Studies and diseases
We retell studies newly published in medical journals in words everyone can follow. The articles are summarised by AI from the study itself, and each one names its source at the top.
In a Swedish trial of 100 very premature babies with severe eye disease, 20.0% of those given dexamethasone drops and 38.0% of those given dummy drops reached the stage needing invasive treatment. The difference may be due to chance.
Pooling 189 trials of 59 treatments, the review found moderate-certainty evidence that in the short term shockwaves probably cut pain by 1.97 points on a 0 to 10 scale and manipulation under anaesthesia probably helped raise the arm forward. Most else, safety included, is uncertain.
In a UK trial in which chance decided who got the drug, people over 60 did not clearly live longer, and more died of causes other than a return of the disease. In a planned look at those with a change in the FLT3 gene, survival was longer.
A trial at 15 UK centres compared two ways of numbing the chest in 737 adults, with chance deciding who got which. Six months on, 22% of those with the nerve block and 16% with the epidural had lasting pain, a gap that may be due to chance.
Doctoria does not give medical advice. The articles say what a study did and what it found; consult your doctor for treatment decisions.