Want A Doc To Respond To Your Portal Message? These Tips Will Improve Your Odds, Study Says

Hoping for a quick response from your doctor to a message sent through your patient portal?

Then keep it cordial and positive, a new study suggests.

Doctors were more likely to respond to messages that addressed them by name and had a positive tone, researchers reported Aug. 24 in JAMA Network Open.

“One of the m...

A Doctor's Take: Executive Orders On Childhood Vaccines Raise Public Health Debate

On the first day of medical school, I walked through the historical displays in the campus library. Among historical instruments and vintage incubators sat an Emerson iron lung respirator, a medical device used to treat patients with polio. 

These devices were once common in hospitals across the country, but now exist almost solely in...

Chemo-Free Treatment Shows Promise For Some Metastatic Breast Cancer Patients

A new approach to treating metastatic breast cancer may allow some patients to avoid chemotherapy, at least initially.

In a small early-stage trial recently published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, researchers tested four chemo-free targeted therapies in 29 patients with HR-positive, HER2-positive metastatic brea...

Robot-Assisted Knee Replacement Surgery No Better Than Traditional Surgeon-Only Procedures, Trial Finds

Knee replacement patients do just as well with regular old “sawbones” surgery as they do with cutting-edge robot-assisted procedures, a new clinical trial has found.

Robot-assisted knee replacement surgery is more precise than a surgeon on their own, but does not currently lead to better patient outcomes, researchers reported A...

Symptoms After Childbirth Can Cause Depression, Low Self-Esteem

Childbirth can be tough on a woman’s body and their self-esteem might plummet if minor post-delivery health problems prompt shame, embarrassment and depression, a new study says.

Women with pain, bleeding and itching caused by postpartum issues with their pelvic floor or bowels have a higher risk of depression and low self-esteem, re...

Web App Helps Caregivers Manage Dementia Patients' Aggression, Agitation

An experimental web app can help caregivers better manage loved ones who have dementia without resorting to drugs, a new study says.

The app, called WeCareAdvisor, provides caregivers with strategies to help them manage behavioral symptoms like agitation or aggression in relatives with dementia, researchers reported recently in the Jou...