Newsline — Thursday, February 28, 2013 13:00
Antioxidants May Not Reduce Risk of Stroke, Dementia
Brain Cooling May Curb Trauma-Induced Seizures
Thursday, February 28, 2013 10:22
Patients recovering from severe head injury often experience epileptic seizures that are hard to control. A new study in Annals of Neurology suggests that cooling the brain after trauma may prevent these seizures. While cooling the brain is not a new concept, researchers believe that doing so may allow brain cells to survive the stresses of an injury. Scientists from the University of Washington and the University of Minnesota tested potential therapies in a rat model of brain injury, noticing that a headset that cools the rat brain seemed to stop and prevent seizures. Click here to read the full article.
Mayo Clinic Tests Combo of Avastin, Dasatinib to Stop Spread of Brain Tumors
Tuesday, February 26, 2013 14:49
The drug bevacizumab — also known by the trade name Avastin — shrinks tumors briefly in patients with glioblastoma multiforme, but they often grow again and spread throughout the brain for reasons not understood … until now. Mayo Clinic researchers have discovered that pairing Avastin with another cancer drug, dasatinib, can stop tumors from spreading. Dasatinib is approved for use in several blood cancers. The findings, based on an animal study, are explained in the Feb. 14 online issue of PLOS ONE. Based on results, Mayo Clinic has already conducted a phase I clinical trial testing a combination of bevacizumab and dasatinib in glioblastoma patients for whome other therapies have failed. It currently is carrying out a randomized phase II study of 100 patients through Alliance for Clinical Trials in Oncology, a clinical trials network supported by the National Cancer Institute. For more information, click here to read the full article.
Degenerative Cervical Spine Disease May Not Worsen Over Time, Study Says
Tuesday, February 26, 2013 12:58
Follow-up data on patients with degenerative disease of the upper (cervical) spinal vertebrae show little or no evidence of worsening degeneration over time — that’s according to a study that appears in the Feb. 15 issue of the journal Spine. New research by Moon Soo Park, MD, and colleagues of Medical College of Hallym University, Republic of Korea, finds that for many patients with “unstable” cervical degenerative spondylolisthesis, observation may be a better choice than surgery. “Our results suggest that the majority of these patients may be stable and do not develop progression of disease or catastrophic neurologic deficits,” they report. For more information, click here to read the full article.
Washington University Researcher Granted $2.25 Million by NIH for TBI Study
Monday, February 25, 2013 13:14
An engineering researcher at Washington University in St. Louis has received a five-year, $2.25 million grant to better understand traumatic brain injuries (TBIs) in efforts to improve methods for prevention and treatment. Philip Bayly, PhD, the Lilyan and E. Lisle Hughes Professor of Mechanical Engineering and chair of the Department of Mechanical Engineering & Materials Science, is principal investigator of the grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The grant will allow Dr. Bayly and his research team to develop 3-D computer models of brain biomechanics that will provide researchers and clinicians with a better understanding of what happens to the brain during TBIs. Previously, he and his research team measured brain motion and mechanical properties of the brain in 2-D. For more information, click here to read the full release.
Report Projects Slower Rising Drug Costs for 2013 Based on Past Years
Thursday, February 21, 2013 13:00
Even though medication costs will continue to rise in 2013 by as much as four percent, the increase is expected to be less than in previous years — that’s according to a study that appears in the American Journal of Health-System Pharmacy, the journal of the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists (ASHP). The report, “Projecting Future Drug Expenditures in U.S. Non-Federal Hospitals and Clinics — 2013,” examines drug expenditure trends in 2011 and 2012, projects drug expenditures for 2013, and considers factors likely to influence drug expenditures. Based on a variety of data, including new drug approvals and patent expirations, the authors project a 1-3 percent increase in drug expenditures across all settings, a 2-4 percent increase in expenditures for clinic-administered drugs, and a 1.5 percent increase in hospital drug expenditures for 2013. For more information, click here to read the full release.
