Asthma is a heterogeneous inflammatory airway disease that causes relevant morbidity across individuals of all age cohorts. In recent years, advances in the understanding of asthma pathophysiology have led to the development of treatments tailored to specific pheno- and endotypes of the disease. This has significantly changed asthma management, especially for patients with severe disease. These new treatment options offer individuals with asthma access to personalized and disease-modifying therapies. The present paper is a comprehensive overview of recent clinical studies and of German and international guideline updates on asthma management.
Prescribing oral anticoagulation in older patients for e.g. stroke prophylaxis has proven to be beneficial, but some special risks have to be considered. Renal function may be substantial impaired and dose reduction in at least some of the substances is recommended. Therefore, a closer monitoring of renal function is essential. Further as bleeding risk also increases with age usual scoring lists do less help this therapeutic dilemma than in younger patients. Adequate blood pressure control is essential in preventing intracerebral hemorrhage. Fall risk has to be assessed to initiate early compensation for this risk. Only high and unimprovable fall incidence may outweigh the benefits of oral anticoagulation therapy (>1 hospital admission per month due to a fall incident). Comprehensive geriatric assessment is crucial for early detection of specific adherence problems in older patients and is also helpful for discussion of individual deprescribing options in an end of live situation.
History and clinical findings: A 20-years-old patient presented himself to our emergency room with extensive and extremely painful purpura with necrotizing spots and blisters, especially on the lower extremities, but also on the arms, trunk and ears. There was a pre-existing use of cocaine.
Medical examinations: Laboratory tests showed increased signs of inflammation as well as an increase in proteinase 3- and myeloperoxidase-ANCA (Anti-neutrophil cytoplasmatic antibody).
Diagnosis: In combination with the medical history, the clinical findings, and the laboratory values, vasculitis of the skin after cocaine use was revealed.
Therapy and course: Under therapy with steroids and cocaine abstinence, there was a regression of the changes.
Conclusion: Vasculitis is a serious complication of cocaine use.
Intravenous thrombolysis for acute ischemic stroke is an indispensable tool and current standard of care in neurology. However, until recently direct therapeutic options for intracranial hemorrhage under existing anticoagulation were not available. With the introduction of two new medications - Idarucizumab and Andexanet alfa - neurologists take a more targeted approach in treating these patients.
Burn injuries represent a special type of injury that requires special expertise. Both in adequate wound treatment and in intensive medical care, there are various special features that must be considered and due to which treatment by experienced medical personnel is necessary. In the clinical, but also in the preclinical course, the most important points in the treatment of the burn injury should be known to be able to guarantee adequate treatment. In this context, in addition to the knowledge of the different degrees of burns, the estimation of the burned body surface area (VKOF) is essential. Intensive medical treatment as well as surgical therapy of deep burn wounds should then be performed in a burn center. The article provides an overview of the classifications of burn injuries, the management of wound care, the various therapeutic options, both conservative and surgical, and the special features of burn disease.
Molecular pathological diagnostics plays a central role in personalized oncology and requires multidisciplinary teamwork. It is just as relevant for the individual patient who is being treated with an approved therapy method or an individual treatment attempt as it is for prospective clinical studies that require the identification of specific therapeutic target structures or complex biomarkers for study inclusion. It is also of crucial importance for the generation of real-world data, which is becoming increasingly important for drug development. Future developments will be significantly shaped by improvements in scalable molecular diagnostics, in which increasingly complex and multi-layered data sets must be quickly converted into clinically useful information. One focus will be on the development of adaptive diagnostic strategies in order to be able to depict the enormous plasticity of a cancer disease over time.

