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One organ donor can save up to eight lives

Judy Weimer, 53, was diagnosed with COPD, emphysema and bronchitis on New Year's Eve in 2005 and received a double-lung transplant in 2009 at Loyola University Health System. "I named my new lungs Lucy and Ethel to welcome them," said the humorous and outgoing Chicagoan. "Lucy acts up once in a while but they are both working fine."

26 Apr 2012

Minimally-invasive spinal surgery helps Motocross rider return to racing

Since he was a young five years old, New Jersey resident Demetrius Economou has been tearing through the woods on a Motocross bike. A long-time family passion, Demetrius learned to ride when he was just 5 years old and riding quickly consumed his life and became a constant thought on his mind. While many children were playing team sports like baseball or soccer, Demetrius was learning how to modify his 70cc bike to keep up with the bigger bikes.

26 Apr 2012

Nonprofit hospitals will likely face higher costs if mandate is overturned

Striking the mandate but leaving other parts of the law would put many hospitals in a bind, according to Moody's Investors Service. Meanwhile, The Hill reports that a majority of hospital executives expect the overhaul to shrink revenues.

26 Apr 2012

Kidney donated two weeks after transplant

For the first time, a kidney that had been donated to a patient in need was removed and implanted into a new patient, the third individual to have the organ, after it failed in the first transplant recipient. Ray Fearing, a 27-year-old Arlington Heights resident received the organ from his sister, Cera, after a long battle with focal segmental glomerulosclerosis (FSGS), a disease in which scar tissue develops on the part of the kidney that filters waste out of the blood, ultimately causing kidney failure.

26 Apr 2012

Health care not structured in the interest of the patient

You're enjoying a quiet weekend at home when suddenly you double over in pain. You need emergency appendectomy surgery. How much should it cost? And how much price shopping are you able to do?

26 Apr 2012

CMS proposal would factor patient safety, efficiency into hospital pay formula

The draft rule adds measures of patient safety and a financial assessment to determine whether hospitals are careful with Medicare's money.

26 Apr 2012

MSF says number of annual malaria cases treated in DRC has tripled since 2009

Ahead of World Malaria Day on April 25, Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) on Tuesday said the number of malaria cases it has treated in the country "more than tripled to 155,000 last year from two years previous," Reuters reports.

26 Apr 2012

Cardiovascular emergencies may benefit from regionalized systems of care

Experts are proposing a new model of care collaboration to diagnosis, treat and follow patients who present with various emergent cardiovascular conditions which require rapid, resource-intensive care and confer a high risk of mortality, in an article published April 24 in Circulation.

26 Apr 2012

CEHC develops list of ten chemicals that contribute to autism, learning disabilities

An editorial published today in the prestigious journal Environmental Health Perspectives calls for increased research to identify possible environmental causes of autism and other neurodevelopmental disorders in America's children and presents a list of ten target chemicals including which are considered highly likely to contribute to these conditions.

26 Apr 2012

Hospital debt collector puts 'the squeeze' on patients

A report released Tuesday by the Minnesota Attorney General spotlights aggressive practices used by one of the nation's largest collectors of medical debts, including demanding payments from people seeking care in emergency rooms, cancer wards and delivery rooms.

26 Apr 2012

Robot assisted laparoscopic radical prostatectomy better than other surgical techniques

Outcomes from use of a robot to assist surgeons in removal of a cancerous prostate are at least as good, if not better, than the other two techniques used for a radical prostatectomy -- open or laparoscopic surgery -- according to a large meta analysis led by researchers at NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell.

26 Apr 2012

Case study in the Journal of AAPOS highlights need for vigilance

It has been estimated that roughly 4% to 6% of child abuse victims present first to an ophthalmologist. In a case study in the April issue of the Journal of American Association of Pediatric Ophthalmology and Strabismus, doctors at the University of Washington and the Seattle Children's Hospital describe a case of a 13-month-old girl who was initially diagnosed with corneal abrasion and a mild infection. She was eventually identified as a victim of child abuse.

26 Apr 2012

Commonwealth Fund Commission unveils community-based health plan

Noting the "unprecedented opportunity" provided under the Affordable Care Act, the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act, and other recently enacted federal laws, the Commonwealth Fund Commission on a High Performance Health System today unveiled a community-based plan to enhance health and reduce spending by improving care for chronically ill patients and targeting quality improvement efforts to conditions that can yield the greatest benefit in a relatively short time.

26 Apr 2012

Text-message intervention may help boost flu vaccination rates in children

Text message reminders to parents about flu vaccinations may help boost the number of children vaccinated, according to researchers at Columbia University Medical Center and NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital. Full study findings are reported in the April 25 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.

26 Apr 2012

Flavonoid rich berries may delay memory decline in older women

Berries are good for you, that's no secret. But can strawberries and blueberries actually keep your brain sharp in old age? A new study by researchers at Brigham and Women's Hospital (BWH) finds that a high intake of flavonoid rich berries, such as strawberries and blueberries, over time, can delay memory decline in older women by 2.5 years.

26 Apr 2012

Gladstone researcher wins 2012 Alumni Achievement Award from WUSTL

Warner C. Greene, MD, PhD-who directs virology and immunology research at the Gladstone Institutes-has won the 2012 Alumni Achievement Award from the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.

26 Apr 2012

NYU Langone expands MS Comprehensive Care Center

NYU Langone's Multiple Sclerosis (MS) Comprehensive Care Center recently opened the doors to a new clinical practice - the first to occupy NYU Langone Medical Center's new, nearly 300,000-square-foot Ambulatory Care Center located at 240 East 38th Street at Second Avenue in Manhattan.

26 Apr 2012

Strong light can treat myocardial infarction

There are lots of ways to treat a heart attack - CPR, aspirin, clot-busters and more. Now CU medical school researchers have found a new candidate: Intense light.

26 Apr 2012

Body’s own DNA can cause inflammation in the heart

DNA from the heart's own cells plays a role in heart failure by mistakenly activating the body's immune system, according to a study by British and Japanese researchers, co-funded by the British Heart Foundation.

26 Apr 2012

New test accurately detects aggressive prostate cancer

One in six men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer during his lifetime, the second leading cause of death among men in the United States. It's a serious problem and current diagnostic tests aren't very specific. But a research team at the University of Central Florida NanoScience Technology Center has found a more accurate test that not only determines whether a patient has prostate cancer, but also how aggressive it is.

26 Apr 2012