The Healthcare Channel

How Boston medical centers prepare for unconventional weapon attacks

Posted on May 3, 2013 by admin

May 3, 2013- Interviewed by Steven E. Greer, MD

Paul Biddinger, MD, Medical Director for Emergency Preparedness, Massachusetts General Continue reading →

Posted in - Policy, Boston University, CDC, Congress, Emergency medicine, Harvard, Trauma Surgery | Leave a comment

How Boston medical centers prepare for unconventional weapon attacks

Posted on May 3, 2013 by admin

May 3, 2013- Interviewed by Steven E. Greer, MD Continue reading →

Posted in - Policy, Boston University, Emergency medicine, Harvard, Trauma Surgery | Leave a comment

The other casualty from Boston: Old-school TV news

Posted on April 27, 2013 by admin

April 27, 2013 By Steven E. Greer, MD

On April 15, 2013, at 2:49 PM, two terrorist bombs exploded at the finish line of the Boston Continue reading →

Posted in - Opinion | Leave a comment

Is cath lab fluoroscopy radiation exposure dangerous?

Posted on April 25, 2013 by admin

April 25, 2013- Interviewed by Steven E. Greer, MD

With former President George W. Bush receiving a coronary stent and cardiac chest CT-scan, Continue reading →

Posted in Cardiology | Leave a comment

FDA official, William Maisel, pleads guilty to crime, keeps job

Posted on April 24, 2013 by admin

April 24, 2013 By Steven E. Greer, MD

In July of 2012, the New York Times reported on an FDA scandal of the agency spying on internal Continue reading →

Posted in - Medical Devices, FDA | Leave a comment

Questionable comments by Atul Gawande after the Boston Marathon bombings

Posted on April 20, 2013 by admin

April 20, 2013 By Steven E. Greer, MD

Only two days after the April 15th Boston Marathon terrorist bombings, Harvard surgeon Atul Continue reading →

Posted in Harvard, Trauma Surgery | Leave a comment

TAVR Finances: William O’Neill, MD

Posted on April 15, 2013 by admin

Interviewed by Steven E. Greer, MD

The clinical adoption of Transcatheter Aortic Valve Replacement (TAVR) has been slower than Continue reading →

Posted in Cardiac surgery, Cardiology, Henry Ford | Leave a comment

TAVR collaboration

Posted on April 12, 2013 by admin

April 12, 2013- Interviewed by Steven E. Greer, MD

William O’Neill, MD, Director of the Structural Heart Disease Center at Henry Ford Hospital, Continue reading →

Posted in - Medical Devices, Henry Ford | Leave a comment

Smartphone apps to be regulated and taxed as medical devices

Posted on March 26, 2013 by admin

March 26, 2013

Which smartphone apps will the FDA label as a medical device making them taxable tax under Continue reading →

Posted in - Medical Devices, Congress, FDA | Leave a comment

anti-PD1 and anti-PD-L1 drugs treating NSCLC

Posted on March 26, 2013 by admin

March 26, 2013 Interviewed By Steven E. Greer, MD Continue reading →

Posted in - Biotech, - Pharma, Oncology, UCLA | Leave a comment

Watchman shot dead

Posted on March 10, 2013 by admin

March 10, 2013 By Steven E. Greer, MD The Healthcare Channel

PREVAIL, the much anticipated second major trial of the Boston Scientific device called Watchman was a bust. The trial endpoints were changed in midstream of the trial, but it still did not help. The efficacy endpoint was not met this time, contradicting the first major trial, PROTECT, where a small efficacy was found. (Even if the statistical endpoints were met, the primary endpoint was a clinically meaningless composite of stroke, systemic embolization, and cardiovascular caused death.)

The safety of the device has always been the show stopper. Continue reading →

Posted in - Medical Devices, Cardiac surgery, Cardiology | Leave a comment

Second-gen Sapien TAVI valve does not reduce stroke problem

Posted on March 10, 2013 by admin

March 10, 2013 By Steven E. Greer, MD The Healthcare Channel

The main reason that Medicare has limited coverage for the Edwards Lifesciences (EW) Sapien percutaneous aortic valve is the high perioperative complication rate of ischemic strokes, in excess of 9%, as well as femoral artery complications. The newer second generation Sapien XT, with a smaller diameter “French” profile, was hoped to reduce the complications and make the TAVR procedure safer. The newest data on the second-gen Sapien do not seem to support the claims from Marty Leon, financial backer of the valve, that the new valve is safer.

The PARTNER II study was presented at the ACC meeting in San Francisco. Continue reading →

Posted in - Medical Devices, Cardiac surgery, Cardiology, Neurology | Leave a comment

The Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation panel

Posted on March 8, 2013 by admin

March 8, 2013 By Steven E. Greer, MD

We interviewed three of the oncologists and industry executives who spoke at the Damon Runyon Continue reading →

Posted in - Biotech, - Pharma, Harvard, Oncology | Leave a comment

The IOM report on counterfeit and substandard drugs

Posted on March 3, 2013 by admin

Prashant Yadav, PhD, Director, Health Care Research Initiative, University of Michigan, discusses Continue reading →

Posted in - Policy, Univ Michigan | Leave a comment

Double arm transplantation

Posted on January 31, 2013 by admin

Gerald Brandacher, MD, Scientific Director of the Composite Tissue Allotransplantation (Reconstructive Transplant) Program at Johns Hopkins discusses the first double arm transplant.

Posted in Johns Hopkins, Plastic surgery | Leave a comment