Latest news with #diagnosis
Business Upturn
2 hours ago
- Health
- Business Upturn
Late-breaking analysis demonstrates characteristics associated with long-term overall survival with Onivyde® regimen in metastatic pancreatic adenocarcinoma
Phase III NAPOLI 3 trial is the largest and has the longest follow-up for an interventional study in metastatic pancreatic adenocarcinoma 1 Post-hoc analysis of NAPOLI 3 study determined characteristics associated with long-term survival, with median overall survival of 19.5 months amongst long-term survivors receiving Onivyde ® plus oxaliplatin, fluorouracil and leucovorin (NALIRIFOX) regimen as a first-line therapy 2 Dose reductions and/or treatment delays for the management of adverse events enabled patients to stay on treatment longer and achieve high cumulative doses of liposomal irinotecan and oxaliplatin 2 PARIS, France, 31 May 2025 – Late-breaking (LBA4175) post-hoc analysis data from the Phase III NAPOLI 3 study were presented today at the 2025 American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Annual Meeting. These results found a median overall survival (mOS) of 19.5 months among long-term survivors (n=15) with metastatic pancreatic adenocarcinoma (mPDAC) treated with the Onivyde ® (irinotecan liposome injection) plus oxaliplatin, fluorouracil and leucovorin (NALIRIFOX) regimen as a first-line treatment (n=120), with younger age at diagnosis, and certain tumor and metastasis locations associated with long-term survivorship. 2 Pancreatic adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is the most common type of cancer that forms in the pancreas, with more than 60,000 people diagnosed annually in the U.S. and nearly 500,000 people globally.3 , 4 It is often detected after the disease has spread to other parts of the body (metastatic or stage IV)5 and fewer than 20% of people diagnosed with metastatic pancreatic adenocarcinoma (mPDAC) survive longer than one year. 5 , 6 Overall, pancreatic cancer has the lowest five-year survival rate of all cancer types globally and in the U.S. 5 , 6 'When people are diagnosed with metastatic pancreatic adenocarcinoma, the most important question remains: how long will they have with their loved ones,' said Dr. Vincent Chung, Medical Oncologist, City of Hope. 'Findings from the NAPOLI 3 post-hoc analysis provide important context on long-term overall survival with the Onivyde (NALIRIFOX) treatment regimen.' The analysis included patients who survived for 18 months or longer (N=15), with findings showing long-term survivors living with mPDAC had a mOS of 19.5 months (interquartile range [IQR]: 18.8–22.6). 2 Clinical and pathological factors of long-term survivors included younger than average age at time of diagnosis (median age 61.0 (IQR: 49.0–70.5) as well as tumor location. 2 Fewer patients had tumors in the head or tail of the pancreas (53.3% had the main pancreatic tumor located in the body of the pancreas), a substantial proportion had liver metastasis (66.7%) and ≥3 metastatic sites (53.3%). 2 Additionally, findings indicate dose reduction and treatment delays resulted in prolonged exposure and higher cumulative doses of the Onivyde (NALIRIFOX) regimen. 1 Liver metastasis and ≥3 metastatic sites, dose modifications and an otherwise good clinical profile enabled people to achieve a long mOS. 2 Consideration should be taken when interpreting these results as a post-hoc analysis with a small sample size. 'Data from the Phase III NAPOLI 3 trial were the first positive data of its kind in a decade and continue to reinforce the potential for long-term outcomes with the Onviyde (NALIRIFOX) regimen,' said Sandra Silvestri, MD, PhD, Executive Vice President, Chief Medical Officer, Ipsen. 'With people on average living just 4-6 months following diagnosis with pancreatic adenocarcinoma, these data help us to understand the characteristics associated with long-term survival seen in the NAPOLI trial, an important advancement for this difficult-to-treat cancer where data of this kind are scarce.' ENDS About Onivyde (irinotecan liposome injection) Onivyde is a long-circulating liposomal topoisomerase inhibitor. In Onivyde, irinotecan is enclosed in tiny fat particles called liposomes which accumulate in the tumor and release slowly over time. Onivyde is administered via intravenous infusion over 90 minutes every two weeks with recommendations on dosing modifications. Onivyde, as part of the NALIRIFOX regimen (combined with oxaliplatin, fluorouracil (FU) and leucovorin (LV)), is for people living with mPDAC who are treatment naïve or used in combination with FU and LV following gemcitabine-based therapy. Onivyde is not indicated as a single agent for the treatment of adult patients with metastatic pancreatic adenocarcinoma. Ipsen has exclusive commercialization rights for the current and potential future indications for Onivyde in the U.S. Servier, an independent international pharmaceutical company governed by a foundation and with an international presence in 140 countries, is responsible for the commercialization of Onivyde outside of the U.S., Taiwan and Canada. PharmaEngine is a commercial stage oncology company headquartered in Taipei and is responsible for the commercialization of Onivyde in Taiwan. About NAPOLI 3 Study NAPOLI 3 is a randomized, open-label Phase III trial of an Onivyde treatment regimen (NALIRIFOX) in treatment-naïve mPDAC. NAPOLI 3 enrolled 770 patients