Fracture News and Research

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Once a year treatment for osteoporosis now available in the U.S.

A once-a-year treatment for the bone-thinning disease osteoporosis has been given approval by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in the United States.

20 Aug 2007

Seat belt injuries in children

Ill-fitting seatbelts raise the risk of serious injury to children involved in car accidents. And seat belt injuries should alert physicians to look for signs of more serious consequences, particularly spinal cord injury, which is not always immediately apparent.

11 Aug 2007

Osteoporosis screening and treatment may be cost-effective for selected older men

It may be cost-effective to screen and treat selected older men with osteoporosis, depending on their age and if they have had a prior fracture, according to a study in the August 8 issue of JAMA: The Journal of the American Medical Association.

8 Aug 2007

Hip resurfacing may delay hip replacement

In the world of prosthetic hips, what was old is new again. A procedure known as hip resurfacing, once tried two to three decades ago, is experiencing a resurgence in the U.S., thanks to improved technology.

3 Aug 2007

Lithium promotes better bone healing

Researchers at The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids) have found a molecular pathway that plays a critical role in bone healing and have found that the drug lithium can improve the healing process.

1 Aug 2007

$Hip protectors do not reduce risk of hip fracture for nursing home residents$

Hip protectors do not reduce risk of hip fracture for nursing home residents

Use of an energy-absorbing hip protector did not provide a protective effect against hip fracture for nursing home residents, adding to increasing evidence that hip protectors, as currently designed, are not effective for preventing hip fractures, according to a study in the July 25 issue of JAMA.

25 Jul 2007

Radiation therapy combined with microsurgery shows promise for curing injured spinal cord

Research on rats with crushed spinal cords, similar to human injury, reveals that treatment soon after injury combining radiation therapy to destroy harmful cells and microsurgery to drain excess fluids significantly increases the body's ability to repair the injured cord leading to permanent recovery from injury, according to the study published in the July 18 peer-reviewed journal PLoS ONE.

25 Jul 2007

Heart patches that stimulate regeneration

When human hearts are injured, as during a heart attack, healthy tissue normally can't regrow.

18 Jul 2007

Popular antidepressants make elderly bones fragile

Two newly released studies have come out in support for the growing body of evidence that the most popular drugs used to treat depression may contribute to fragile bones in elderly people.

27 Jun 2007

Emotional state plays a significant role in recovery from hip surgery

A patient's emotional state plays a significant role in his or her recovery from hip surgery, suggests Saint Louis University research published this month.

27 Jun 2007

SSRIs associated with lower bone density in older men and women

The class of antidepressant medications known as selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors may be associated with an increased rate of bone loss in older men and women, according to two articles in the June 25 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.

26 Jun 2007

Researchers develop criteria to detect bone mass deficiencies in children with chronic diseases

Pediatricians now have a practical tool to help determine whether children with chronic diseases like Crohn's, juvenile arthritis and anorexia nervosa or those undergoing cancer treatment are at increased risk for bone mass deficiencies, fracture or osteoporosis as they get older, according to a new study whose lead author is a researcher at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center.

8 Jun 2007

Bone-targeting radioisotope radium-223 for prostate cancer treatment

The bone-targeting radioisotope radium-223 has delivered promising results in a randomised trial to test its efficacy in treatment of hormone-refractory prostate cancer (HRPC).

5 Jun 2007

Majority of people untrained in how to perform cardiopulmonary resuscitation

New findings show that the majority of people untrained in how to perform cardiopulmonary resuscitation, and even many trained emergency personnel, do not push with enough force to properly administer CPR.

3 Jun 2007

New tool-kit to educate doctors on osteoporosis

Researchers at the Garvan Institute of Medical Research are developing a tool-kit to educate doctors on osteoporosis and provide them with a focussed set of effective, easy-to-use risk factor tests that will lead directly to preventive programs designed to reduce the risk and impact of the condition.

24 May 2007

Artificially created bone tissue

As the nation ages, an estimated 44 million Americans, including at least half of those ages 50 and older, are at risk for osteoporosis, making their bones fragile and vulnerable to serious fractures.

22 May 2007

Merits and risks of postmenopausal hormone therapy

The study was categorized as a primary prevention trial for coronary heart disease, although the fact that mean age at recruitment was 63 years was not given enough importance at that time. WHI investigators concluded that hormone therapy (HT) was not cardioprotective, and, in fact, its riskbenefit ratio did not favor the use of postmenopausal hormones for prevention of chronic diseases.

17 May 2007

Boiling vegetables severely damages anticancer properties

Researchers at the University of Warwick have found that the standard British cooking habit of boiling vegetables severely damages the anticancer properties of many Brassica vegetables such as broccoli, Brussel sprouts, cauliflower and green cabbage.

16 May 2007

Computer models predict mechanical stresses in any region of the skeleton

Journal of Biomechanics, the most prestigious journal in biomechanical research, published on 12 April 2007 the electronic preprint of a paper entitled: "Schileo E, Taddei F, Malandrino A, Cristofolini L, Viceconti M. Subject-specific finite element models can accurately predict strain levels in long bones. J Biomech. 2007 Apr 12'".

15 May 2007

Stent thrombosis

Over the last year, it's been rare to utter the word "stent" without at least thinking "thrombosis," an uncommon but serious complication that's been on the minds of interventional cardiologists and patients alike.

11 May 2007