News briefs

Improved dressings urgently needed for IV catheter failures

Griffith University researchers have compared dressings and securements for preventing peripheral intravenous catheter (PIVC) failure in adults, and published their results in The Lancet. PIVCs are the most common invasive medical devices used in hospitals; around 2 billion devices are sold around the world each year, and most patients admitted to hospital require intravenous therapy. PIVC failure is unacceptably frequent: as many as 69% of devices require removal because of dislodgement, pain, occlusion, leakage, or infection. The National Health and Medical Research Council funded the investigation at the Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital and the Princess Alexandra Hospital in Brisbane. In the trial, 1807 eligible patients aged 18 years or more who required PIVC insertion for longer than 24 hours were randomly assigned to receiving tissue adhesive with polyurethane dressing, bordered polyurethane dressing, a securement device with polyurethane dressing, or polyurethane dressing (control group). Overall, PIVC failure affected 41% of patients. None of the interventions significantly reduced PIVC failure; all tested products, including the standard polyurethane, were subject to PIVC failure and often needed reinforcement. The researchers wrote that innovations for achieving effective, durable products are urgently needed, but also that substantial savings could be made by the Australian health system were clinicians to use low cost polyurethane dressings for PIVCs, given the lack of a clinical rationale for more expensive products.

https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(18)31380-1/fulltext

Researchers identify 40 new genetic markers for glaucoma

A team from the QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute has identified 40 new genetic markers for increased risk of developing glaucoma. The genome-wide study in more than 134 000 people found 101 genetic markers that influence the fluid pressure in a person’s eye, or intraocular pressure. High intraocular pressure is associated with increased risk of developing glaucoma. Associate Professor Stuart MacGregor said that the study, published in Nature Genetics, found that individuals with a large number of the genetic markers had an almost six-fold risk of developing glaucoma compared with someone with fewer genetic variants. “Although a predictive test for glaucoma is not available yet, our discovery is very promising. If we can identify who is most at risk of developing glaucoma at the earliest opportunity, we can make sure those individuals receive the preventative treatment they need to stop them from going blind as they age. While the findings increased the number of known genetic markers underpinning intraocular pressure by more than 90, the most surprising finding was the sheer number of those variants that were associated with developing glaucoma. We were able to show 53 of the genetic markers do directly increase your risk of developing glaucoma and particularly increase the risk of developing advanced glaucoma, the type that tends to cause blindness.”

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41588-018-0176-y