across 187 trial site locations in 18 countries across Europe, North America, South America, Asia, and Australia. Patients were randomized to receive Onivyde plus oxaliplatin, fluorouracil and leucovorin (NALIRIFOX regimen; n=383) twice in a month (days 1 and 15 of 28-day cycle) compared to an injection of nab-paclitaxel and gemcitabine (n=387) administered three times a month (days 1, 8, 15 of a 28-day cycle) . About Ipsen We are a global biopharmaceutical company with a focus on bringing transformative medicines to patients in three therapeutic areas: Oncology, Rare Disease and Neuroscience. Our pipeline is fueled by external innovation and supported by nearly 100 years of development experience and global hubs in the U.S., France and the U.K. Our teams in more than 40 countries and our partnerships around the world enable us to bring medicines to patients in more than 100 countries. Ipsen is listed in Paris (Euronext: IPN) and in the U.S. through a Sponsored Level I American Depositary Receipt program (ADR: IPSEY). For more information, visit Ipsen Media contacts Investors Khalid Deojee | +33 666019526 | [email protected] Media Disclaimers and/or Forward-Looking Statements The forward-looking statements, objectives and targets contained herein are based on Ipsen's management strategy, current views and assumptions. Such statements involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results, performance or events to differ materially from those anticipated herein. All of the above risks could affect Ipsen's future ability to achieve its financial targets, which were set assuming reasonable macroeconomic conditions based on the information available today. Use of the words 'believes', 'anticipates' and 'expects' and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements, including Ipsen's expectations regarding future events, including regulatory filings and determinations. Moreover, the targets described in this document were prepared without taking into account external-growth assumptions and potential future acquisitions, which may alter these parameters. These objectives are based on data and assumptions regarded as reasonable by Ipsen. These targets depend on conditions or facts likely to happen in the future, and not exclusively on historical data. Actual results may depart significantly from these targets given the occurrence of certain risks and uncertainties, notably the fact that a promising medicine in early development phase or clinical trial may end up never being launched on the market or reaching its commercial targets, notably for regulatory or competition reasons. Ipsen must face or might face competition from generic medicine that might translate into a loss of market share. Furthermore, the research and development process involves several stages each of which involves the substantial risk that Ipsen may fail to achieve its objectives and be forced to abandon its efforts with regards to a medicine in which it has invested significant sums. Therefore, Ipsen cannot be certain that favorable results obtained during preclinical trials will be confirmed subsequently during clinical trials, or that the results of clinical trials will be sufficient to demonstrate the safe and effective nature of the medicine concerned. There can be no guarantees a medicine will receive the necessary regulatory approvals or that the medicine will prove to be commercially successful. If underlying assumptions prove inaccurate or risks or uncertainties materialize, actual results may differ materially from those set forth in the forward-looking statements. Other risks and uncertainties include but are not limited to, general industry conditions and competition; general economic factors, including interest rate and currency exchange rate fluctuations; the impact of pharmaceutical industry regulation and healthcare legislation; global trends toward healthcare cost containment; technological advances, new medicine and patents attained by competitors; challenges inherent in new-medicine development, including obtaining regulatory approval; Ipsen's ability to accurately predict future market conditions; manufacturing difficulties or delays; financial instability of international economies and sovereign risk; dependence on the effectiveness of Ipsen's patents and other protections for innovative medicines; and the exposure to litigation, including patent litigation, and/or regulatory actions. Ipsen also depends on third parties to develop and market some of its medicines which could potentially generate substantial royalties; these partners could behave in such ways which could cause damage to Ipsen's activities and financial results. Ipsen cannot be certain that its partners will fulfil their obligations. It might be unable to obtain any benefit from those agreements. A default by any of Ipsen's partners could generate lower revenues than expected. Such situations could have a negative impact on Ipsen's business, financial position or performance. Ipsen expressly disclaims any obligation or undertaking to update or revise any forward-looking statements, targets or estimates contained in this press release to reflect any change in events, conditions, assumptions or circumstances on which any such statements are based, unless so required by applicable law. Ipsen's business is subject to the risk factors outlined in its registration documents filed with the French Autorité des Marchés Financiers. The risks and uncertainties set out are not exhaustive and the reader is advised to refer to Ipsen's latest Universal Registration Document, available on References 1 Wainberg et al. NALIRIFOX versus nab-paclitaxel and gemcitabine in treatment-naive patients with metastatic pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (NAPOLI 3): a randomised, open-label, phase 3 trial. Lancet. 