ATLANTA -- Attacking locally advanced prostate cancer with intermittent androgen treatment may improve quality of life while maintaining the historical survival of more aggressive therapy.

STRASBOURG, France -- Transvaginal cholecystectomy heralds the next stage in surgical evolution, offering the potential for pain-free surgery and "invisible mending," surgeons here proclaimed after doing their first procedure.

NEW YORK -- A genetic mutation known to cause Gaucher disease may also contribute to early onset of Parkinson's disease, particularly in patients with Jewish ancestry, researchers found.

BANGKOK, Thailand -- Cooling the skin to protect it from hyperpigmentation after laser treatment actually increased discoloration in dark-skinned patients, researchers reported.

Congestive heart failure and cirrhosis are the most common causes of transudative pleural effusions, while pneumonia and malignancy are responsible for the majority of exudative effusions. Plain chest films are valuable in confirming the presence of an effusion, providing clues to the cause, and directing the method of pleural fluid sampling. Thoracentesis is safe and simple, and it is diagnostic in about 75% of cases. Pleural biopsy is indicated for unexplained exudative effusions, most of which are found to result from malignancy or tuberculosis. Medical thoracoscopy, if available, is the procedure of choice for patients with these effusions. Thoracoscopy permits visually directed pleural biopsies and allows for therapeutic intervention at the time of diagnosis, obviating the need for subsequent invasive procedures.

Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) infection may be significantly more widespread than previously thought. Investigators analyzed data from more than 1200 county, public, and private health care facilities across the country, including centers for acute care, cancer, cardiac care, pediatric care, rehabilitation, and long-term care.

I read with interest Dr Gregory Rutecki's response to a reader's comments (CONSULTANT, February 2007), in which he emphasized the need for early screening and treatment of cardiovascular disease in patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD).

An abnormality of both first proximal interphalangeal joints was noted in a 54-year-old woman who had recently undergone an elective total hip arthroplasty to treat post-traumatic osteoarthritis. She had had worsening hip pain following an intertrochanteric fracture and open reduction internal fixation several years earlier.

BERN, Switzerland -- The two major drug-eluting stents and bare-metal devices emerged in a three-way mortality dead heat, according to a meta-analysis of 38 randomized trials conducted by an international team.

A recent article made me reconsider a medical tradition that I have taken for granted and, in certain instances, that I may have inappropriately continued. The annual ambulatory history and physical examination is a persistent vestige from a time long gone.

Take this MedPage Today survey that looks at clinicians' ability to interpret clinical studies and implement research into practice.

Six out of every 10 respondents to a MedPage Today poll said Medicare's decision not to reimburse hospitals for the extra costs of treating preventable injuries is overly punitive.

GOTHENBURG, Sweden -- After hip replacement, an investigational oral thrombin inhibitor is an "attractive alternative" to prevent venous thrombosis, researchers here found.

SAN DIEGO -- Cardiac PET imaging offers a safe, accurate, noninvasive method for monitoring the expanding population of long-term survivors of congenital anomalies, according to a small clinical series reported here.

SAN DIEGO -- For patients with equivocal or discordant findings on myocardial perfusion imaging, CT angiography (CTA) can unmask false-negative and false-positive results, investigators reported here.

CLAYTON, Australia -- A small number of special cells that resemble mesenchymal stem cells, bearing the possible application for major anatomic repairs, have been found in human endometrium, investigators here have found.

DENVER -- The increase in high-grade prostate cancer seen among men taking finasteride (Proscar) is probably caused by increased detection, two groups of researchers said.

DALLAS -- Patients with elements of metabolic syndrome are more likely to develop highly acidic urine, increasing their risk of forming uric-acid kidney stones, researchers reported.

SAN DIEGO -- Low-density coronary plaque detected by multi-slice CT angiography (CTA) predicted an increased risk of cardiac events in the absence of hemodynamically significant stenosis.

BOSTON -- Combinations of targeted drugs may overcome the agents' often tepid or transitory individual actions against brain tumors, researchers here said.