Capsules

Regulatory action

MHRA alert on hip implants

The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) in the UK has updated its precautionary guidance to healthcare professionals on metal-on-metal hip replacements.

The medical device alert replaces its earlier guidance of 2012, the MHRA said. Its key changes include recommendations on monitoring patients, ensuring that longer-term follow-up is undertaken for all patients with these implants.

Baby care

FDA approves neonatal MRI device

The United States Food and Drug Administration has cleared the first magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) device specifically for neonatal brain and head imaging in neonatal intensive care units (NICU). “Although we can use traditional MRI scanners to image neonates, taking babies outside of the neonatal intensive care unit to MRI suites presents great challenges,” said Vasum Peiris, Chief Medical Officer for pediatrics and special populations at FDA’s Center for Devices and Radiological Health. “Having a system in the neonatal intensive care enables safer imaging for this vulnerable patient population.”

Red alert

Resistance to HIV drugs

The World Health Organisation has alerted countries on the increasing trend of resistance to HIV drugs. In a report based on national surveys conducted in several countries, the WHO warns that this growing threat could undermine global progress in treating and preventing HIV infection. The report shows that in 6 of the 11 countries surveyed in Africa, Asia and Latin America, over 10 per cent of people starting antiretroviral therapy had a strain of HIV that was resistant to widely used HIV medicines.