Lungs News and Research

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PAH patients face life-threatening risks from medication errors

Pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) patients using infused drugs have suffered serious injury or in some cases died from medication errors in hospitals and other inpatient settings, according to a peer-reviewed study by Accredo Health Group and several university hospitals that surveyed doctors, nurses and pharmacists.

4 Nov 2009

Majority of women smokers unaware of immediate and long term health risks

Many women are aware that smoking can lead to lung cancer, heart disease and premature death. But a recent survey conducted by Angus Reid on behalf of nicotine replacement therapy brands, NICODERM(R) and NICORETTE(R) reveals that the majority of Canadian women who smoke are not necessarily aware of the host of other impacts that smoking can have on their immediate and longer term health.

4 Nov 2009

Entest BioMedical files second patent application in the treatment of COPD

Entest BioMedical announced today it has filed a second patent application in the area of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD). This new patent application builds upon the Company’s previously filed COPD patent application and involves the use of photoceutical devices to target stem cells toward areas impacted by COPD in the lungs.

4 Nov 2009

FDA approves SPA Protocol Amendment for Lucanix Phase III clinical trial

NovaRx Corporation announced today that the Company has successfully negotiated and received FDA approval for a Special Protocol Assessment (SPA) Protocol Amendment to the pivotal Lucanix® Phase III clinical trial in patients with Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer (NSCLC).

4 Nov 2009

Study on asbestos-related diseases in Libby launched

Over nearly a century, thousands of residents and workers in Libby, MT, have been exposed to asbestos-contaminated vermiculite ore, leading to markedly higher rates of lung disease and autoimmune disorders, and causing to Libby in 2002 to be added to the federal Environmental Protection Agency's "National Priorities List."

4 Nov 2009

Lung transplant ordeal

After doctors told her that John, her gravely ill husband of 29 years, was too high of a risk for a lung transplant, Ann Lograsso lay next to him in his hospital bed and together the pair wept.

4 Nov 2009

iNO therapy for respiratory failure in premature babies does not improve long-term outcomes

Inhaled nitric oxide (iNO), a therapy used in the treatment of premature newborns with respiratory failure that had shown promising results in short-term studies, does not significantly improve long-term outcomes, according to a national study led by critical care researchers at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine and Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC.

4 Nov 2009

New FDA-approved heart pump for high-risk patients

Cardiologists at the University of Illinois Medical Center are using a new heart pump that can be inserted without the need for surgery and allows them to treat high-risk patients with a procedure to unblock their heart arteries.

4 Nov 2009

Non-small cell lung cancer patients who undergo PCI decrease their risk of developing brain metastases

Patients with non-small cell lung cancer treated with preventative brain radiation (called prophylactic cranial irradiation or PCI), significantly decrease their risk of developing brain metastases (cancer spread in the brain) by more than 50 percent (from 18 percent to 8 percent), compared to those who did not receive the treatment, according to a randomized study presented at the plenary session November 2, 2009, at the 51st Annual Meeting of American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO).

4 Nov 2009

Hospitalization and death of H1N1 patients can occur at all ages, says study

In contrast with some common perceptions regarding 2009 influenza A(H1N1) infections, an examination of cases in California indicates that hospitalization and death can occur at all ages, and about 30 percent of hospitalized cases have been severe enough to require treatment in an intensive care unit, according to a study in the November 4 issue of JAMA.

4 Nov 2009

Medical imaging cuts will cost lives

Medical imaging cuts contained in the 2010 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule will restrict life-saving imaging care to large hospitals, produce longer commutes and wait times to receive care, and cause life threatening delays in diagnosis and treatment of cancer and other serious illnesses.

4 Nov 2009

Obese lung cancer patients with diabeties more likely to develop chest wall pain after receiving stereotactic body radiation therapy

Obesity, not the amount of radiation given, is the greatest factor in whether early-stage lung cancer patients develop chest wall pain after receiving stereotactic body radiation therapy to the chest wall, with obese patients being more than twice as likely to develop chronic pain compared to those who have less body weight, according to a first-of-its-kind study presented Tuesday, November 3, 2009, at the 51st Annual Meeting of the American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO).

4 Nov 2009

superDimension's electromagnetic navigational bronchoscopy device receives AMA Category I CPT code

superDimension, Inc.®, a private company that develops minimally invasive interventional pulmonology devices, announced today that The American Medical Association (AMA) has issued a new Category I CPT® code for the use of the Company's electromagnetic navigational bronchoscopy (ENB) device to navigate to lesions or spots deep in the lungs.

4 Nov 2009

XanGo Juice lowers levels of C-reactive protein in overweight and obese people

A new study published in Nutrition Journal indicates that XanGo- Juice, a market-leading, premium mangosteen beverage, has lowered levels of C-reactive protein (CRP) in overweight and obese people in a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled human trial.

4 Nov 2009

Propylene glycol in e cigarettes might keep us healthy, says researchers

According to the Centers for Disease Control, during 2000-2004, "An estimated 443,000 persons in the United States died prematurely each year from smoking or exposure to secondhand smoke.

4 Nov 2009

Combination of high-dose radiotherapy and chemotherapy shows encouraging results in treating LSCL

Treating limited stage small cell lung cancer(LSCL) with a combination of accelerated high-dose radiotherapy and chemotherapy has shown encouraging results, opening the door to larger scale investigation, according to new research from The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center.

4 Nov 2009

Findings may lead to new drug therapies to reduce breast cancer metastasis

Researchers have reduced breast cancer metastasis to bone using an experimental agent to inhibit ROCK, a protein that was found to be over-expressed in metastatic breast cancer.

4 Nov 2009

Advanced equipment targets radiation to specific areas in the brain

Radiation oncologists at Rush University Medical Center are intent on finding ways to avoid damage to the critically important hippocampus and limbic circuit of the brain when cranial radiation is required to treat existing or potential metastatic cancers.

4 Nov 2009

Battle with lung cancer

In his debut memoir, "No Expiration Dates: A Cancer Patient's Strategies for Survival" (published by iUniverse), Leon Weisman recounts his unique and inspirational battle with lung cancer while also offering practical advice about the emotional and social changes that a cancer diagnosis can bring to a patient as well as a family embarking on the fight to stay alive.

4 Nov 2009

PET imaging is not the basis for increasing dosage level

Positron emission tomography (PET) imaging of non-small cell lung cancer prior to receiving radiation therapy should not be the basis for determining areas that may benefit from higher doses of radiation, according to research presented by investigators at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital at the 51st ASTRO Annual Meeting (Abstract #2583/B-186).

4 Nov 2009