2023 Oct 7;402(10409):1272-1281. 2 Chung et al. NAPOLI 3 phase 3 study of NALIRIFOX in patients with metastatic pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (mPDAC): final overall survival (OS) analysis and characteristics of the long-term survivors. As presented at ASCO Congress 2025 Chicago, USA 3 American Cancer Society – Cancer Facts and Figures 2024. Available : 4 5 Orth, M., Metzger, P., Gerum, S. et al. Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma: biological hallmarks, current status, and future perspectives of combined modality treatment approaches. Radiat Oncol 14, 141 (2019). Attachment Ipsen PR_ASCO NAPOLI_31052025 Disclaimer: The above press release comes to you under an arrangement with GlobeNewswire. Business Upturn takes no editorial responsibility for the same.
Malay Mail
7 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Malay Mail
Dr House gets it wrong: Croatian neurologists highlight 77 errors in popular TV series
ZAGREB, June 1 — He's the maverick medic who loved to confound the medical establishment with his brilliant, unorthodox diagnoses. But Dr Gregory House, the misanthropic genius who was the star of the long-running 'House' television series, got an awful lot wrong himself, Croatian doctors claim. From a neurologist at work on the wrong end of a patient by performing a colonoscopy, or an MRI scan done by a physician who is clearly not a radiologist, Croatian researchers have pulled the American series up on its medical accuracy in a paper published this month. Denis Cerimagic, a professor at Dubrovnik University, and two fellow neurologists—all big fans of the series—listed 77 errors after analysing all 177 episodes of the show, which ran from 2004 to 2012. 'We focused on the diagnoses of main cases, reality of clinical practice presentation and detection of medical errors,' Cerimagic told AFP. He and his peers—Goran Ivkic and Ervina Bilic—broke the mistakes down into five categories including misuses of medical terminology, misinformation and simple weirdness—something which the show's anti-hero, played by British star Hugh Laurie, possessed in abundance. That limp They included the use of mercury thermometers—which had long given way to digital ones—the term heart attack and cardiac arrest being used interchangeably when they are not the same, and that vitamin B12 deficiency can be corrected with just one injection. Nor is there a universal chemotherapy for all types of malignant tumours, as one episode suggested. But arguably the biggest error of all is that Laurie—whose character's genius for deduction comes from the misdiagnosis that left him with a limp and chronic pain—uses his cane on the wrong side. The stick should be carried on his unaffected side, Cerimagic said, though he understood why the actor had done it because 'it's more effective to see the pronounced limp on the screen'. Their research also found medical procedures being done by specialists who had no business being there, like an infectologist performing an autopsy. At times the series also stretched reality beyond breaking point, with the findings of complex laboratory tests done in just a few hours. And doctors rarely turn detective and take it upon themselves to enter patients' homes to look for environmental causes of illnesses. Not to mention Dr House's unethical behaviour—'Brain tumour, she's gonna die' the paper quoted him as saying—and the character's opiates addiction. The researchers say they may have missed other mistakes. 'We are neurologists while other medical specialists would certainly establish additional errors,' Cerimagic added. Medical errors Whatever their criticisms, the researchers say that modern medical series are far better produced than in the past, thanks to medical advisors. It is not like some 20 years ago when you had doctors looking at X-rays upside down, the neurologist said. 'Now only medical professionals can notice errors,' Cerimagic said. Despite its flaws, they thought the series could even be used to help train medical students. 'The focus could be on recognising medical errors in the context of individual episodes, adopting the teamwork concept and a multidisciplinary approach in diagnosis and treatment,' Cerimagic said. He said he and his colleagues were taken aback by the response to their paper 'House M.D.: Between reality and fiction'—which is not the first academic study to cast doubt on the good doctor and his methods. 'The idea was to make a scientific paper interesting not only to doctors but also to people without specific medical knowledge.' — AFP
Daily Mail
21 hours ago
- Health
- Daily Mail
EXCLUSIVE An NFL legend sexually tormented me for years. He did it on the field, in the tunnel and even on TV... but I won't be silenced
Back in 2013, Jenn Sterger went in search of another opinion. Yet another opinion. 'I was constantly in and out of doctors' offices with these rare, chronic illnesses,' the former NFL reporter tells the Daily Mail. No one could quite diagnose the problem.
