A study of more than 2,000 patients by researchers at Mayo Clinic
In a potential breakthrough against ovarian cancer, University of Guelph researchers have discovered how to both shrink tumours and improve drug delivery, allowing for lower doses of chemotherapy and reducing side effects.
A surgical algorithm developed and implemented by ovarian cancer specialists at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center dramatically increases the frequency of complete removal of all visible tumour
Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is the most commonly diagnosed
A new study suggests a pioneering testing technology could reduce hospital stays by up to eight days and lower annual health care costs for people with serious infections by approximately $2.2 million (
For patients experiencing non-ST-segment elevation acute coronary syndromes (NSTE-ACS), a rapid invasive strategy (within 24 hours) using coronary angiography and other interventions is beneficial for high-risk as well as low-risk patients. However, this treatment may be constrained on weekends by the need to mobilize on-call catheterization teams. A new study evaluated costs associated with an early versus delayed invasive intervention strategy for patients presenting on weekdays and weekends. Investigators determined that early invasive strategy for Canadian NTSE-ACS patients significantly reduced costs, even on weekends, because of resulting shorter length of hospital stays (LOS).
According to lead investigator Andre Lamy, MD, MHSc, Population Health Research Institute, and Professor in the Department of Surgery and Department of Clinical Epidemiology, McMaster University, ‘Hospitals that currently tend to delay stable patients in favour of weekday catheterization instead of mobilizing the on-call team for an earlier invasive management of NSTE-ACS patients should consider the latter as the savings from adhering to the timing of an early intervention approach would outweigh additional costs.’
The research team analysed data from 479 Canadian patients from the Timing of Intervention in Acute Coronary Syndromes (TIMACS) multinational trial, which included 238 in the early strategy group and 241 in the delayed strategy group in order to assess the impact from the perspective of the Canadian healthcare system.
By the end of the trial patients who had received a strategy of early coronary angiography and intervention saved CAN $2,938 per patient compared to those who underwent a delayed strategy. These significant savings were driven by lower costs associated with LOS ($9,761 for those who underwent an early strategy compared to $12,569 for delayed; a savings of $2,808), especially in ICU/CCU and ward units. There was no significant difference in cost for study percutaneous coronary interventions, drugs, procedures or diagnostic procedures.
‘The results of our Canadian-led multinational trial shows that early intervention is a cost saving strategy for all patients with acute coronary syndromes. In higher risk patients, early intervention also appears to improve clinical outcomes,’ added TIMACS lead investigator Shamir R. Mehta, MD, MSc, Professor of Medicine, McMaster University, and Director, Interventional Cardiology, Hamilton Health Sciences. EurekAlert
Researchers at Tufts University, in collaboration with a team at the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana, have demonstrated a resorbable electronic implant that eliminated bacterial infection in mice by delivering heat to infected tissue when triggered by a remote wireless signal. The silk and magnesium devices then harmlessly dissolved in the test animals. The technique had previously been demonstrated only in vitro.
‘This is an important demonstration step forward for the development of on-demand medical devices that can be turned on remotely to perform a therapeutic function in a patient and then safely disappear after their use, requiring no retrieval,’ said senior author Fiorenzo Omenetto, professor of biomedical engineering and Frank C. Doble professor at Tufts School of Engineering. ‘These wireless strategies could help manage post-surgical infection, for example, or pave the way for eventual ‘wi-fi’ drug delivery.’
Implantable medical devices typically use non-degradable materials that have limited operational lifetimes and must eventually be removed or replaced. The new wireless therapy devices are robust enough to survive mechanical handling during surgery but designed to harmlessly dissolve within minutes or weeks depending on how the silk protein was processed, noted the paper’s first author, Hu Tao, Ph.D., a former Tufts post-doctoral associate who is now on the faculty of the Shanghai Institute of Microsystem and Information Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences.
Each fully dissolvable wireless heating device consisted of a serpentine resistor and a power-receiving coil made of magnesium deposited onto a silk protein layer. The magnesium heater was encapsulated in a silk ‘pocket’ that protected the electronics and controlled its dissolution time.
Devices were implanted in vivo in S. aureus infected tissue and activated by a wireless transmitter for two sets of 10-minute heat treatments. Tissue collected from the mice 24 hours after treatment showed no sign of infection, and surrounding tissues were found to be normal. Devices completely dissolved after 15 days, and magnesium levels at the implant site and surrounding areas were comparable to levels typically found in the body.
The researchers also conducted in vitro experiments in which similar remotely controlled devices released the antibiotic ampicillin to kill E. coli and S. aureus bacteria. The wireless activation of the devices was found to enhance antibiotic release without reducing antibiotic activity. Tufts University
A multi-centre study of 169 men and women with a common form of neck pain suggests that both spinal steroid injections and conservative treatment with physical therapy and painkillers work equally well to relieve pain in the short term. But over time, a combination of the two appears to offer the most relief.
An injection of a patient
As the rate of children with autism in the U.S. continues to grow, a new study shows that medical professionals can
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