Using MRI to guide treatment decisions for back pain patients undergoing epidural steroid injections (ESI) does not improve their outcomes, according to the results of a multicenter trial.

Slightly lower leg pain results were seen at one month in ESI patients whose physician had access to the MRI results compared with patients whose treating physician was blinded to the imaging results (...

Putting children under the needle for acupuncture appears safe when performed by trained practitioners, researchers concluded in a systematic review. Only mild adverse effects dominated among those reported with pediatric acupuncture, accounting for 253 of 279 events recorded in the literature over the past 60 years, Sunita Vohra, MD, MSc, of the University of Alberta in Edmonton, and colleagues f...

CHICAGO – Treatment of early rheumatoid arthritis with glucosteroids provides relief of symptoms, but the therapy comes with a price – worrisome changes in body fat composition that are significantly increased within the first year, researchers said here.

After 12 months of therapy with glucosteroids, total body mass of patients increased from an average of 27 kg to 28.5 kg (P<0.05), the fat mass in their arms and legs increased from 11.5 kg to 12.2 kg (P<0.05), and the patients' body mass index increased from 25.9 kg/m2 to 26.6 kg/m2 (P<0.05), said Michael Nurmohamed, MD, senior reader in rheumatology at Jan van Breemen Research Institute/Reade, in Amsterdam.

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