Direct-to-consumer drug ads; cancer patients and online records; a new tool for brain surgery – Morning Medical Update

Ask your doctor…

Around the world, a number of countries ban direct-to-consumer advertisement of pharmaceuticals. That practice is allowed in the United States, and while benefits and harms remain up for debate, it turns out physicians and patients find the ads to be helpful. Here’s a report based on a study from drug marketer ZoomRx.

Cancer information online

A cancer diagnosis is life-changing, and many patients want to learn more about the disease generally and their own conditions specifically. Access to the latter is getting better, according to a new study by the Assistant Secretary for Technology Policy/Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT. Checking over figures from 2020 and 2022, cancer survivors and patients with a recent cancer diagnosis had more access to online medical records or patient portals, a significant increase from the 2017-2018 period.

It’s not rocket science, it’s …

Medical device maker Clearmind Biomedical announced regulatory approval and the first successful surgery with its new Neuroblade System, a three-part system designed to improve efficiency and outcomes of minimally invasive brain surgeries. The first use was during an urgent procedure to evacuate a hemorrhagic stroke, according to the company’s news release.