More effective detection and diagnosis of oral cancer could result from an advance in non-invasive imaging of epithelial tissue by a Texas A&M University researcher who says her research has the potential to change the way doctors initially look for pre-cancerous and cancerous areas in a patient
Doctors at Henry Ford Hospital have created a new route to the heart to implant an artificial heart valve by temporarily connecting major blood vessels that do not normally intersect.
In a July 3 operation on 79-year-old Viola Waller of Charlevoix, physicians performed a world-first cardiac procedure when it became evident that other means would not work.
‘I knew of an experimental technique that had not yet been done in humans, and I had a patient with no other options who was failing rapidly,’ says William O
A report by The University of Manchester
It seems that even for the smallest of people, a gentle massage may be beneficial. Newborn intensive care units (NICUs) are stressful environments for preterm infants; mechanical ventilation, medical procedures, care-giving activities and maternal separation create these stressful conditions.
Born under-developed, preemies have an immature autonomic nervous system (ANS), which controls stress response and recovery. For a preemie, even a diaper change is stressful and the immature ANS over reacts to these stressors. Since preterm infants can
Preoperative evaluations before facial cosmetic surgery find that about half of patients are taking herbal and other supplements.
A drug targeting a protein complex containing two different types of opioid receptors may be an effective alternative to morphine and other opioid pain medications, without any of the side effects or risk of dependence, according to research led by the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai.
Morphine is still the most widely-used pain reliever, or analgesic, in people with severe pain, but chronic use can lead to addiction and negative side effects such as respiratory issues, constipation, or diarrhoea.
In a previous study by Lakshmi Devi, PhD, Professor of Pharmacology and Systems Therapeutics at Mount Sinai, researchers identified a therapeutic target called a GPCR heteromer, which is a protein complex that is made up of two opioid receptors called mu and delta. They also showed that the heteromer is abundant in the area of the brain that processes pain, and is the likely cause of morphine tolerance and side effects.
In the current study, Dr. Devi carried out high throughput screening in collaboration with researchers at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to identify which small molecules might act on the signalling pathway associated with this protein complex. Researchers found one compound called CYM51010 that was as potent as morphine, but less likely to result in tolerance and negative side effects. Dr. Devi
A new device could improve how blood pressure is measured, according to NHS researchers.
A team at University College London showed a sensor worn on the wrist could measure the pressure of blood leaving the heart throughout the day. Normally blood pressure is measured in the arteries in the arm, but the pressure at the heart might be a better predictor of future health problems. If blood pressure is too high it can lead to heart attacks and stroke.
About a third of people in the UK have hypertension, dangerously high blood pressure, but most are unaware of the condition.
A team at the NHS National Institute of Health Research (NIHR) trialled the sensor, which contains a mini-plunger that moves up and down as blood pulses past with every heartbeat. A computer programme in the wrist strap used this ‘pulse wave’ to work out the pressure in the heart. This was compared with measures taken from sensors in patients’ hearts.
‘It was remarkably accurate,’ said Prof Bryan Williams, the director of the NIHR University College London Hospitals Biomedical Research Centre.
Guidelines in the UK recommend that blood pressure is measured at home over the course of 24 hours before drugs for hypertension are prescribed.
Their study showed that the measurements in the arm did not reflect the true changes in blood pressure at night.
Prof Williams said: ‘What we have shown is that pressures by the heart do not dip as much during sleep as we previously thought. ‘We know the pressure when someone is asleep is a strong predictor of heart disease. This [the device] almost certainly gives a better measure than blood pressure in the arm.
‘This is not mainstream, but in the future you could see people having their central blood pressure measured instead of in the arm.’
BBC
A plastic material already used in absorbable surgical sutures and other medical devices shows promise for continuous administration of antibiotics to patients with brain infections, scientists are reporting in a new study. Use of the material, placed directly on the brain
While the use of ultrasound to identify tumours during kidney cancer surgery is gaining acceptance, a research team at Henry Ford Hospital has successfully taken it a step further by showing an added benefit when the procedure is done robotically.
Simply put, the kidney surgeon who performs the ultrasound robotically has direct control over the painstaking procedure instead of having to rely on an assistant for part of the task.
The researchers compared the robotic ultrasound probe to the same procedure using a laparoscopic ultrasound probe, which requires an assistant to guide the ultrasound probe for the surgeon. At the end of the study, the researchers found comparable results between the two methods.
‘Besides giving the surgeon autonomy, the robotic ultrasound probe is more easily manipulated than the laparoscopic probe when measuring the tumour from certain angles,’ said Craig Rogers, M.D., a urologist at Henry Ford Hospital’s Vattikuti Urology Institute and senior author of the study. ‘This can reduce the need to move the kidney to gain better position.
‘While our study showed comparable results from both methods of mapping and measuring kidney cancers, the robotic ultrasound probe enables the precision of a robotic instrument as well as direct surgeon control.’
The surgical procedure studied used in each case studied by the researchers was robotic partial nephrectomy, or RPN, in which only the diseased part of a cancerous kidney is removed by a surgeon-controlled robot instead of traditional open surgery in which the entire kidney is removed.
They collected data from 75 consecutive RPN procedures using a laparoscopic ultrasound probe and 75 consecutive RPNs using a robotic ultrasound probe.
‘Both groups had similar tumour characteristics, operating times and other factors, and their outcomes were similar,’ Dr. Rogers says. ‘There was no statistically significant difference in measured variables between groups when controlling for tumour size and complexity. So the robotically controlled ultrasound probe performed on-par with traditional ultrasound, but with the added benefit of direct surgeon control and precision.
All patients in both study groups were found to be cancer-free during follow up examinations at a mean of 25.7 months for the laparoscopic group and 10.2 months for the robotic group.
EurekAlert
Most lung cancers are detected when patients become symptomatic and have late-stage disease. However, recently, computed tomography (CT) screening for lung cancer has been reported to reduce lung cancer mortality. Since the National Lung Screening Trial’s results showed a 20 percent reduction in lung cancer-specific deaths in those patients who had screening performed with chest CT, the use of CT screening for lung cancer has been gaining favour. However, CT is associated with the disadvantages of high radiation dosage and cost.
Digital chest tomosynthesis (DT), a tomographic technique, may offer an alternative to CT screening. A recent study concludes that digital chest tomosynthesis holds promise as a first-line lung cancer screening tool. DT uses a conventional radiograph tube, a flat-panel detector, a computer-controlled tube mover, and special reconstruction algorithms to produce section images. Compared with conventional chest radiography, chest tomosynthesis improved sensitivity in the detection of CT-proven lung nodules. Although it lacks the depth resolution of CT, tomosynthesis provides some of the benefits of CT at lower costs and radiation dosages. Furthermore, DT is less expensive than CT at approximately one-sixths of the cost of a CT.
Researchers from the Thoracic Surgery Unit and Department of Radiology at the S. Corce City Hospital in Cuneo, Italy studied assessed 1919 patients. Participants were age 45 to 75 with a smoking history of at least 20 pack years, without malignancy in the 5 years before the start of the study in December 2010. A tomosynthesis was performed at baseline and a year later.
The researchers conclude that, ‘the results on the use of DT in early detection of lung cancer are encouraging; the detection rate is comparable to the rates reported for low-dosage CT and is attained at a far lower cost and radiation dosage.’ IASLC
April 2024
Beukenlaan 137
5616 VD Eindhoven
The Netherlands
+31 85064 55 82
info@interhospi.com
PanGlobal Media IS not responsible for any error or omission that might occur in the electronic display of product or company data.