http://medicalxpress.com/ en-us Medical Xpress internet news portal provides the latest news on Health and Medicine. (AP)—Government health officials are investigating several health problems reported with potentially contaminated medications made by a Tennessee specialty pharmacy. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-05-fda-infections-tied-tennessee-pharmacy.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Fri, 24 May 2013 14:46:09 EST news288625466 For patients with spinal stenosis, epidural steroid injections (ESI) may actually lead to worse outcomes—whether or not the patient later undergoes surgery, according to a study in the February 15 issue of Spine. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-02-steroid-worse-outcomes-patients-spinal.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Tue, 19 Feb 2013 12:20:02 EST news280496552 (HealthDay)—With millions of Americans watching and waiting, the U.S. Supreme Court largely upheld the Obama Administration's health care reform legislation, making the survival of "Obamacare" this year's top health news story. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-12-survival-obamacare-tops-biggest-health.html Other Fri, 28 Dec 2012 14:29:04 EST news275927336 Postmenopausal women suffered significant bone density loss in their hip after they were treated with an epidural steroid injection for back pain relief, according to a Henry Ford Hospital study http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-12-steroid-linked-significant-bone-loss.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Sat, 01 Dec 2012 06:13:00 EST news273564771 Researchers at the University of Southampton are to undertake a new stage of a study aimed at improving the health and mobility of those suffering from the common complaint of 'walking on marbles' associated with Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA) in the feet. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-11-marbles-arthritis-patients.html Arthritis & Rheumatism Tue, 27 Nov 2012 12:26:10 EST news273241559 US lawmakers slammed federal and state health officials Wednesday for failing to properly police a pharmacy whose tainted drugs caused a deadly fungal meningitis outbreak. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-11-congress-slams-health-tainted-drugs.html Medications Thu, 15 Nov 2012 03:09:25 EST news272171359 Their call comes just days before 100 World Health Organisation member states hold their first meeting to discuss the problem, and the authors hope it will help to influence the debate and lead to some concrete actions. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-11-international-action-quality-medicines-tackle.html Medications Tue, 13 Nov 2012 18:30:08 EST news272046750 (HealthDay)—Spinal steroid injections—the type involved in the current fungal meningitis outbreak in the United States—provide only short-term relief for sciatica-related leg and back pain, according to a new analysis. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-11-steroid-shots-sciatica-benefits-analysis.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Tue, 13 Nov 2012 05:50:01 EST news272004526 A new article being published early online in Annals of Internal Medicine describes the diagnosis and treatment protocol established in a Roanoke, Va. hospital to care for dozens of patients presenting with suspected fungal meningitis related to contaminated epidural spinal injections. This unprecedented surge of patients seeking care for a rare central nervous system (CNS) infection required physicians to react quickly with little data to guide treatment decisions. The authors suggest that the data collected from these cases may fill information gaps and inform current and future therapy for fungal meningitis patients. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-11-early-clinical-fungal-meningitis-outbreak.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Mon, 12 Nov 2012 11:40:44 EST news271942837 (HealthDay)—Thirty-two people have now died and 438 have been sickened in the fungal meningitis outbreak linked to tainted steroid injections, U.S. health officials reported Friday. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-11-steroid-meningitis-toll-dead-sickened-cdc.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Sat, 10 Nov 2012 06:30:01 EST news271749368 (HealthDay)—The first reports of serious fungal infections from tainted steroid injections for back pain came in September from Tennessee and quickly became a national health crisis. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-11-steroid-meningitis-outbreak.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Wed, 07 Nov 2012 16:10:02 EST news271523217 The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported Wednesday that a 24th person had died of fungal meningitis after receiving contaminated steroid injections. The latest victim had received an injection to treat back pain in Indiana, according to reports. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-10-fungal-meningitis-deaths-cdc.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Thu, 25 Oct 2012 15:38:15 EST news270398288 Patients treated with an epidural steroid injection for back pain relief are at increased risk of bone fractures in the spine, according to a Henry Ford Hospital study. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-10-steroid-linked-bone-fractures.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Thu, 25 Oct 2012 09:11:17 EST news270375069 (AP)—Massachusetts state officials investigating a pharmacy linked to a deadly outbreak of meningitis said Tuesday they found shoddy sterilization practices and unclean conditions there, including debris-covered floor mats and standing water from a leaking boiler. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-10-state-visible-fungus-meningitis-linked-firm.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Tue, 23 Oct 2012 16:50:02 EST news270229115 You get what you pay for. This maxim is proving true all over again when it comes to steroid injections used to alleviate back pain. Making safe and effective versions of such drugs involves manufacturing steps that aren't trivial. The cost of the medicine has to match the care that goes into creating it and the oversight required to ensure that the standards are maintained. