Australians living with types of aggressive stomach or oesophageal cancers can now access immunotherapy on the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS), representing the first treatment advance for many of these patients in a decade. OPDIVO® (nivolumab) in combination with chemotherapy, is now reimbursed as an initial treatment for patients with a type of stomach or oesophageal…

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Non-surgical treatment now available on Medicare Of the estimated 66,500 Australians living with aortic stenosis, 9 in 10 are not undergoing treatment each year for the potentially life-threatening disease. However, the inclusion of transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI) on Medicare from July 1, 2022, is expanding access to the minimally invasive treatment option for all…

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Almost 20,000 Australian men diagnosed each year with prostate cancer are being denied access to an innovative treatment on Medicare for the nation’s most common cancer in men. Two treatment options – low dose rate brachytherapy (LDR-brachytherapy) and external beam radiation therapy – are approved to treat prostate cancer in Australia by the medical regulator,…

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An osteoporotic fracture occurs every three seconds worldwide.1 With more than 50 per cent of the world’s hip fractures expected to occur in the Asia Pacific (AP) region over the next two decades,2 the Asia Pacific Consortium on Osteoporosis (APCO) has launched a Bone Health QI Tool Kit today(May 24, 2022), to promote quality improvement…

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Experts call for timely diagnosis & treatment of eosinophilic oesophagitis (EoE) The increasingly prevalent, lifelong immune system disease, eosinophilic oesophagitis (EoE) (e-o-sin-o-FILL-ik-uh-sof-uhJIE-tis) is estimated to affect one in 2,000 Australian adults. EoE occurs when a specific type of white blood cell (eosinophils) builds up in the lining of the oesophagus (tube that connects the mouth…

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