Metro
a day ago
- Politics
- Metro
Biden jokes he 'can beat the hell out of' authors on his decline after cancer di
Former President Joe Biden joked that he can 'beat the hell out of' two authors who wrote about his decline while delivering his first public remarks since his cancer diagnosis. Biden, 82, knocked several criticisms of him at once while speaking to reporters at a Delaware Memorial Day event on Friday. 'You can see that I'm mentally incompetent and I can't walk and I can beat the hell out of both of them,' he said. The 46th president was referring to journalists Jake Tapper and Alex Thompson, who co-wrote Original Sin: President Biden's Decline, Its Cover-up, and His Disastrous Choice to Run Again. Biden said he is 'optimistic' about the treatment plan he is under for his Stage 4 prostate cancer. His office announced on May 16 that doctors discovered a 'small nodule' on his prostate. 'We're underway and all the folks are very optimistic,' the ex-president said. 'The expectation is we're going to be able to beat this. It's not in any (other) organ. My bones are strong, it hasn't penetrated. So I'm feeling good.' He added that it's 'all a matter of taking a pill, one particular pill, and for the next six weeks, and then another one, the expectation is we're going to be able to beat this'. Biden said 'I don't have any regrets' about seeking a second term before being forced to drop out of the race following a disastrous debate against now-president Donald Trump. 'There's a lot going on. And I think we're in a really difficult moment, not only in American history, in world history. I think we're at one of those inflection points in history where the decisions we make in the next little bit are going to determine what things look like for the next 20 years.' More Trending He also said he is upset that American politics are 'so divided'. Biden's aides are under new scrutiny after the book detailed signs of his physical and mental decline in his last year as president. A White House spokesperson on Thursday alleged that former First Lady Jill Biden conspired to hide her husband's health from the public. The former president spoke on a day that coincided with the 10th anniversary of his eldest son Beau Biden's death from brain cancer. Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@ For more stories like this, check our news page. MORE: Elon Musk shows up with black eye to Trump's event bidding him farewell MORE: Adele Roberts facing fresh health issue three years after being declared cancer-free MORE: Ex-CIA chief reveals where in Europe he thinks Putin will invade next
Medscape
a day ago
- Business
- Medscape
Misdiagnosing and Overdiagnosing AxSpA: An ‘Imaging Crisis?'
