An update on prostate cancer treatment [PODCAST]
“Even though prostate cancer patients are anxious to receive treatment, they still want to minimize their exposure to anyone outside their COVID bubble. One procedure that is especially attractive to our patients is focal therapy high intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU). Focal therapy HIFU is appropriate for patients whose prostate cancer is diagnosed at a higherRead more …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 - June 3, 2021 Category: General Medicine Authors: < span itemprop="author" > < a href="https://www.kevinmd.com/blog/post-author/the-podcast-by-kevinmd" rel="tag" > The Podcast by KevinMD < /a > < /span > Tags: Podcast Oncology/Hematology Urology Source Type: blogs
When the ECG is more revealing than the HPI
Written by Alex Bracey with edits from Pendell Meyers and Steve SmithA woman in her 60s presented to the ED as a referral from an urgent care for weakness. When I interviewed her, she reported that she had experienced several months of shortness of breath and fatigue, which had worsened in the last several days. She had also experienced new dyspnea on exertion, along with a non-productive cough and fatigue. The only medical problem she was aware of was hypertension treated with hydrochlorothiazide. An ECG was performed as follows:Sinus tachycardiaConvex, upward ST elevation in V1-V4 with subsequent T wave inversionRi...
Source: Dr. Smith's ECG Blog - May 30, 2021 Category: Cardiology Authors: Bracey Source Type: blogs
Tiny Implantable Ultrasound Chip for Physiological Monitoring
Researchers at Columbia University have developed a microscopic implantable chip for physiological monitoring. It has a total volume of less than 0.1 mm3. To put that in perspective, the chip is as small as a dust mite, and can only be viewed using a microscope. The goal of this research was to create devices that can be injected using a standard hypodermic needle, and which then beam their readings wirelessly to external displays such as patient monitors and smartphones . The Columbia team used externally applied ultrasound through a conventional ultrasound imager to power and communicate with their implant.
Medical im...
Source: Medgadget - May 17, 2021 Category: Medical Devices Authors: Conn Hastings Tags: Cardiology Diagnostics Materials Medicine Surgery Telemedicine Source Type: blogs
Phonon Probe to Image Tissues Ultrasonically at Nanoscale
Visual signs of disease can often be spotted within affected tissues, and advances in histopathology have provided clinicians with powerful diagnostic tools to spot those signs. Microscopes are the cornerstone of this trade, and although they have proven to be extremely useful, they do suffer from some limitations. They are effectively 2D imaging devices that don’t offer a good perspective on the volumetric nature of things at small scales, and they only detect light, which can’t sense clinically important properties such as tissue stiffness.
The optical fiber imaging sensor has a diameter of 125 micrometers...
Source: Medgadget - May 5, 2021 Category: Medical Devices Authors: Medgadget Editors Tags: Materials Nanomedicine Pathology Radiology Source Type: blogs
This patient with " NSTEMI " was not allowed to go to the cath lab. Then the ED provider obtained an emergent coronary CT angio. What do you think it showed?
Submitted by Shakita Crichlow MD, edits by MeyersA female in her 60s presented with chest pain off and on starting the day before presentation. The chest pain was left sided, pressure-like, intermittent, without aggravating or alleviating factors, and associated with mild shortness of breath. She become worried when she took her blood pressure at home and found it to be 200 systolic, so she decided to come to the ED at that point. Here is her initial ECG:What do you think?Raw findings: - Sinus rhythm - STE in leads II, III, and aVF, reaching at least 1.0 mm in III and aVF - Large Q wave in lead II...
Source: Dr. Smith's ECG Blog - April 30, 2021 Category: Cardiology Authors: Pendell Source Type: blogs
Polycystic ovary syndrome and the skin
Often, the skin can be a window to what is occurring inside your body. For women with polycystic ovary syndrome, or PCOS, this this may mean acne, hair loss, excessive facial or body hair growth, dark patches on the skin, or any combination of these issues.
What is PCOS?
Skin and hair issues can be the most readily perceptible features of PCOS, and thus sometimes the reason for seeking medical care. However, features of PCOS also include menstrual irregularities, polycystic ovaries (when the ovaries develop multiple small follicles and do not regularly release eggs), obesity, and insulin resistance (when cells do not respo...
Source: Harvard Health Blog - April 29, 2021 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Kristina Liu, MD, MHS Tags: Diet and Weight Loss Family Planning and Pregnancy Fertility Skin and Hair Care Women's Health Source Type: blogs
Basic principles of rotablation
Rotablation or rotational atherectomy uses a diamond coated burr to debulk complex atherosclerotic plaques which are difficult to treat with conventional balloon angioplasty. The physical principle of rotablation is differential cutting. The advancing rotablator burr selectively cuts inelastic material while elastic tissue deflects away from the burr. As 95% of the particles generated by rotablation are less than 5 microns in diameter, they are removed from the body by the reticuloendothelial system [1]. Thus the basic principle of rotablation is quite different from balloon dilatation in which there is displacement of a...
Source: Cardiophile MD - April 28, 2021 Category: Cardiology Authors: Prof. Dr. Johnson Francis Tags: Coronary Interventions Source Type: blogs
Neoatherosclerosis
Neointimal proliferation can occur within a coronary stent. Chronic inflammation within the neointima with infiltration of macrophages leads to neoatherosclerosis and result in in-stent restenosis. Disruption of neoatheroma can cause acute thrombotic occlusion [1]. Hence neoatherosclerosis is a complication of percutaneous coronary intervention and can present with recurrence of angina or acute coronary syndrome.
