Welcomeurope reports the European Commission-funded launch of the Information Technology Future of Medicine (ITFoM) consortium, which will “create ‘virtual patients’ (computational models of individual people) that will help specialists create personalised health systems based on patients’ genetic and physiological make-up.”

“Not only will this give patients fast diagnoses of what ails them, but it will protect them from life-threatening side effects of wrongly prescribed medication. Another upshot is that less money will be spent on drugs.”

Headed by the Max Planck Society in Germany and initially comprising 25 research institutes and industry groups in from Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom.

Busato A, Künzi B. Differences in the quality of interpersonal care in complementary and conventional medicine. BMC Complement Altern Med. 2010 Nov 4;10:63. PubMed PMID: 21050450; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC2987773. [Free full text.]

Researchers at the Institute for Evaluative Research in Medicine, University of Bern, undertook this study as part of a nationwide evaluation of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) in Swiss primary care.

They found that CAM physicians treated significantly more patients with chronic conditions than allopathic physicians, that CAM patients had significant higher healing expectations than COM patients, and that general patient satisfaction and ratings of patient-physician communication were significantly higher in CAM patients, although patient-reported symptom relief was significantly poorer.

From the Conclusion:

“Our study therefore provides empirical evidence that the patient-reported effectiveness of CAM in Swiss primary care is related to higher patient satisfaction due to better patient-physician communication of certified CAM physicians. More effective communication patterns of these physicians also may play an important role in allowing patients to maintain more positive outcome expectations. The findings should promote formative efforts in conventional primary care to improve communication skills in order to reach the same levels of favourable patient outcomes.”

[Free full text is available via PubMed Central.]

The information on my blog is not intended as a substitute for medical professional help or advice but is to be used only as an aid in understanding current medical knowledge. A physician should always be consulted for any health problem or medical condition.

Cao H, Han M, Li X, et al. Clinical research evidence of cupping therapy in China: a systematic literature review. BMC Complement Altern Med. 2010 Nov 16;10:70. Review.
[PubMed PMID: 21078197; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC3000376.]

Noting that although cupping therapy has been used in China for thousands of years, there has been no systematic summary of clinical research on the practice, investigators from Center for Evidence-Based Chinese Medicine, Beijing University of Chinese Medicine evaluated the therapeutic effect of cupping therapy using evidence-based approach based on all available clinical studies.

The authors identified 550 clinical studies, including 73 randomized controlled trials, 22 clinical controlled trials (RCTs), 373 case series, and 82 case reports. They determined that the quality of the RCTs was generally poor according to the risk of bias of the Cochrane standard for important outcome within each trials. The diseases in which cupping was commonly employed included pain conditions, herpes zoster, cough or asthma, etc. No serious adverse effects were reported in the studies.

They found that the quality and quantity of RCTs on cupping therapy appears to be improved during the past 50 years, and that the majority of studies show potential benefit on pain conditions, herpes zoster and other diseases. They recommend further rigorously designed trials to evaluate the use of cupping in clinical practice.

Free full text is available via PubMed Central.

The information on my blog is not intended as a substitute for medical professional help or advice but is to be used only as an aid in understanding current medical knowledge. A physician should always be consulted for any health problem or medical condition.

Haddy RI, Haddy TB. Lifetime follow-up care after childhood cancer. J Am Board Fam Med. 2010 Sep-Oct;23(5):647-54. Review. PubMed PMID: 20823360.

Noting that large numbers of children and adolescents are being cured of cancer, but that their therapy places them at risk for future adverse consequences, doctors at the University of Louisville and Children’s National Medical Center propose that primary care physicians remain involved with their patients during diagnosis, treatment, follow-up, and, when treatment fails, palliative care.

Free full text is available via PubMed.

The information on my blog is not intended as a substitute for medical professional help or advice but is to be used only as an aid in understanding current medical knowledge. A physician should always be consulted for any health problem or medical condition.