care personnel to avoid delayed care and additional injury. Researchers used video footage from the 2014 FIFA World Cup to identify 61 soccer players who sustained 81 head collisions during 72 separate events during the course of 64 games. Investigators used standardized forms to collect data on whether the soccer players were assessed, by whom the soccer players were assessed and the outcomes of the assessment. Any observable effects of the collision were recorded as signs of ...

Boston Children’s Hospital has been ranked by U.S. News & World Report as the top-ranked hospital in the United States for pediatric orthopedics for the 2017-2018 year.Other centers named to the top five for orthopedic care this year are Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, Rady Children's Hospital, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center and Children’s Medical Center Dallas -Texas Scottish Rite Hospital for Children.

Results from this study demonstrated navigated unicompartamental knee arthroplasty was a valid surgical technique that allows for accurate prediction of predisease alignment. Researchers conducted a single-center retrospective study of 53 patients who underwent computer navigation unicompartamental knee arthroplasty. They used navigation to record preoperative joint alignment and postoperative joint alignment, stress value and range of movement. They compared postoperative alignment with the preoperative stress values for both the postoperative varus alignment and valgus alignment as well as the preoperative WOMAC scores and Knee Society Score and the postoperative scores.

The AMA sent a letter to Senate leaders stating its overwhelming disapproval with the U.S. Senate’s proposal to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act. The Senate Better Care Reconciliation Act of 2017, released to the public last week, maintains much from the version the House passed May 4, but presents some critical changes, such as a slower phase out of Medicaid expansion and funding cost-sharing exchange plans for 2 years.

Patients undergoing shoulder arthroplasty who received a standardized multimodal pain management as well as intraoperative liposomal bupivacaine and intravenous dexamethasone had a significant reduction in length of stay, overall narcotic use and VAS pain scores, according to results. Howard D. Routman, DO, and his colleagues divided 55 patients undergoing shoulder arthroplasty into two groups, both of which received perioperative multimodal management with preoperative and postoperative intravenous (IV) and oral narcotics, gabapentin, nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, acetaminophen and single-injection interscalene block. After the skin incision and liposomal bupivacaine injected at surgery, patients in cohort 2 received 8 mg to 10 mg of ...

PHILADELPHIA — When contact between practitioners and athletic trainers is facilitated through telemedicine for the assessment of concussion in adolescents, both the time and distance to a specialist is reduced, improving satisfaction with care for providers treating this population, according to a recent presentation at the annual meeting of the American Association of Nurse Practitioners.“Using this technology is not only cost-effective, but it increases the number of providers that can manage concussions,” Cydne Marckmann, DNP, ARNP, FAANP, from the Frontier Nursing University and the University of Washington, said in an interview with Infectious Diseases in Children. “This gets kids back ...