Comparison Of Health Insurance Coverage For Hearing Aids And Other Services In Alberta.

Objectives: Of the several barriers associated with uptake and adherence to hearing services, cost is the most commonly identified barrier in Canada. This study evaluated health insurance plans for hearing care coverage within Alberta, Canada, and subsequent out-of-pocket expenses that would result if an individual chose to pursue treatment.

Methods: An investigation of eight companies that provide supplementary health coverage in Alberta was conducted.

Long-term outcomes, secondary malignancies and stem cell collection following bendamustine in patients with previously treated non-Hodgkin lymphoma.

Despite the long history of bendamustine as treatment for indolent non-Hodgkin lymphoma, long-term efficacy and toxicity data are minimal. We reviewed long-term data from three clinical trials to characterize the toxicity and efficacy of patients receiving bendamustine. Data were available for 149 subjects at 21 sites.

Management of Early-stage Hodgkin Lymphoma: A Practice Guideline.

In the past, treatment for patients with early-stage Hodgkin lymphoma consisted mainly of radiotherapy. Now, chemotherapy alone and chemoradiotherapy are treatment options. These guidelines aim to provide recommendations on the optimal management of early-stage Hodgkin lymphoma.

Lenalidomide in multiple myeloma-a practice guideline.

Background: Promising new drugs such as lenalidomide, an immunomodulatory agent, are available for the treatment of multiple myeloma. We describe the process of creating a provincial guideline for the use of lenalidomide, alone or in combination with other drugs, in relapsed, refractory, or newly diagnosed disease (including smoldering and symptomatic patients, and candidates and non-candidates for transplant) and in maintenance treatment (after transplant or non-transplant therapy); and for strategies to manage lenalidomide-related toxicities.

Methods: Outcomes of interest included overall survival, event-free survival, progression-free survival, time to progression, time to next treatment, response rate, and incidence of serious toxicity.

Phase II multicenter study of bendamustine plus rituximab in patients with relapsed indolent B-cell and mantle cell non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.

Purpose: Bendamustine HCl is a bifunctional mechlorethamine derivative with clinical activity in the treatment of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. This study evaluated bendamustine plus rituximab in 67 adults with relapsed, indolent B-cell or mantle cell lymphoma without documented resistance to prior rituximab.

Patients And Methods: Patients received rituximab 375 mg/m(2) intravenously on day 1 and bendamustine 90 mg/m(2) intravenously on days 2 and 3 of each 28-day cycle for four to six cycles.

A meta-analysis and systematic review of thalidomide for patients with previously untreated multiple myeloma.

A systematic review and meta-analysis was performed to determine the efficacy and toxicity of thalidomide in previously untreated patients with myeloma. Medline, Embase, Cochrane Controlled Trials Register, and abstracts from the American Society of Hematology and the American Society of Clinical Oncology were searched for randomized controlled trials (RCTs) of either induction or maintenance thalidomide in adults with previously untreated myeloma. Nine RCTs of induction thalidomide, three RCTs of maintenance thalidomide, and one RCT of induction and maintenance thalidomide were identified, involving a total of 4144 subjects.

Prospective assessment of cardiac function in patients with Kaposi's sarcoma and the acquired immune deficiency syndrome.

Prospective evaluation of cardiac function was undertaken in 21 patients with Kaposi's sarcoma (KS) and the acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) as part of a phase II clinical trial of 4'epirubicin. All patients were homosexual or bisexual males of median age 34 years (range 23-65). All patients had disseminated cutaneous involvement by KS and seven had systemic organ involvement.

Morbidity and mortality in mitral valve surgery.

To develop strategies for the management of high-risk patients, contemporary risk factors for operative mortality and postoperative ventricular dysfunction were identified in 214 patients undergoing mitral valve surgery in 1982 and 1983. Thirty-eight preoperative and perioperative variables were prospectively collected and analyzed by univariate and multivariate statistics. The overall mortality was 4.