Emory University

Training ophthalmology residents on complicated cataract cases can be, well, complicated. They need to be able to practice surgical maneuvers in a low-stress environment, allowing time for repetition and mastery of technique, so that their execution in the OR will be flawless. Encountering a complication that leads to an adverse outcome can be a devastating experience for a surgeon in the making, and the resulting hit to his or her confidence is a significant setback. Often these residents will become more timid and indecisive, which leads to an increased likelihood of more trouble.

ORLANDO — A new microvascular-on-a-chip assay has allowed researchers to grow blood clots and track inflammatory thrombi with the goal of better targeting antithrombotic and anticoagulant therapies, according to results of a study presented at ASH Annual Meeting and Exposition.

First-line osimertinib improved OS compared with standard-of-care epidermal growth factor receptor tyrosine kinase inhibitors among patients with previously untreated advanced EGFR-mutated non-small cell lung cancer, according to results from the randomized phase 3 FLAURA trial presented at European Society for Medical Oncology Asia Congress and simultaneously published in The New England Journal of Medicine.

A newly developed clinico-genomic classifier identified which women with early-stage breast cancer would benefit substantially from adjuvant radiotherapy as well as those with an elevated risk for locoregional recurrence, according to study results published in Journal of Clinical Oncology.

SAN FRANCISCO — Nearly half of patients with noninfectious uveitis treated with suprachoroidal CLS-TA gained three or more lines of visual acuity after 24 weeks, according to a presentation at the American Academy of Ophthalmology annual meeting.

Children with Down syndrome face a 10 to 20 times higher risk for developing acute lymphoblastic leukemia than children without Down syndrome.

BARCELONA, Spain — Osimertinib significantly extended OS compared with standard epidermal growth factor receptor tyrosine kinase inhibitors as front-line treatment for EGFR-mutated advanced non-small cell lung cancer, according to late-breaking results of the randomized phase 3 FLAURA study presented at European Society for Medical Oncology Congress.

Norovirus has become the leading cause of medically attended acute gastroenteritis in countries with national rotavirus vaccination programs, including the United States, and is a common cause of outbreaks worldwide. There is still no licensed vaccine against norovirus, but there are promising candidates in the pipeline, experts said, and researchers are working to define which genotypes and populations to target.

The American Society for Radiation Oncology honored three of its members with the Gold Medal Award.

LAS VEGAS — At the American Society for Surgery of the Hand Annual Meeting, Russell E. Holzgrefe, MD, discussed a study that looked at the effect of malnutrition on postoperative complications following distal radius fracture surgery. He said malnourished patients compared with those who were not had a 4.9% higher complication rate, a 3.4% higher rate of readmission, a 2.7% higher rate of reoperation and a 9.2% higher mortality rate.