An American man who suffered from AIDS appears to have been cured of the disease 20 months after receiving a targeted bone marrow transplant normally used to fight leukemia, his doctors said.
Tags: AISD, bone marrow, transplantThe middle school years can be tough. It’s a time of change and sometimes a little awkwardness. So imagine going through those years with a condition that causes your hands or arm pits to sweat so badly that you avoid social situations. It’s called hyperhidrosis, and doctors at Mayo Clinic say a minimally invasive outpatient surgery can stop the sweating.
Tags: surgery, sweatingScientists at Sunnybrook Research Institute (SRI) are developing and commercializing a promising novel therapy for the treatment of prostate cancer that may offer patients a faster and more precise treatment than existing clinical alternatives, with fewer side effects.
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Tumors have a unique vulnerability that can be exploited to make them more sensitive to heat and radiation, researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis report.
The Washington University radiation oncology researchers found that tumors have a built-in mechanism that protects them from heat (hyperthermia) damage and most likely decreases the benefit of hyperthermia and radiation as a combined therapy.
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A new type of bariatric surgery may eliminate the need for medication in patients with type 2 diabetes, according to a study reported here at the Society of American Gastrointestinal and Endoscopic Surgeons 2008 Annual Scientific Session and Postgraduate Course.
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A revolutionary cancer treatment using microscopic magnets to enable ‘armed’ human cells to target tumours has been developed by researchers funded by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC). Research published online today in the journal, Gene Therapy, shows that inserting these nanomagnets into cells carrying genes to fight tumours, results in many more cells successfully reaching and invading malignant tumours. (more…)
Tags: Cancer, gene terapy, magnet, treatment The removal through endoscopy of tumours that affect only the superficial layers of the oesophagus can avoid complete extirpation of this part of the digestive tract. The technique, carried out at the University Hospital of Navarra for the last three years, was presented at the VI International Course on Therapeutic Endoscopy in the Digestive System, organized by the Digestive System Service at this hospital. Specifically, more than 90% of patients treated for this ailment at the University Hospital of Navarra have not needed the extirpation of the oesophagus.
400 specialists from ten different countries attended the course, focusing on the therapeutic possibilities of endoscopy in the digestive system. Treatment using digestive endoscopy, without having to carry out surgery, is increasing. These applications are less aggressive than surgical operations and are undertaken at out-patient clinics in about 99% of the cases, which usually enables the patient to go home after the walk-in/walk-out treatment, explained Doctor Miguel Ángel Muñoz Navas, Director of the Digestive System Service at the University Hospital of Navarra.
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The treatment of uterine fibroids with 3T MR-guided focused ultrasound (MRgFUS) is safe, non-invasive and effective, according to a recent study conducted by researchers at Weill Cornell Medical College in New York, NY.
“Approximately 25% of women in the United States have clinically symptomatic fibroids, and treatment has most commonly been surgical with hysterectomy or myomectomy. However, in the past decade, new options have been developed in radiology, includingnon-invasive MR-guided focused ultrasound (MRgFUS) and minimally invasive uterine artery embolization (UAE) to treat these patients,” said Elizabeth K. Arleo, MD, lead author of the study along with Robert J. Min, MD, MBA, chairman of radiology at Weill Cornell Medical College.
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Heart surgeons at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis report that by adding a simple 10-20 second step to an operative procedure they achieved a significant improvement in the outcome for the surgical treatment of atrial fibrillation (AF).
Reporting in the April issue of the Journal of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery, the surgeons describe an enhancement to the Cox-Maze procedure, a surgical procedure that redirects wayward electrical impulses causing AF by creating precisely placed scars, or ablations, in the heart muscle. The Cox-Maze procedure is highly effective, offering the best long-term cure rate for persistent atrial fibrillation.
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