Study Sheds New Light on Development of Infant Brain
Thursday, February 21, 2013 11:30
A new study by Columbia Engineering researchers has found that the infant brain does not control its blood flow in the same way as the adult brain. The paper, which the scientists say could change the way brain development is studied in infants and children, appears in the Feb. 18 Early Online edition of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS). “The control of blood flow in the brain is very important,” says Elizabeth Hillman, associate professor of Biomedical Engineering and of Radiology, who led the research study in the Laboratory for Functional Optical Imaging at Columbia. “Not only are regionally specific increases in blood flow necessary for normal brain function, but these blood-flow increases form the basis of signals measured in fMRI, a critical imaging tool used widely in adults and children to assess brain function. Many prior fMRI studies have overlooked the possibility that the infant brain controls blood flow differently.” For more information, click here to read the full release.
Study Examines Hospital Readmission Rates for Spine Surgery Patients
Wednesday, February 20, 2013 15:00
When hospital patients have to be readmitted soon after discharge, it makes hospitals look bad. A high readmission rate also can result in reduced Medicare reimbursements. But a new study of spine surgery patients has discovered that the standard method used to calculate readmission rates is a misleading indicator of hospital quality. Loyola University Medical Center neurosurgeon Beejal Y. Amin, MD, and colleagues found that 25 percent of the readmissions of spine surgery patients were not due to true quality-of-care issues. “We have identified potential pitfalls in the current calculation of readmission rates,” Amin says. “We are working on modifying the algorithm to make it more clinically relevant.” Medicare is trying to improve patient care by penalizing hospitals with poor outcomes. One key outcomes measure is the readmissions rate. Medicare may begin to withhold reimbursements to hospitals with excessively high readmission rates. Study results appear in the February 2013 issue of the Journal of Neurosurgery. For more information, click here to read the full release.
Fluorescent Light Causes Brain Tumor Cells to Glow for Surgery
Wednesday, February 20, 2013 10:18
Neurosurgeons say they have harnessed the power of fluorescent light to illuminate a brain tumor so the entire growth can be removed. A new report describes a case in which a patient with glioblastoma swallowed a pill, called 5-ALA, and was taken to surgery about four hours later. The medication attached itself to tumor cells, causing them to glow brightly. Once the skull was opened, the doctors focused a blue light on the tumor, which gave the cancerous cells a pink glow, so they could differentiate malignant tissue from healthy tissue. “This is a very, very good thing,” says study author Mitchel S. Berger, MD, FAANS, FACS, chairman of neurosurgery at the University of California, San Francisco. “In this case, we just happened to notice we could see evidence of the tumor spreading along the way of the ventricles [a communicating network of brain cavities], which showed we could see tumor dissemination.” For more information, click here to read the full article.
InSightec Receives FDA Go-ahead to Begin Trial for Essential Tremor Therapy
Tuesday, February 19, 2013 13:00
InSightec Ltd. has announced that it received FDA approval to begin Phase III clinical trial for treatment of essential tremor using ExAblate Neuro. This trial is intended to provide safety and effectiveness data about the use of ExAblate Neuro in order to support FDA pre-marketing approval. ExAblate Neuro uses MR-guided focused ultrasound therapy to provide an incision-less treatment, through the intact skull, with no ionizing radiation. ExAblate MR-guided focused ultrasound (MRgFUS) uses high intensity ultrasound waves to destroy target tissue in the brain while the patient lies in an MRI, which provides continuous visualization, plan, guidance, monitoring and control of the treatment. Essential tremor is the most common movement disorder and affects millions of people worldwide. Patients may become severely disabled and have difficulty performing everyday tasks such as drinking, eating, dressing, and writing. More than one-third of patients do not respond to medication and may consider surgery, including implantation of deep brain stimulating electrodes or radiosurgery with ionizing radiation. For more information, click here to read the full release.