An overview of local anesthetics in over-the-counter products.

Over-the-counter (OTC) local anesthetics have historically been used to alleviate pain in several common conditions including toothache and sore throat. With a rise in chronic conditions and an aging population, there has been an increase in associated chronic pain-related disorders. Individuals with chronic pain often seek OTC treatments for quick and accessible pain relief.

Type 2 diabetes is associated with failure of non-operative treatment for sternoclavicular joint infection.

Background: A standardized treatment algorithm for sternoclavicular joint infection management is lacking in the literature. While major risk factors for sternoclavicular joint infection, including immunosuppression, rheumatoid arthritis, type 2 diabetes, indwelling catheters, and intravenous drug use have been identified, clear association with treatment outcome has not been established. As our safety net hospital treats a patient population with high incidence of intravenous drug use, we sought to identify risk factors associated with failure of non-operative management of sternoclavicular joint infection.

A Phase I Clinical Trial of Targeted Intraoperative Molecular Imaging for Pulmonary Adenocarcinomas.

Background: Intraoperative identification of pulmonary nodules, particularly small lesions, can be challenging. We hypothesize that folate receptor-targeted intraoperative molecular imagining can be safe and improve localization of pulmonary nodules during resection.

Methods: Twenty subjects with biopsy-proven pulmonary adenocarcinomas were enrolled in a phase I clinical trial to test the safety and feasibility of OTL38, a novel folate receptor-α (FRα) targeted optical contrast agent.

Intraoperative Molecular Imaging Combined With Positron Emission Tomography Improves Surgical Management of Peripheral Malignant Pulmonary Nodules.

Objective: To determine if intraoperative molecular imaging (IMI) can improve detection of malignant pulmonary nodules.

Background: 18-Fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography (PET) is commonly utilized in preoperative assessment of patients with solid malignancies; however, false negatives and false positives remain major limitations. Using patients with pulmonary nodules as a study model, we hypothesized that IMI with a folate receptor targeted near-infrared contrast agent (OTL38) can improve malignant pulmonary nodule identification when combined with PET.

Near-infrared Intraoperative Molecular Imaging Can Identify Metastatic Lymph Nodes in Prostate Cancer.

Objective: To propose a novel method to perform indocyanine green (ICG) based near-infrared (NIR) fluorescence imaging during pelvic lymph node dissection (PLND) for prostate cancer patients with lymph node metastasis (LNM).

Materials And Methods: A prostate cancer cell line PC3 was used to establish xenograft model in NOD/SCID mice. After tumor growth, the mice were injected with ICG through the tail vein.