U.S. Senators Richard Burr (R-N.C.) and Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) have introduced the Promoting Accountability, Transparency, Innovation, Efficiency and Timeliness at FDA (PATIENTS FDA) Act, a bill to help make sure that the FDA fulfills its mission to ensure that patients have access to cutting-edge, life-saving drugs and devices as quickly as possible.

Source: The Cleveland ClinicAmong older patients with isolated intact abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA), the use of open repair compared with endovascular repair was associated with increased risk of all-cause mortality and AAA-related mortality, based on a large retrospective analysis of Medicare data published April 18 in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

Are some surgeons merely paying lip service to collaborative, multidisciplinary decision making? Radiation oncologists often were excluded from early steps in the breast cancer treatment decision-making process, leaving some patients uninformed of all of their treatment options and potentially leading to more mastectomies over breast-conserving therapy, according to a study published in this month's International Journal of Radiation OncologyBiologyPhysics.

In the wake of a study published April 17 in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) which reported an increased incidence of gastrointestinal morbidity among men with prostate cancer treated with proton therapy compared with intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT), proton therapy providers have rallied to dispute the findings and study methodology.

An analysis of three different types of radiation therapy used to treat nonmetastatic prostate cancer found intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) may be associated with improved disease control and fewer adverse effects than conformal radiation therapy and proton therapy, according to results of a study presented at a Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) media briefing at the National Press Club and published in the April 17 issue of the JAMA.

Phoenix Cardiac Surgery of Phoenix and Prescott, Ariz., has agreed to pay the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) a $100,000 settlement and take corrective action to implement policies and procedures to safeguard the protected health information of its patients.

Citing the explosive growth of wireless medical devices and smartphone applications, six House Republicans have written the heads of the FDA and the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to urge acceleration of regulatory processes and request a detailed progress report.

Although the number of overall colorectal cancer cases has dropped in the U.S. in the last decade, one group, young adults, has seen an increase in the colorectal cancer rate. Every year since 1992, the number of people diagnosed with the disease before age 50 has increased by 2 percent, and cancer experts dont yet understand why.