NEW ORLEANS — Healio AI is an invaluable tool for all ophthalmic practices, according to a speaker at Eyecelerator@AAO.
“This is a platform that has a strong tradition within ophthalmology,” Healio | OSN Cornea/External Disease Section Editor Preeya K. Gupta, MD, said during a presentation.
Launched in November 2025, Healio AI is a free AI tool built with physician input to ensure relevance and reliability. One of the pain points of other AI platforms is that they are often not specific to ophthalmology, Gupta said.
“This was built by physicians with the input of physicians,” she said. “It’s

Christa Pike was sentenced to death for murder in 1996. On Sept. 30, she was injected with two 5 mg doses of pentobarbital but survived.
During the execution attempt, witnesses reported that Pike said she was in pain and then appeared to be snoring before she was transported to a hospital.
Pike’s attorneys said she gained consciousness and the ability to speak on Oct. 6, although she is unable to eat, swallow or move her swollen hands and arms, and has pneumonia and “cognitive confusion,” according to reporting from Reuters.
Lewis Nelson, MD, MBA, dean and chief of health affairs at Florida

NEW ORLEANS — The ophthalmic market continues to grow each year, driven primarily by an aging population, according to a presenter at Eyecelerator@AAO.
During a market update, Kristen Harmon Ingenito, MBA, discussed the factors that will impact the field of ophthalmology through 2030. An increase in privatization and premiumization, or a push toward premium lens options, could be a boon for the specialty, while economic uncertainty, capacity limitations and reimbursement pressures may have a detrimental impact.
Moving to 2030, Ingenito projected that surgical glaucoma will grow 11.6%, IOLs will

Surgical volume could be reduced for patients with locally advanced head and neck squamous cell carcinoma who respond to neoadjuvant chemoimmunotherapy.
Data from a phase 2 trial showed individuals with HPV-negative disease, who achieved at least a 50% reduction in primary tumor burden after neoadjuvant treatment, and underwent less extensive surgery, had a 2-year DFS rate of 90%.
“For deep responders, less extensive surgery can maintain excellent cancer control and preserve organ functions,” Kunyu Yang, MD, director of Union Hospital Cancer Center at Tongji Medical College and Huazhong

Not long ago, a patient who underwent total joint replacement stayed in the hospital for several days. Today, many patients go home from an ASC within hours of leaving the OR.
That change did not happen by accident. Orthopedic surgeons have made this possible by refining techniques, adopting regional anesthesia and multimodal analgesia, building enhanced recovery pathways, and accepting responsibility for patients who recover at home rather than on a nursing floor. At first, CMS was reluctant but then supported every step, removing total knee arthroplasty from the inpatient-only list in 2018,

Organizations across the optometry field announced new eye care initiatives and activities to commemorate World Sight Day on Oct. 8.
The theme, #LoveYourEyes, underscores the day’s mission to provide accessible and affordable eye care to everyone.
This year, the patient advocacy organization Prevent Blindness is joining with the International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness (IAPB) to host educational activities and advocacy events in recognition of the day, according to a press release from Prevent Blindness.
Funded by Amgen and Alkeus Pharmaceuticals, Prevent Blindness and its

Nearly one third of people with prior exposure to or infection with the bacterium that causes Lyme disease also had antibodies against other tickborne pathogens, according to a study of more than 190,000 patients.
The rate was four to five times higher than participants with no evidence of past exposure to Borrelia burgdorferi.
“While people have known about tickborne coexposure for years, the reality on the ground is changing rapidly,” Yonghong Li, PhD, study co-author and science director at Quest Diagnostics, told Healio. “Climate change and expanding tick habitats have

The FDA has approved an expanded indication for remibrutinib as the first treatment for adults with symptomatic dermographism inadequately controlled by H1 antihistamines, Novartis announced in a press release.
“Symptomatic dermographism is a chronic, debilitating condition with historically limited treatment options,” Giselle Mosnaim, MD, MS, allergist and immunologist at Endeavor Health, clinical professor at the University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine and lead investigator for the trial that supported the approval, said in the release. “Remibrutinib offers, for the first time, an

Kidney disease in women may be often underdiagnosed and undertreated due to lack of sex-specific research and recognition of reproductive health as an important variable, according to a scientific statement published in Circulation.
The American Heart Association issued a scientific statement calling on greater recognition and treatment of kidney disease in women; assessment of reproductive health during kidney care; and increased enrollment of women in clinical trials to improve knowledge of sex-specific treatment outcomes.
The authors reported that approximately one in 10 women globally have

SAN DIEGO — The AAP’s newest guidance on diagnosing and treating UTIs in children aged 8 days to 5 years recommends shorter antibiotic courses and removing nitrites from the diagnostic algorithm.
The AAP published the guideline on Sept. 28 and co-author Brian K. Alverson, MD, FAAP, presented the updates at the AAP National Conference & Exhibition.
The previous guideline on UTI diagnosis and management in infants and toddlers was published in 2011, but the AAP retired it in 2021 because it used patient race in the diagnostic algorithm, and the AAP began moving away from race-based medicine