Radiation Treatment Persistently Alters Heart Cell Function to Produce Benefits in Heart Failure Patients
This paper is interesting as a first step on the way to further research into compensatory therapies that can reduce the cardiac muscle dysfunction of heart failure. One-time radiation therapy appears to persistently change cardiomyocyte behavior via altered epigenetic regulation of notch signaling, leading to modestly improved heart tissue function. Perhaps this should be taken as supportive of efforts to more directly target this regulatory pathway in the aging heart via other means.
Cardiac radiotherapy (RT) may be effective in treating heart failure (HF) patients with refractory ventricular tachycardia (VT). T...
Source: Fight Aging! - October 5, 2021 Category: Research Authors: Reason Tags: Daily News Source Type: blogs
Oscillating Magnetic Field Shrinks Glioblastoma Tumor
At the Houston Methodist Neurological Institute, researchers have developed a device that generates a magnetic field and used it to successfully shrink a glioblastoma tumor in a patient volunteer. The device is worn on the head each day during treatment, and uses an oscillating magnetic field to disrupt biochemical processes in cancer cells. While the technique is in its infancy, this first-in-human test of this particular type of device shows promise, and could herald the first steps in a new non-invasive treatment modality.
Glioblastoma is a brain cancer with a very poor prognosis, and which nearly always proves fatal...
Source: Medgadget - July 26, 2021 Category: Medical Devices Authors: Conn Hastings Tags: Neurology Neurosurgery Oncology Source Type: blogs
Anti-Restenotic Drug Delivery with the AGENT Drug-Coated Balloon: Interview with Dr. Ian Meredith, Global CMO, Boston Scientific
Boston Scientific recently announced a clinical trial of its AGENT drug coated balloon. The device is coated with paclitaxel, an anti-restenotic drug, and aims to deliver the medication to the affected vessel wall during a percutaneous procedure. Coronary in-stent restenosis (ISR) is caused by occlusive scar tissue that develops in the stented portion of a vessel.
At present, ISR is treated through the addition of extra stents and radiation therapy is also sometimes used. Both of these approaches pose safety risks for patients. Balloon angioplasty represents an alternative approach, but is not always successful, with mi...
Source: Medgadget - June 14, 2021 Category: Medical Devices Authors: Conn Hastings Tags: Exclusive Radiology Vascular Surgery Source Type: blogs
Localized Prostate Cancer Therapy: Interview with Shyam Natarajan, CEO of Avenda Health
Avenda Health, a medtech company based in Santa Monica, California has developed the Focal Therapy System. It provides AI-powered prostate cancer therapy with the aim of treating only tumorous tissues, while reducing side-effects compared with conventional therapies. The system recently received FDA breakthrough designation.
At present, there are limited treatment options for men with prostate cancer, with surgery and radiation therapy being the most commonly used approaches. However, these techniques pose significant risks for patients, including urinary and sexual dysfunction. The Avenda Focal Therapy System uses A...
Source: Medgadget - June 7, 2021 Category: Medical Devices Authors: Conn Hastings Tags: Exclusive Informatics Oncology Urology Source Type: blogs
PROP ’s Disproportionate Influence on U.S. Opioid Policy: The Harms of Intended Consequences
ConclusionDespite being turned back from an effort to bluntly reduce opioid prescribing by the FDA in 2013 based on a lack of scientific evidence for its position (17,18), PROP has had a disproportionate effect on opioid policy in the Untied States for almost a decade. PROP found a willing federal regulatory partner in the CDC, and while PROP may not have “secretly written” the 2016 CDC Pain Guidelines (75), they certainly enjoyed disproportionate representation on CDC’s review panels and Core Expert Group (23-25) in a process that lacked transparency (22, 23, 26, 27). When the CDC admitted that its Pain Guideline ha...
