His research on pregnant opioid users was widely celebrated; auditors and experts found major flaws
When Dr. Craig Towers moved to Knoxville, Tennessee, in 2010, the high-risk obstetrician encountered a crisis unlike anything he’d seen. Towers, who had practiced for 25 years in California and Wisconsin, found himself caring for an unusual number of pregnant women addicted to painkillers — and delivering newborns who were suffering withdrawal symptoms. Those babies, born shaking and inconsolable and who required weeks of specialized care, were becoming tragic symbols of the region’s raging opioid epidemic. “We were inundated,” Towers later told the Knoxville News Sentinel. In those initial years in Tennessee, Towers recognized a need — and a research opportunity. Medical doctrine had long...
Broward Health Coral Springs advances heart care with first PFO closure using the GORE CARDIOFORM Septal Occluder
Broward Health Coral Springs is proud to announce the successful completion of its first PFO (patent foramen ovale) closure procedure using the GORE® CARDIOFORM Septal Occluder, marking a significant milestone in the hospital's cardiovascular care. The procedure, performed by Pablo Rengifo-Moreno, MD, director of the structural heart disease program at Broward Health, further expands access to advanced structural heart therapies across the Broward Health system. "We are grateful to be able to offer this advanced level of structural heart care to our patients in western Broward County," said Dr. Rengifo-Moreno. "Expanding this therapy to Broward Health Coral Springs means more patients can...
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High Fertility Costs Push Americans Abroad for IVF Treatment
Increasing numbers of Americans are going to Europe to seek in vitro fertilization treatment for a fraction of the cost. (Moment/Getty Images) ~~~~~ In the summer of 2024, Emilie and Justin Solomon found themselves on a top-secret mission in Greece. Their family and friends thought the adventure-loving couple was on another jet-setting vacation, but they were keeping something else under wraps: They had turned off their phone locations to hide visits to a Greek clinic where they were trying to get pregnant. The Solomons are among the growing numbers of Americans looking abroad, particularly to Greece and Spain, to escape the high cost of fertility treatments in the U.S., where such...
FDA approves breakthrough pancreatic cancer drug – an oncologist explains how daraxonrasib nearly doubles survival
Pancreatic cancer has been notoriously difficult to target and treat. wildpixel/iStock via Getty Images Plus ~~~~~ For a long time, the likelihood of surviving pancreatic cancer has been extremely low. For patients who were diagnosed with metastatic pancreatic cancer between 2015 and 2021, about 97% died within five years of their diagnosis. Pancreatic cancer is so deadly in part because there are no effective screening tests, and it rarely causes noticeable symptoms in its earliest stages. By the time a patient experiences signs, such as jaundice – a yellowing of the skin – or abdominal pain, the cancer has often already spread to other organs. As a gastrointestinal oncologist and...
