Neoadjuvant treatment for stage III and IV cutaneous melanoma.

Background: Cutaneous melanoma is amongst the most aggressive of all skin cancers. Neoadjuvant treatment is a form of induction therapy, given to shrink a cancerous tumour prior to the main treatment (usually surgery). The purpose is to improve survival and surgical outcomes.

How Traditional Advance Directives Undermine Advance Care Planning: If You Have It in Writing, You Do Not Have to Worry About It.

This research explores the perspectives of seriously ill patients on the completion of documentation and the implementation of advance directives and advance care planning.

Patient perspectives on states worse than death: A qualitative study with implications for patient-centered outcomes and values elicitation.

Background: Seriously ill patients rate several health outcomes as states worse than death. It is unclear what factors underlie such valuations, and whether consideration of such states is useful when making medical decisions.

Aim: We sought to (1) use qualitative approaches to identify states worse than death, (2) identify attributes common to such undesirable health states, and (3) determine how participants might use information on these states in making medical decisions.

The Interaction between Price Negotiations and Heterogeneity: Implications for Economic Evaluations.

Economic evaluation is an important element of the decision making process for the reimbursement of drugs. Heterogeneity can be considered an explained variation in clinical or economic outcomes based on the clinical and sociodemographic characteristics of patients. However, to our knowledge, the relationship between price negotiations and population heterogeneity has not been considered in the literature to date.

Health Technology Assessment of Drugs in Ireland: An Analysis of Timelines.

Background: The National Centre for Pharmacoeconomics (NCPE) is commissioned by the Corporate Pharmaceutical Unit of the Health Service Executive (HSE-CPU) to assess the evidence for the comparative effectiveness and cost effectiveness of drugs for use by patients in Ireland. All new drugs are required to undergo rapid review (RR) appraisal by the NCPE. Following this, high-cost drugs or those predicted to have a significant budget impact then undergo a full health technology assessment (HTA) appraisal by the NCPE.

The use of radiotherapy for the treatment of localized orbital amyloidosis.

Objective: To describe two patients with localized orbital amyloidosis and the response of their condition to surgical debulking followed by external beam radiotherapy.

Design: Retrospective noncomparative interventional case series.

Outcome Measures: Stabilization or regression of orbital signs after treatment.

What is low-risk prostate cancer and what is its natural history?

This article reviews the definition, incidence, pathological characteristics and natural history of low risk localised prostate cancer. Low risk disease is typically defined as clinical stage T1/T2a, biopsy Gleason score View Article and Find Full Text PDF