TORONTO — MRI is central to the early detection and diagnosis of axial spondyloarthritis (axSpA), but years-long diagnostic delays are still common. However, experts are warning that misinterpretation of MRI findings is contributing to significant increases in false-positive diagnoses in patients presenting with back pain that may be caused by other, noninflammatory conditions. The good news is that studies show that diagnostic accuracy in the interpretation of MRI findings can be significantly improved when rheumatologists provide radiologists with all the clinical information relevant to a diagnosis of axSpA. 'There is a high risk of misdiagnosis and overdiagnosis of axSpA in clinical practice,' said Denis Poddubnyy, MD, PhD, professor in the Division of Rheumatology, Temerty Faculty of Medicine at the University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Denis Poddubnyy, MD, PhD 'In 2025, evidence of SpA-compatible active inflammatory and structural changes on MRI of the sacroiliac joints is needed for a diagnosis of axSpA,' he said in a presentation at the Spondyloarthritis Research and Treatment Network (SPARTAN) 2025 Annual Meeting. 'There's been a paradigm shift.' Evidence for this paradigm shift comes from the ongoing Improve-axSpA project, Poddubnyy said. The telemedicine initiative, which involves rheumatologists and orthopedists at 40 centers across Germany and Austria, is focused on enhancing the diagnosis of axSpA. Interim findings showed that clinicians misinterpreted the MRI findings in 35% of 476 cases of suspected axSpA submitted for central evaluation. These cases could be explained by noninflammatory conditions that mimic the symptoms of axSpA, said the investigators, led by Poddubnyy. These axSpA-like conditions include degenerative or mechanical changes in the sacroiliac joint (SIJ), degenerative disk disease, and osteitis condensans ilii — a mechanical condition that is often associated with bone marrow edema in the SIJs. 'I believe this [35%] figure is very accurate, not only for Europe — or Germany and Austria — but for anywhere that physicians are trying to apply MRI findings to make an early diagnosis,' Poddubnyy told Medscape Medical News . This finding could also account for a significant proportion of the 40%-50% of patients with axSpA who don't respond to treatment, he said. In the study, central evaluation ruled out axSpA in a whopping 75% of the 183 cases with an inconclusive local diagnosis. In the other 25% of these cases, the diagnosis could not be confirmed by central assessment because of insufficient imaging. This disturbing trend provides evidence of an 'imaging crisis' in axSpA, said Torsten Diekhoff, MD, PhD, a radiologist and associate professor, Charité — Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany, in an editorial published on May 16, 2025, in The Lancet Rheumatology . Poddubnyy was a co-author. 'The prevailing dilemma in imaging of axial spondyloarthritis lies in the incongruence between early detection and the confidence of the imaging assessment,' they wrote. 'Although clinical work-around strategies have been developed to address this issue, they frequently fail to resolve the fundamental concern of achieving an early diagnosis before the manifestation of structural lesions.' When asked to comment, Jonathan Chan, MD, clinical associate professor, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, said there are 'definitely some major changes that we all agree are important.' One of them is acknowledging that MRI is a better tool than x-ray and that there is heavier weighting for MRI than for x-ray. 'We know that structural lesions are important, and we know that sometimes bone marrow edema can be intermittent, whereas the presence of multiple erosions will not reverse. That is something you can hang your hat on.' The consequences of diagnostic delay in patients with axSpA are well known and include less favorable treatment response and worse clinical outcomes. In 2019, an analysis of health insurance data in Germany from 1677 patients with axSpA revealed that diagnostic delay was common, with a mean of 5.7 years. The factors associated with longer time to diagnosis included female gender, negative HLA-B27 status, the presence of psoriasis, and a younger age at symptom onset. In its 2022 update of management recommendations for axSpA, members of the Assessment of Spondyloarthritis International Society (ASAS)-European Alliance of Associations for Rheumatology (EULAR) task force addressed the importance of ruling out alternative explanations for symptoms to avoid unnecessary treatment changes. The diagnostic accuracy of MRI imaging interpreted by physicians in clinical practice could be improved with expert support from a telemedicine platform that 'transcends borders,' said Poddubnyy, who is also a clinician investigator at the Schroeder Arthritis Institute, University Health Network, Toronto, Ontario, Canada. 'We want to diagnose patients early, but we need to be extremely careful about how we interpret the imaging of the sacroiliac joints and the spine,' he emphasized. What to Do When MRI Availability Is Limited For many clinicians, however, x-rays are the diagnostic imaging go-to, particularly in areas where access to MRI is limited. 'The specificity of x-rays is not great,' Poddubnyy said. 