Occurrence of neoatherosclerosis is earlier in drug eluting stents than in bare metal stents and has a greater prevalence. Late stent thrombosis due to rupture of the plaques with thin fibrous cap is associated ...
Source: Cardiophile MD - April 26, 2021 Category: Cardiology Authors: Prof. Dr. Johnson Francis Tags: Cardiology Source Type: blogs
Ultrasonic Biopsy Needle for Larger Tissue Samples
Researchers at Aalto University in Finland have developed an ultrasonically actuated needle that can retrieve a large amount of tissue during a biopsy, without the pain and complications associated with using bigger needles. The technique could be very useful when clinicians need to obtain tissue samples for molecular tumor diagnostics, since obtaining high quality samples is crucial, given the expense of molecular profiling procedures. The technique may also help to reduce patient inconvenience associated with repeat biopsies because of an initial poor tissue sample.
“Biopsy yields – the amount of tissue extrac...
Source: Medgadget - April 22, 2021 Category: Medical Devices Authors: Conn Hastings Tags: Ob/Gyn Oncology Pathology Radiology Surgery 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
Rapid Compression Device to Prevent Deep Vein Thrombosis
Researchers at Penn Medicine have developed a wearable sleeve that provides rapid pulsatile compression, and aims to mimic the compression our calf muscles experience during walking. The technology, being commercialized by Osciflex, a spin out from Penn Medicine, is intended to prevent deep vein thrombosis in patients who are bed-bound for long periods of time.
Deep vein thrombosis tends to affect those that are not very mobile, so getting out of bed to stretch one’s legs is a challenge, making the condition tricky to prevent. At present, mechanical cuffs that periodically inflate around the leg are used, with mix...
Source: Medgadget - April 13, 2021 Category: Medical Devices Authors: Conn Hastings Tags: Cardiology Geriatrics Medicine Surgery Vascular Surgery Source Type: blogs
To Add is Expected, To Subtract is Design
By KIM BELLARD
A couple years ago I wrote about how healthcare should take customer experience guru Dan Gingiss’s advice: do simple better. Now new research illustrates why this is so hard: when it comes to trying to make improvements, people would rather add than subtract.
That, in a nutshell, may help explain why our healthcare system is such a mess.
The research, from University of Virginia researchers, made the cover of last week’s Nature, under the catchy title Less Is More. Subjects were given several opportunities to suggest changes to something, such as a Lego set-up, a geometric desi...
Source: The Health Care Blog - April 13, 2021 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Christina Liu Tags: Health Tech Kim Bellard Source Type: blogs
What To Check Before Buying A Smartwatch Or Health Tracker
The market for fitness trackers, and especially smartwatches are on the rise. Despite the delivery difficulties due to the coronavirus, the market kept on growing and the leading players (Apple, Samsung, Huawei and Garmin) have kept their lead, securing a steady 75% of the entire segment. Globally, they posted stable revenue growth of about 20 per cent for the first half of 2020 and were able to keep a solid growth in Q3.
Source: Counterpointresearch.com
We wrote earlier about how COVID-19 affected our way of doing sports. From quarantine exercises, dance rehearsals to online yoga and even mass events and online mara...
Source: The Medical Futurist - April 8, 2021 Category: Information Technology Authors: Judit Kuszkó Tags: Lifestyle medicine E-Patients Health Sensors & Trackers Personalized Medicine Security & Privacy Telemedicine & Smartphones apple fda smartwatch sports health data Samsung Withings Garmin regulatory approval smart sleep Hua Source Type: blogs
Accelerating the Development of Tests for Endometriosis and Cancer
NIGMS’ Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) program works toward more effective methods for patient screening, diagnosis, and treatment.
Translating lab discoveries into health care products requires large investments of time and resources. Through the STTR Regional Technology Transfer Accelerator Hubs for IDeA States program, NIGMS helps researchers interested in transitioning their discoveries and/or inventions into products. Here are the stories of three researchers working with the XLerator Hub, which funds projects in the southeastern United States and Puerto Rico.
Ending Diagnostic Delays for Endomet...
Source: Biomedical Beat Blog - National Institute of General Medical Sciences - April 7, 2021 Category: Research Authors: Chrissa Chverchko Tags: Being a Scientist Injury and Illness Cancer Diseases Profiles Scientific Process Source Type: blogs
Paroxysmal Atrial Fibrillation with RVR, hypotension, volume depletion, good EF, AND pulmonary edema. Strange. Why? What to do?
A 30-something woman presented with a few days of feeling ill. She had a history of paroxysmal atrial fibrillation, bio-prosthetic mitral valve, and tricuspid valvuloplasty, and was on Coumadin.Records showed she is usually in sinus rhythm and has normal LV function.She presented hypotensive (systolic pressure 80), with diffuse B lines, flat IVC, good LV function, and an irregular, fast heart beat.Here is here ECG:Atrial fib with RVR and some probable ischemic ST depression in V3-V6Here is her POCUS:What do you think? There is asmall LV with good function and alarge left atrium, andmoderately large RV.Ther...
Source: Dr. Smith's ECG Blog - April 4, 2021 Category: Cardiology Authors: Steve Smith Source Type: blogs
