Doctors and Health Care

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Patient Catches on Fire During Heart Surgery

Having emergency heart surgery is always risky, but a new case report reveals an unexpected danger:...
Quieter NICUs a Good Rx for Premature Babies

Shhhhh. Preterm infants can benefit from quiet times in hospital neonatal intensive care units (NICUs), a...
Quick Test Helps Predict Hospital Readmission Risk After Heart Attack

For elderly heart attack survivors, how well they perform on a simple mobility test could help...

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Kids’ ER Visits for Swallowing Toys, Foreign Objects Have Doubled Since 1990s
About 100 kids a day are rushed to U.S. emergency rooms after accidentally swallowing...
- Posted April 12, 2019
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Hospital Privacy Curtains Could Be Breeding Ground for Germs
Privacy curtains in hospital rooms might offer patients some personal dignity, but they can...
- Posted April 12, 2019
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Microbes on International Space Station Are Familiar From Earth
Scientists have been cataloging bacteria and fungi inside the International Space Station (ISS), and...
- Posted April 8, 2019
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Heart Attacks Fall By One-Third Among Older Americans
A groundbreaking new study holds heartening news for older Americans. Since the mid-1990s, the...
- Posted March 15, 2019
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Blood Test to Diagnose Heart Attacks May Not Be Foolproof
A blood test used to detect a heart attack may often provide some misleading...
- Posted March 14, 2019
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Dangerous Bacteria May Lurk in Hospital Sinks
Hospital germ detectives say the sinks next to toilets in patient rooms may harbor...
- Posted February 7, 2019
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Medical Scribes Could Help Improve ER Care
Using medical scribes in emergency departments is a smart way to increase the number...
- Posted January 31, 2019
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Delaying Baby’s First Bath May Bring Benefits
If you want breastfeeding to go smoothly, you might want to ask the hospital...
- Posted January 24, 2019
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Disrupted Sleep Plagues Hospital Patients, But New Program Might Help
Anyone who has cared for a hospitalized loved one knows that frequent nighttime sleep...
- Posted January 18, 2019
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Many Female Health Care Workers Make Poverty-Level Wages: Study
Every day they help feed, bathe and care for the frailest Americans. But female...
- Posted January 10, 2019
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Getting Flu Shot During Hospital Stay Is a Safe Bet
Many doctors may worry about giving their hospital patients a flu shot, but a...
- Posted January 9, 2019
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Are You Living with Psoriasis?

A growing knowledge of the skin disease called psoriasis is leading to greater treatment choices, including personalized therapies, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration reports.

Psoriasis is an immune system disorder that causes overproduction of skin cells, resulting in scaling, pain, swelling, redness and heat. The condition affects about 7.5 million Americans.

“As we better understand the disease, researchers know more about what specific factors to target in order to develop effective treatments,” FDA dermatologist Dr. Melinda McCord said in an agency news release.

There is no cure for psoriasis, so the main goals of treatments are to stop skin cell overproduction and reduce inflammation. Current therapies include medicines applied to the skin (topical), light treatment (phototherapy), or drugs taken by mouth or given by injection.

Doctors used to take a step-by-step approach, starting patients with mild to moderate psoriasis on topical therapy. If that was ineffective, doctors moved on to phototherapy or drug treatment.