Catheter introduces Concentric Medical’s device into the brain which then captures and removes the blood clot that’s causing the stroke.: “The FDA granted clearance after a thorough review of patient data obtained in a clinical study at 25 medical centers in the United States. The MERCI (Mechanical Embolus Removal in Cerebral Ischemia) Trial evaluated the device in 141 patients who were ineligible for a ‘clot-busting’ drug that can only be used within three hours of stroke onset.”

This sounds like a true breakthrough. Congratulations to Concentric Medical–and to all the stroke patients, including many relatively young people, who may not have to go on to a lifetime of disability.

Cardiologist came to the University of Kentucky from the Clinic in response to big money. “The study will look at four drugs that work against platelets and other clotting agents, to prevent the formation of blood clots” and act like “super aspirins” to thin blood during stenting operations. The study involves $35 million, 8000 patients, and 200 hospitals.

Looks like the rush to be a star in the hospital cardiology game continues to heat up.

England is a land of extreme animal lovers. Now it appears some of them are taking extreme measures to stop animal experimentation–they’re hitting companies where the money is. “Anti-vivisectionists have extended their campaign to cover shareholders and firms that do business with companies that conduct animal experimentation.”

Leaving aside the moral rectitude of threatening, bullying and intimidating as a tactic, these extremists have found a powerful way to force compliance to their demands by targeting the money behind big pharmaceutical and bioscience companies like Glaxo SmithKline. So now business people have to learn to deal with terrorists, just as governments are doing.

While I can applaud the fact that some little guys are going to force a huge corporate giant to do something, the technique is off base. Terrorism and vigilantism are just that, no matter who is doing them and for what cause.

Technology reducing open-heart operations–and causing downturns in hospital revenues.: Several hospitals in the Nashville area are considering layoffs because competing hospitals are using new technologies to make angioplasty and stenting more effective. One technology involves a pair of 1000-pound “magnets to guide the placement of a catheter into patients’ hearts. [The surgeon] uses a joystick to control the catheter once it is inserted into the leg of a patient…'”

The other technologies include robotic surgery (done remotely by the surgeon) and improved diagnostic procedures (use CT scanning instead of invasive catheterizations). As more and more hospitals establish cardiac centers, this trend will continue. Technology will give baby boomers hitting the heart disease age much better options…and cracking your sternum will become a thing of the past.

None too soon, I say.

Repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation Helpful for Depression in PD: “Repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) is as effective as fluoxetine for the treatment of depression in patients with Parkinson’s disease, according to the results of a placebo-controlled trial published in the August issue of the Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery and Psychiatry. ”

Scientists have hope that using adult stem cells will lead to greater improvements in helping Parkinson’s disease ( and many others). This from a Medscape article on potential uses of stem cells:

“Stem cells or cells with stem-like qualities have been isolated or

described in a number of tissues including neural, pancreatic, epidermal,

mesenchymal, hepatic, bone, muscle, and endothelial tissues.[9-18] Reports have

suggested that cells found in bone marrow are capable of giving rise to

endothelial precursors, brain tissue, skeletal and cardiac muscle, hepatic

cells, and mesenchymal progeny.[6,15,19-23] Other reports suggest that in

culture, stem cells of neural or muscle origin can give rise to hematopoietic

cells.[24,25] Therefore, there is emerging evidence for a greater than

expected.”

These possibilities are astounding. I know personally at least two people who have had stem cell implants–a procedure they described as pretty horrific–and conquered diseases formerly thought to be invariably rapid death sentences .

The two sons of former President Ronald Reagan were given opportunities to address presidential conventions. One is in favor:: “Last month, Ron Reagan told Democratic Party loyalists to ‘vote for embryonic stem cell research’ in a speech that touted the unproven research,” quotes this article from Lifenews.com. The other son will speak to the Republicans and insist that the former president would never have supported it–and that talk of using embryonic research to cure Alzheimer’s is “junk science at its worst.”

It’s tough to see the anger and divisiveness this issue causes. It’s tough to know that no matter how many people object–nor how violently–there will be no stopping this phenomenon. Other countries feel none of the compunctions that many in western countries feel about this. China has already announced (see earlier post) that they fully intend to take advantage of their edge in this area–and are already making big plans.

Birth control. Organ donations. How many other issues since the birth of modern bioscience have caused firestorms of controversy that eventually simply disappeared? How long before we surrender to the inevitable and start regulating the industry?

England issues a possibly-first-official-in-Europe one-year license to clone human embryos to produce stem cells.: Newcastle Center for Life scientists will use the resulting stem cells to ‘spawn’ human embryos ‘by inserting the nuclei from human skin or existing stem cells into human eggs, which have had their nuclei removed,’ hoping that the process, called therapeutic cloning, will speed up the hunt for cures for some diseases.

Eventually scientists hope they’ll be able to reprogram a skin cell from someone suffering from a disease so that it, when it’s reinserted, it will cure the disease. England will experience nearly as great an outcry as the U.S. from those who oppose this experimentation using human cells. Proponents argue the embryos are completely incapable of independent existence; opponents will say that doesn’t matter.

Meanwhile, China will be quietly creating miraculous cures from its stem cell research–without a wimper from the populace.

Reports on this study linking job-difficulty level with Alzheimer’s are all over the news today. “Those with high levels of leisure activity had a 38 percent lower risk of developing dementia, even when controlling for other risk factors, including ethnic background. Leisure activities included reading, going to movies, taking walks and talking with friends.”

But no account was taken in the study of whether the people might not have assumed more challenging job responsibilities as they grew older because they were already developing the beginning stages of the disease. An earlier study seemed to support the idea that a brain reserve could be built up (from formal education and other learning experiences) that might serve as a backup when the disease begins to manifest.

Clearly it can’t hurt to exercise your brain as well as your body.

Sun Herald – 08/10/04: “Health Management Associates buys up hospitals in rural areas and upgrades the level of care so that local residents don’t have to commute to major urban centers for high quality treatment. Their chairman once described HMA as the ‘Wal-Mart of the hospital business,’ according to the Hoover’s Online”

In the same article we see a reference to a proposed class action suit that’s been filed against HMA in Florida for supposedly price-gouging by charging more to non-insured patients than to those with insurance. Have heard the same accusations against Wal-Mart. The challenge of maintaining ethical standards in the midst of great financial success clearly isn’t confined to any particular industry.

Stains that lower cholesterol may cause muscle damage. Some patients complain of previously non-existent muscle pain after starting statin-containing drugs. Blood tests often reveal elevated levels of the enzyme creatine kinase, an indication of muscle damage.

No one is about to give any definitive answers yet, since the drugs work wonders for lowering cholesterol. But one physician said the risks are worth it for those who are trying to prevent a second heart attack. Maybe not, he said, under other circumstances.

The point is that many physicians are unaware of the connection–and that takes away the patient’s right to make a fully informed choice. When you’re testing a drug, where do you draw the line to determine where you stop testing for other issues?