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-10-heavy-price-cheaper-drugs.html Medications Tue, 23 Oct 2012 13:30:07 EST news270216953 (HealthDay)—Twenty-three people have now died and 297 have been sickened in the nationwide meningitis outbreak apparently tied to contaminated steroid injections, U.S. health officials reported Monday. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-10-meningitis-outbreak-toll-dead-sickened.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Mon, 22 Oct 2012 17:10:53 EST news270144646 (Medical Xpress)—A Purdue University medication safety expert said it is important to look at the larger system surrounding medication use, as well as the facilities where drugs are made to avoid tragedies like the meningitis outbreak that has claimed 15 lives. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-10-drug-makers-tragedies-meningitis-outbreak.html Medications Wed, 17 Oct 2012 07:11:50 EST news269676703 (AP)—Criminal investigators from the Food and Drug Administration have visited a Massachusetts company whose steroid medication has been linked to a deadly meningitis outbreak. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-10-mass-firm-meningitis-case.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Wed, 17 Oct 2012 03:42:39 EST news269664153 (AP)—Experts say there are many ways funguses could have gotten inside the Massachusetts pharmacy at the center of the deadly U.S. outbreak of fungal meningitis. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-10-experts-ways-funguses-taint-drugs.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Tue, 16 Oct 2012 17:39:00 EST news269627931 (HealthDay)—As a nationwide outbreak of steroid-linked meningitis grabs headlines, health officials in New York City say a separate, unrelated outbreak is hitting gay and bisexual men. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-10-meningitis-emerges-nyc-gay-men.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Thu, 11 Oct 2012 17:40:01 EST news269194255 (HealthDay)—The number of meningitis cases linked to apparently contaminated steroid injections has risen to 91 in nine states, and the number of deaths remains at seven, U.S. health officials reported Sunday. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-10-steroid-related-meningitis-cases-total-cdc.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Mon, 08 Oct 2012 11:50:01 EST news268914752 (AP)—The pharmacy that distributed a steroid linked to an outbreak of fungal meningitis has issued a voluntary recall of all of its products, calling the move a precautionary measure. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-10-pharmacy-linked-outbreak-issues-wide.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Sun, 07 Oct 2012 17:11:10 EST news268848664 (AP)—Health providers scrambled to notify patients in nearly two dozen U.S. states that the steroid injections they received for back pain may have been contaminated with a deadly fungal meningitis. Five people have died. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-10-clinics-tainted-steroid-dead.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Fri, 05 Oct 2012 11:04:43 EST news268653876 (AP)—A fifth person has died in a growing outbreak of a rare form of meningitis that has sickened more than two dozen people in five U.S. states. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-10-rare-meningitis-outbreak-dead-sick.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Thu, 04 Oct 2012 10:29:17 EST news268565346 (AP)—A fifth person has died in a growing outbreak of a rare form of meningitis that has sickened more than two dozen people in five U.S. states. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-10-rare-meningitis-cases-states-die.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Wed, 03 Oct 2012 16:54:03 EST news268502032 Despite the great promise that injecting a new type of anti-inflammatory pain medicine into the spine could relieve the severe leg and lower back pain of sciatica, a Johns Hopkins-led study has found that the current standard of care with steroid injections still does better. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-04-etanercept-genetically-compound-pain.html Medical research Mon, 16 Apr 2012 17:00:04 EST news253810062 The use of epidural steroid injections may be a more efficient treatment option for lumbar disc herniations, according to research presented today at the American Orthopaedic Society for Sports Medicine's Specialty Day in San Francisco. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-02-steroid-effective-treatment-lumbar-disc.html Health Sat, 11 Feb 2012 09:32:59 EST news248175157 Researchers at the Rothman Institute at Jefferson examined data on patients being treated for lumbar stenosis and the degenerative spine condition spondylolisthesis and found that patients who received epidural steroid injections (ESI) had a higher rate of crossover to surgery and fared worse in physical health and bodily pain versus those who did not receive ESI, dispelling their pre-study hypothesis. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-02-epidural-steroid-benefit-spine-patients.html Other Tue, 07 Feb 2012 16:37:11 EST news247855025 (Medical Xpress) -- Johns Hopkins-led research suggests that routine MRI imaging does nothing to improve the treatment of patients who need injections of steroids into their spinal columns to relieve pain. Moreover, MRI plays only a small role in a doctor’s decision to give these epidural steroid injections (ESIs), the most common procedure performed at pain clinics in the United States. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-12-costly-diagnostic-mri-unnecessary-pain.html Other Fri, 16 Dec 2011 08:29:12 EST news243246531 A medication already approved to build bone mass in patients with osteoporosis also builds cartilage around joints and could potentially be repurposed to treat millions of people suffering from arthritis, according to orthopaedic research at the University of Rochester Medical Center. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-09-life-arthritic-joints.html Medical research Wed, 21 Sep 2011 14:00:02 EST news235828915