The size and shape of tablets can affect patients' compliance with treatment. The following article provides an overview of conclusions from two foreign studies focused on influencing the difficulty of swallowing and handling tablets depending on their shape and size.

Ensuring adequate nutrition is an important part of therapy for critically ill patients to achieve better clinical outcomes in terms of both survival and recovery speed. The preferred option is enteral nutrition (EN), which, however, cannot be provided for many reasons to patients after acute abdominal surgery. The results of studies assessing the efficacy of parenteral nutrition (PN) in this specific group of patients are inconsistent. The purpose of the study recently published in Clinical Nutrition was therefore to evaluate the effect of early supplementary parenteral nutrition in critically ill patients after acute abdominal surgery.

Brigatinib inhibits anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK) and its notable advantage is its strong effect in patients who have developed resistance during treatment with other ALK inhibitors. It has demonstrated efficacy in patients with ALK⁺ non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) who are refractory to crizotinib as well as in ALK⁺ NSCLC not previously treated with an ALK inhibitor. Post hoc analysis of the ALTA-1L trial, presented as a poster at this year's American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) annual meeting, addresses whether the maximum reduction in target lesions of ALK⁺ NSCLC treated with brigatinib or crizotinib correlates with overall survival (OS) and progression-free survival (PFS).

A recently published secondary analysis of the EMPEROR-Reduced study is based mainly on the results of the KCCQ-23 questionnaire, which assesses the patient's health status from their perspective. Its goal was to verify whether the benefit of empagliflozin added to the treatment of heart failure with reduced left ventricular ejection fraction (HFrEF) depends on the initial health status and how it subsequently affects the health status of these patients over 1 year.

The cardiovascular (CV) benefit of SGLT2 inhibitors in type 2 diabetics, demonstrated by empagliflozin in the EMPA-REG OUTCOME study, has also been confirmed by studies with canagliflozin (CANVAS), a new analysis of the CVD REAL study involving empagliflozin, canagliflozin, and dapagliflozin, as well as individual sub-studies of the EMPA-REG OUTCOME study. These findings, presented in June 2017 at the American Diabetes Association (ADA) congress, are summarized in a recently published article in the journal Critical Pathways in Cardiology.

The open-label extension of the COMPACT study with subcutaneous C1 inhibitor in the prophylaxis of hereditary angioedema (HAE) has brought fresh results, shedding light on the treatment's impact on the frequency of attacks and reducing the need for rescue medication.

Hereditary angioedema (HAE), arising from a deficiency of C1 inhibitor (C1-INH), clinically manifests as swelling of the subcutaneous tissue and mucous membranes. The standard prophylactic therapy consists of intravenous (i.v.) substitution of C1-INH. We present a case study of successful long-term subcutaneous (s.c.) prophylaxis in a patient who had to discontinue i.v. prophylaxis.

Over the past decades, hemophilia treatment has made significant progress—from factor therapy to prophylactic regimens and non-factor products, and even to gene therapy. Its development has greatly improved the quality of life for hemophiliacs and reduced the incidence of bleeding episodes. However, they cannot be completely eliminated, which is why further options for monitoring bleeding and joint status are still being explored. In addition to classical methods, biomarkers are attracting attention, but their practical use is still the subject of studies. A recently published work by a team of European and American experts, who assessed collagen turnover as a biomarker of treatment efficacy with rurioctocog alfa pegol, came with interesting results.

A practical guide on how to proceed with the diagnosis of migraine, so that the treatment is effective and tailored to the patient.

We present a case study of a patient with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) with a proven activating mutation of the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) gene, who developed resistance to the first-generation EGFR tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI) gefitinib during treatment. After the secondary mutation EGFR T790M was confirmed, osimertinib, a third-generation EGFR TKI, was introduced, resulting in disease regression, which is ongoing. This case study illustrates the significance of the role of osimertinib in the treatment of patients with NSCLC with an activating EGFR mutation, whose disease progresses during treatment with first and second-generation EGFR TKIs due to the emergence of the secondary EGFR T790M mutation.

Alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency (AATD) plays a significant role in the pathogenesis of pulmonary emphysema, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), and bronchiectasis. However, its deficiency may also play a role in other lung diseases.

The combination of anti-EGFR therapy with irinotecan has brought benefits to patients with chemotherapy-refractory metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC) in clinical studies. Results of a study directly comparing the efficacy of two different EGFR inhibitors, panitumumab and cetuximab, in combination with irinotecan have been published in the European Journal of Cancer.

Hereditary angioedema (HAE) can be encountered in emergency rooms and specialist offices. Patients with this rare disorder are often misdiagnosed with a more common condition, and they may learn their correct diagnosis only after many years. This is because HAE manifests with a combination of symptoms that are typical of various other diseases. What should pediatricians, otorhinolaryngologists, and gastroenterologists be aware of? Providing better understanding of HAE symptoms from different specializations' perspectives and emphasizing the importance of interdisciplinary collaboration for accurate diagnosis and patient care was the focus of a professional webinar we have summarized for you.

Analysis of data from the CHARM study showed that in patients with heart failure with mildly reduced ejection fraction (HFmrEF 0.40–0.49), candesartan compared to placebo reduces the risk of death from cardiovascular (CV) causes or hospitalization for heart failure similarly to patients with reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF < 0.40).

The number of patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM2) and heart failure is increasing worldwide, and the combination of both diseases significantly worsens the prognosis of patients. One of the main causes of increased mortality in these patients is macrovascular complications of DM2. The burden on the cardiovascular system is even greater with the concurrent occurrence of chronic heart failure.