Patients who received clopidogrel (Plavix, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Sanofi-Aventis) plus a proton-pump inhibitor (PPI) had a significantly higher risk of rehospitalization for MI or coronary stent placement than did patients receiving clopidogrel alone, according to a retrospective study published April 26 in the Archives of Internal Medicine.

In a surprising decision, Judge Donovan W. Frank of the U.S. District Court in Minnesota has declined to accept the $296 million plea agreement between Guidant and the Department of Justice (DoJ), related to product advisories issued in 2005, before Boston Scientific acquired Guidant.

Tobacco smoking during radiation therapy for head-and-neck cancer is associated with unfavorable outcomes, said researchers from the department of radiation oncology at the University of California Davis Cancer Center in Sacramento, Calif.,who evaluated the effect of continued cigarette smoking among patients undergoing radiation therapy.

The FDA has granted 510(k) clearance for Medtronics PoleStar N30 Surgical MRI system for neuro-oncology surgical procedures. The company simultaneously launched the imaging system.

The California Medical Association (CMA) has announced its withdrawal from a Blue Shield of California initiative to rate physician performance due to the program's serious and disturbing flaws in how data are collected on physicians that result in gross inaccuracies." And, in recent interviews, Blue Shield defended its program, while CMA reiterated its resistance to the payor's method of ranking state physicians.

President Barack Obamas healthcare reform plan is estimated to increase the overall national health expenditures under the healthcare reform act by a total of $311 billion over the next decade, according to a report last week from Richard Foster, chief actuary of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS).

Clinicians at Solna, Sweden-based Karolinska University Hospital have performed a Gamma Knife surgery at Sophiahemmet Hospital in Stockholm, utilizing Elektas fifth generation radiosurgery system, Leksell Gamma Knife Perfexion.

American Society for Radiology Oncology (ASTRO) President Anthony Zietman, MD, of Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard University in Boston, said that radiation treatment should be employed as opposed to the watchful waiting method, as doctors currently have little way to tell if prostate cancer will progress or remain somewhat asymptomatic.