Source: Pallimed: A Hospice and Palliative Medicine Blog - May 3, 2021 Category: Palliative Care Tags: CDC health policy kollas opioids pain prop Source Type: blogs
PROP s Disproportionate Influence on U.S. Opioid Policy: The Harms of Intended Consequences
ConclusionDespite being turned back from an effort to bluntly reduce opioid prescribing by the FDA in 2013 based on a lack of scientific evidence for its position (17,18), PROP has had a disproportionate effect on opioid policy in the Untied States for almost a decade. PROP found a willing federal regulatory partner in the CDC, and while PROP may not have secretly written the 2016 CDC Pain Guidelines (75), they certainly enjoyed disproportionate representation on CDCs review panels and Core Expert Group (23-25) in a process that lacked transparency (22, 23, 26, 27). When the CDC admitted that its Pain Guideline had been...
Source: Pallimed: A Hospice and Palliative Medicine Blog - May 3, 2021 Category: Palliative Care Tags: CDC health policy kollas opioids pain prop Source Type: blogs
Can AI Reinvent Radiation Therapy for Cancer Patients?
John Halamka, M.D., president, Mayo Clinic Platform, and Paul Cerrato, senior research analyst and communications specialist, Mayo Clinic Platform, wrote this article.Of all the advances in health care artificial intelligence (AI), medical imaging is probably the most remarkable success story. Two prominent examples come to mind: Machine learning has helped improve the screening and diagnosis of retinal disease and is making inroads in skin cancer detection. Given these developments, it ’s not surprising to find researchers and clinicians developing the digital tools to improve radiotherapy, which combines imaging techno...
Source: Life as a Healthcare CIO - April 19, 2021 Category: Information Technology Source Type: blogs
Wireless Sensor Measures Deep Tissue Oxygen Levels
Researchers at the University of California, Berkeley have developed an ultrasound-powered implantable sensor that can measure oxygen levels in tissues deep within the body and transmit these data to an external device. The technology could be useful in monitoring transplant viability or oxygen exposure in preterm infants. It also has potential to be adapted to measure other biochemical markers, such as carbon dioxide concentrations or pH levels.
Oxygen is crucial for living tissues, and poor oxygenation leads to cell death. This process forms the basis for various pathological phenomena, but clinicians can struggle to ...
Source: Medgadget - April 19, 2021 Category: Medical Devices Authors: Conn Hastings Tags: Anesthesiology Cardiac Surgery Cardiology Critical Care Emergency Medicine Plastic Surgery Rehab Vascular Surgery Source Type: blogs
An emerging treatment option for men with recurring prostate cancer after radiation therapy
Prostate cancer is often a multifocal disease, meaning that several tumors can be present in different parts of gland at the same time. Not all of these tumors are equally problematic, however. And it’s increasingly thought that the tumor with the most aggressive features — called the index lesion — dictates how a man’s cancer is likely to behave overall. That concept has given rise to a new treatment option. Called partial gland ablation (PGA), and also focal therapy, it entails treating only the index lesion and its surrounding tissues, instead of removing the prostate surgically or treating the whole gla...
Source: Harvard Health Blog - April 2, 2021 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Charlie Schmidt Tags: Health Living With Prostate Cancer Prostate Knowledge Treatments HPK Source Type: blogs
Changes to radiation oncology offer hope when there was none
Radiation oncology has been around for a century, and, at first, advancements in the field came rapidly. The evolution of X-rays and CT scans to inform treatment. Intraoperative radiation therapy. Technology that allows for tailored dose distribution. But for the past 20 years, the pace of innovations seemed to slow. We remained stymied, for instance, […]Find jobs at Careers by KevinMD.com. Search thousands of physician, PA, NP, and CRNA jobs now. Learn more. (Source: Kevin, M.D. - Medical Weblog)
Source: Kevin, M.D. - Medical Weblog - February 4, 2021 Category: General Medicine Authors: < span itemprop="author" > < a href="https://www.kevinmd.com/blog/post-author/hoag-memorial-hospital-presbyterian" rel="tag" > Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian < /a > < /span > Tags: Conditions Oncology/Hematology Source Type: blogs
Stomach Cancer Stage 4 Treatment
Stomach cancer stage 4 is a complex diagnosis. It is the stage of cancer that requires specific treatment options.