'If you have to perform x-rays first in your clinical setting, that's okay, but be extremely critical in terms of interpreting this imaging. If you have any doubts about whether axial disease is present, order a cross-sectional image.' When MRI is not readily available, CT may be a good alternative, he suggested. In the Improve-axSpA study, for instance, CT had higher specificity and produced fewer false-positive results than MRI. CT also captured more specific lesions, including erosions and ankylosis. Sharing clinical information can vastly improve MRI interpretation, a 2024 study showed. The results demonstrated that when rheumatologists gave radiologists essential clinical information relevant to the diagnosis of axSpA — not just patient age and gender — the precision and specificity of imaging interpretation significantly improved. When clinical information was available along with conventional radiographs, the precision of SIJ radiograph interpretation — meaning the percentage agreement between diagnosis by a rheumatologist and the radiology report confirming or excluding a diagnosis of axSpA — jumped from 70% to 78%. This kind of information-sharing doesn't happen routinely in clinical practice, said the investigators, led by Tim Pohlner, Charité — Universitätsmedizin Berlin. Some clinicians think that sharing essential clinical information will cause bias on the part of the radiologist, explained Poddubnyy. The expertise of both rheumatologists and radiologists is needed to diagnose axSpA, he added, and that means all information on clinical and imaging outcomes must be accessible. 'This is something that should be done in daily clinical practice, in every radiology setting,' Poddubnyy emphasized. 'Rheumatologists should be initiating this, bringing the radiologist to this idea.' The 2024 ASAS recommendations on clinical information to include on imaging referrals provide support for differentiating inflammatory from noninflammatory changes in patients with suspected or known axSpA. A downloadable checklist that can be shared with the radiologist includes information such as patient history, back pain characteristics, HLA-B27 status, physical activity level, pregnancy history, and SpA parameters. For Chan, who is also a clinical investigator at Arthritis Research Canada, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, the importance of sharing clinical information became evident while he was working on the CLASSIC study to revise classification criteria for axSpA in adults. 'We would meet every five scans and do a calibration with two or three central reader radiologists and then our local reader radiologist, who was using the 2009 [ASAS] classification criteria. After…our local reader realized what he was missing and what he needed to look for, it was very easy for him to' change the way he practiced. When asked to comment, Walter P. Maksymowych, MBChB, professor of medicine at the University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, agreed that sharing clinical information such as HLA-B27 status is important. However, he emphasized that classification criteria for axSpA should not be used to diagnose the disease in clinical practice. Walter P. Maksymowych, MBCh 'These criteria are aimed at identifying patients with shared clinical characteristics for the purposes of clinical research, especially clinical trials research,' he said. 'I do think they help highlight key lessons,' he added, 'particularly the importance of MRI as a diagnostic tool.' Education to Improve Diagnostic Accuracy Education of both rheumatologists and radiologists is needed to improve diagnostic accuracy in axSpA, Poddubnyy said in a recent commentary in Nature Reviews Rheumatology . 'Rheumatologists need appropriate training to recognize the potential imaging pitfalls when diagnosing axSpA,' wrote Poddubnyy and Xenofon Baraliakos, MD, PhD, head of Rheumatology at the Rheumazentrum Ruhrgebiet, in Herne, Germany. Baraliakos is also president-elect of EULAR and past president of ASAS. 'Radiologists require specialized knowledge in interpreting MRI (as well as other imaging) findings in the sacroiliac joints and spine and guidance on how to differentiate inflammatory from mechanical or degenerative changes,' they wrote. Looking ahead, Poddubnyy and Baraliakos noted the emergence of artificial intelligence (AI) and AI-assisted tools in the imaging arena. Early evidence shows that AI can detect subtle patterns of inflammation and structural damage and could potentially increase the accuracy of interpreting axSpA-specific changes. Molecular imaging of inflammatory molecules using modalities such as PET could also prove valuable for determining whether bone marrow edema is related to axSpA or to mechanical stress or degenerative changes. In the meantime, the ASAS interactive online case library is an important resource for both rheumatologists and radiologists, Poddubnyy and Baraliakos said. It provides clinical cases with imaging that represent the entire spectrum of axSpA and the most common differential diagnoses. Other resources include the 2024 international ASAS-SPARTAN standardized image acquisition protocol for diagnostic evaluation of the SIJs by MRI and the 2024 international ASAS recommendations for reporting SIJ imaging, which detail ways in which alternative diagnoses can be considered. Online tools, training, and continuing medical education programs are also available at CARE Arthritis Ltd., said Maksymowych, who is chief medical officer. 'We have instructions on how MRI imaging should be performed and how it should be interpreted, with an extensive library of MRI scans in a DICOM [Digital Imaging and Communications in Medicine] format. We also provide other tools for clinicians, such as how to assess enthesitis, do a physical exam, and so on.' When all is said and done, early diagnosis increases the likelihood of a good treatment response. 'The earlier, the better,' Poddubnyy said. Studies of patients with symptoms of 3-5 years' duration have demonstrated the highest response rates, including remission, he pointed out. 'I'm pretty much convinced that early diagnosis and early treatment, and achieving an early inflammation-free and symptom-free state, will decrease the likelihood of chronic pain and the development of fibromyalgia,' Poddubnyy said. 'And with early and appropriate control of inflammation, we should be able to prevent the progression of structural damage, especially in the spine, and avoid long-term disability caused by ankylosis.'
