High Rates of Deployment, Combat Affected Them Mentally, Physically WASHINGTON—This likely will come as little surprise to the VA and DoD medical personnel who care for them, but recent veterans really are very different from those who came before them. A recent...
Biofeedback Can Help Headache Pain
PORTLAND, OR - Biofeedback can be a helpful treatment for headache pain, as well as possibly other conditions such as urinary and fecal incontinence. The technique also might aid in stroke recovery, according to a literature review by a team at the VA Portland, OR,...
Early Pain Experience with TKA Affects Longer Term Results
BIRMINGHAM – What is the pain experience after total knee arthroplasty and how does it affect outcome six to 12 months later? That is the question raised in an article in JAMA Network Open. The Birmingham, AL, VAMC and University of Alabama at Birmingham researchers...
Early Use of Regional Anesthesia Provides Sustained Pain Benefits
When integrated into combat casualty care, early use of regional anesthesia appears to provide sustained pain benefits throughout rehabilitation and recovery.
Women Veterans With PTSD Have More Risk Factors for Heart Disease
LOS ANGELES—While post-traumatic stress disorder in veterans previously has been linked to heart disease, the cohorts used in those studies were overwhelmingly mail. Now, a new study took a close look at PTSD’s effect on heart health in women veterans—and the news...
Prostate Cancer Survival Unimproved with Androgen Blockade Addition
SAN DIEGO—While the addition of androgen deprivation therapy to radiation therapy improves survival in patients with intermediate- and high-risk prostate cancer, it remained unknown whether combined androgen blockade with a gonadotropin-releasing hormone agonist and a...
Study Looks at Trichomonas Vaginalis Infection, Cancer Link
LOUIS—The protist Trichomonas vaginalis causes a common, sexually transmitted infection, some research has raised the possibility that it might contribute to the development of chronic prostate conditions, including benign prostatic hyperplasia and prostate cancer. A...
Post-Surgical Prostate Cancer Surveillance Not Guideline-Concordant
ANN ARBOR, MI—Does guideline concordance with annual postoperative prostate-specific antigen surveillance increase when PSA values exceed 4 ng/mL, even though that represents a screening threshold that is not relevant after surgery? That was the question raised in an...
The Two most Frightening Words in Washington: “Bipartisan Consensus”
“The two most frightening words in Washington are ‘bipartisan consensus.’ Bipartisan consensus is when my doctor and my lawyer agree with my wife that I need help.” —P.J. O’Rourke
I have been struggling with the idea of consensus-building for some time in my machinations within the Defense Health Agency to mold effective pain management policy for military beneficiaries. P.J. O’Rourke, one of my favorite modern authors and satirists, cuts to the heart of the issue with brevity and humor. I can easily identify with the feeling that O’Rourke’s comment on consensus evokes in my efforts to move forward on any front within pain medicine by forging agreement among military medical leaders.
As I have noted many times in this column, decisions for medical change are far easier to achieve during a hot war, when the necessity for action is made clear through the clarifying lens of servicemembers’ blood, injury and suffering.
Grant Program to Prevent Veteran Suicide Leads to Fractious Debate
WASHINGTON—The fight to push forward legislation that would create a three-year pilot programming allowing VA to provide grants to community groups targeting veteran suicide has caused rare, public friction among the usually bipartisan House VA Committee and between...
Latest Attempt to Uptake VA’s Financial Management System Raising Concerns
WASHINGTON—Though it might be lost among VA’s larger, higher-profile IT projects, the department is moving forward with its latest attempt to replace its financial management system—something it has tried and failed to do twice in the past. The Financial Management...
VA, Indian Health Service Try to Work Out Ways to Improve AI/AN Care
WASHINGTON—The health of Native American veterans recently took center stage at congressional hearings—a rarity—as VA and the Indian Health Service prepare to update their memorandum of understanding on how the agencies share responsibility in caring for Native...
Some Military Healthcare Cuts Temporarily Put on Hold for Manpower Review
Original Proposal Would Have Been Detrimental to USUHS WASHINGTON—The DoD’s proposed plan to cut as many as 18,000 military medical billets has been put on hold in the final version of the National Defense Authorization Act, which passed the House and Senate last...
Researcher Uses VA EMR to Track Social Factors Linked to Veteran Suicide
PITTSBURGH—It’s long been understood that social stress factors such as violence, homelessness, unemployment, relationship problems and other factors can all contribute to veterans’ suicidal ideation and suicide attempts. For the first time, that link can be...
Multiple Myeloma Treatment Linked to More Secondary Malignancies in Veterans
BOSTON – While treatment of and survival with multiple myeloma has dramatically improved with better therapeutic options, concerns have been raised about a concurrent increase in second primary malignancies that appear to be related to treatment. A presentation at the...
No Evidence That Military Trauma Increases Risk of Hematologic Malignancies
FAIRFIELD, CA – Does trauma play a role in the development of blood cancer? A recent study of wounded warriors sought to answer that question. A presentation at the 61st American Society of Hematology Annual Meeting and Exposition in Orlando recounted that multiple...
Pharmacist Interventions Seek to Improve Care for VA Transplant Patients
CHARLESTON, SC—VA researchers hope that a pharmacist-led intervention now being studied can improve care and outcomes for veterans who have had solid organ transplants. The study—and the intervention—could have a positive impact on care for a significant number of...
With Equal Care, African Americans With Multiple Myeloma Outlive Others
BOSTON—A recent VA study has shed new light on racial disparities in multiple myeloma. “Previous work examined survival and treatment in multiple myeloma in the broader U.S. healthcare system and found disparities in survival,” said study co-author Nathanael Fillmore,...
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