Is surgery an option for patients with stomach cancer stage 4?
Stage 4 stomach cancer is characterized by rapid tumor growth, metastasizing to regional lymph nodes and distant organs (liver, bones, pancreas, less often lungs). With the development of metastases in other organs, characteristic symptoms occur such as jaundice and liver failure with liver damage, ascites with metastases in the peritoneum, bowel obstruction with metastases in the small intestine, etc.
Therefore, at the advanced stages, ga...
Source: PickTheBrain | Motivation and Self Improvement - January 22, 2021 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Booking Health Tags: health and fitness self-improvement cancer stomach cancer treatment Source Type: blogs
More intensive treatment of DCIS reduces the risk of invasive breast cancer
This study showed that increased cancer risk persisted for more than 15 years after a diagnosis of DCIS, and that more intensive therapy than lumpectomy alone — whether with mastectomy, radiation therapy, or endocrine therapy — reduced the risk of invasive breast cancer among women with DCIS. The lowest risk of invasive breast cancer was in women who chose mastectomy.
The risk of invasive breast cancer was seen regardless of severity of DCIS. Women who had low- or moderate-grade DCIS, as well as high-grade DCIS, had long-term increased risk.
Women who are recently diagnosed with DCIS should work with their treatment te...
Source: Harvard Health Blog - January 19, 2021 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Kathryn Rexrode, MD, MPH Tags: Breast Cancer Women's Health Source Type: blogs
Fight Aging! Newsletter, December 21st 2020
In this study, we have found that administration of a specific Sgk1 inhibitor significantly reduces the dysregulated form of tau protein that is a pathological hallmark of AD, restores prefrontal cortical synaptic function, and mitigates memory deficits in an AD model. These results have identified Sgk1 as a potential key target for therapeutic intervention of AD, which may have specific and precise effects."
Targeting histone K4 trimethylation for treatment of cognitive and synaptic deficits in mouse models of Alzheimer's disease
Epigenetic aberration is implicated in aging and neurodegeneration. Using p...
Source: Fight Aging! - December 20, 2020 Category: Research Authors: Reason Tags: Newsletters Source Type: blogs
Radiotherapy to Prevent Recurrence Post Brain Tumor Excision: Interview with Matthew Likens, President and CEO of GT Medical
GT Medical Technologies, a company based in Arizona, has developed the FDA-approved GammaTile system, which can provide localized radiation therapy for brain tumor excision sites. Its goal is to reduce tumor recurrence and enhance patient survival. The treatment consists of radiation seeds encased in a collagen substrate. These are easy to place at the excision site with a minimum of effort at the end of a surgical procedure.
Unfortunately, brain tumor recurrence is relatively common, and so treatments that can help to reduce this phenomenon, while sparing healthy tissues and reducing side effects, are very welcome. The...
Source: Medgadget - December 15, 2020 Category: Medical Devices Authors: Conn Hastings Tags: Exclusive Materials Medicine Neurosurgery Oncology Radiation Oncology Radiology Source Type: blogs
Greater Senescent Cell Burden Correlates with a Worse Cervical Cancer Survival Rate
It is thought that the burden of senescent cells is likely correlated with survival in many cancers. Senescent cells cease to replicate and begin to secrete pro-growth, pro-inflammation signals. Most senescent cells are rapidly destroyed by the immune system, but this process slows with age and thus senescent cells accumulate. Cellular senescence does act to suppress cancer in its earliest stages, by removing those cells most likely to become cancerous. Once a significant number of senescent cells are present, however, their signaling begins to aid cancer growth. Thus we might expect to see that the application of senolyti...
Source: Fight Aging! - December 14, 2020 Category: Research Authors: Reason Tags: Daily News Source Type: blogs
