News & Updates

The benefits in terms of prolonged disease-free survival (DFS) and reduced risk of recurrence with ovarian function suppression (OFS) persisted over 12–13 years in premenopausal women with hormone receptor-positive (HR+) breast cancer, according to new data from the TEXT and SOFT randomized trials presented at SABCS 2021.

Eating green and yellow vegetables in high amounts or a keeping vegetarian diet in general is associated with an earlier onset of natural menopause, whereas a low intake of alcohol and a high intake of some dairy products are linked to a later onset, according to the results of a meta-analysis. However, the associations have been inconsistent, and the findings overall are not replicated among the studies included.

The threat of Omicron is real, with scientists working at breakneck speed to better understand its virulence and potential ability to evade currently approved vaccines.

Gilteritinib provided significant survival benefit and demonstrated a favourable safety and tolerability profile in Asian patients with relapsed/refractory FLT3-mutated acute myeloid leukaemia (R/R FLT3mut+ AML) compared with salvage chemotherapy (SC), findings from the phase III COMMODORE trial suggest.

Chronic wounds, particularly arterial ulcers, severely impair patients’ health-related quality of life by restricting their mobility and self-care, and by causing pain, discomfort, anxiety, and depression, according to a recent Singapore study.

With the situation of the COVID-19 pandemic, it is clear that the SARS-CoV-2 virus will be with us for a long time. A media roundtable organized by Roche Malaysia recently discussed the various ways in which vulnerable patient populations can cope with living in a world where vaccinations alone may not be sufficient.

Venous thromboembolism (VTE) is a serious medical condition. It comprises deep vein thrombosis and pulmonary embolism. Left untreated, it could result in significant morbidity and mortality. Most patients with VTE receive anticoagulation therapy for 3 months or longer. For more than 50 years since the 1940s, vitamin K antagonists (VKAs) such as warfarin were the mainstay of oral anticoagulation therapy for VTE. As it has a narrow therapeutic index, VKAs require frequent coagulation monitoring with International Normalised Ratio (INR) to adjust and optimize the dose for each individual. As the peak effect for warfarin takes at least 4-5 days, in the initial stage of VTE, concurrent administration of daily subcutaneous injections of low molecular weight heparin (LMWH) is needed until INR reaches therapeutic levels. Due to numerous drug and dietary interactions with warfarin, regular INR monitoring is required to ensure therapeutic levels are maintained and to avoid under or overdosing.

Nonvalvular atrial fibrillation (NVAF) raises the risk of stroke by three to five times, particularly in older patients. Treating older patients with NVAF presents special challenges because of their elevated risks for both stroke and bleeding. This necessitates optimization of anticoagulant therapy by balancing efficacy and bleeding risk. Non-vitamin K antagonist oral anticoagulants (NOACs), such as apixaban, have shown advantages in safety and efficacy over warfarin, which has a very narrow therapeutic index. In an interview with Dr Soon Chao Yang, Cardiologist at The Heart Doctors Clinic, Mount Alvernia Hospital, Singapore, he shared insights on managing NVAF in older patients, as well as his experience with using apixaban in this special population.