spectrum of topics including heart disease, diabetes, high blood Managing Your Diabetes. Nasal Congestion & Controlling Your Allergies. Newborn Care …
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|Thanks to new medical innovations, every five years for the past 30 years,|
|life expectancies have been extended by a year New discoveries have |
|practically eliminated diseases such as smallpox and polio and have |
|reduced human suffering from countless conditions Scientists have turned |
|their attention to eradicating cancer, heart disease, and diabetes and |
|medical research and resulting innovations are bringing us closer than |
|ever to preventions, treatments, and cures for these and other deadly and |
|disabling diseases |
|Here are 10 promising breakthroughs that may significantly change how |
|patients are diagnosed and treated in the next decade: |
|3-D Surgery |
|Surgeons have traditionally relied on two-dimensional x-rays to view |
|affected areas before surgery, and on invasive techniques to locate |
|hard-to-reach tumors or damaged organs once in the operating room New |
|image-guided surgery combines CT scans,
magnetic resonance imaging, and |
|light emitting diode cameras that together create a three-dimensional |
|real-time image of the surgical field and the precise location of tumors |
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|These image-guided procedures are significantly less invasive and require |
|smaller incisions, with many patients experiencing less blood loss and |
|pain and speedier recovery times Many of these procedures are also less |
|expensive and less risky than traditional surgeries and require shorter |
|operating times |
|Image-guided surgery has many applications and is particularly useful to |
|neurosurgeons in their preoperative assessments for brain tumor surgery |
|With this new technology, surgeons can more confidently remove brain |
|tumors without causing new injuries to delicate structures |
|Targeting Tau |
|Neurofibrillary tangles are a hallmark characteristic of Alzheimers |
|disease Consisting primarily of the protein tau, tangles form when tau |
|clumps instead
of moving essential nutrients through nerve cells Research|
|shows that even before tangles form, abnormally high levels of tau can |
|disrupt cell function, damaging neurons and causing memory loss |
|Several pharmaceutical companies are exploring drugs that would |
|specifically target tau and hopefully keep the tangles from forming They |
|would do so by inhibiting the chemical modifications of tau that causes it|
|to clump This research is being closely watched and would potentially |
|slow or halt the progression of Alzheimers for the over 20 million |
|Americans who are expected to be affected by the disease by 2050 |
|Mapping Prostate Tumors |
|Measuring the size and scope of a prostate tumor has always been based to |
|some extent on guesswork If an abnormal PSA test suggests a potential |
|tumor, doctors usually perform a transrectal ultrasound-guided biopsy, |
|which removes samples from the prostate to detect the presence of cancer |
|Unfortunately, the fewer than 20 samples collected during the procedure do|
|not provide much information about the tumors size
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|A new biopsy technique, 3-D mapping, is used to map a grid of the prostate|
|through the skin, and determine how much cancer there is and its exact |
|location With this tool, doctors can collect as many as 100 samples to |
|obtain more accurate diagnosis that inform their treatment decisions This|
|technology will reduce the number of radical surgeries necessary to treat |
|the more than 232,000 men who are estimated to be diagnosed with prostate |
|cancer this year, and give them the option of choosing less aggressive |
|treatments |
|Emerging Cancer Vaccines |
|To date, there are no vaccines that can prevent cancer; however, recently |
|developed vaccines protect against viruses that are associated with |
|certain cancers such as the hepatitis B virus and liver cancer |
|Researchers are also currently testing a vaccine that prevents infection |
|from the human papilloma virus HPV, which is linked to the majority of |
|cervical cancer cases |
|Another type of vaccine that shows great
promise in fighting cancer is a |
|vaccine given to cancer patients in order to strengthen their bodies |
|immune systems and to prevent the further growth of cancer, the recurrence|
|of treated cancers, and the remainder of cancer cells not killed by |
|treatments Studies have shown that experimental cancer vaccines are |
|effective in stimulating the immune system and in some cases, halting the |
|progression of the disease and even reducing tumor size Eventually, |
|multiple vaccines may increase survival rates from this deadly disease |
|Lung Cancer Tumor-Reducer |
|The prognosis and survival rates for lung cancer patients are typically |
|poor because early diagnosis has proven difficult Nearly 60 of people |
|diagnosed with lung cancer die within one year of diagnosis and 75 die |
|within two years |
|But there is hope on the horizon Researchers have discovered that |
|bexarotene, a compound related to vitamin A, has cancer-fighting |
|properties, particularly when battling deadly lung cancer Studies with |
|mice susceptible to
lung cancer have shown that those treated with |
|bexarotene had fewer and smaller malignant tumors than those not treated |
|The compound inhibits the progression of tumors from benign to malignant |
|and reduces the overall number of tumors In human trials, bexarotene has |
|extended the survival rate of patients with the most common type of lung |
|cancer Bexarotene is already used to treat cutaneous T-cell lymphoma, a |
|rare form of cancer that primarily affects the skin |
|Freezing out Arrhythmias |
|Arrhythmias, or irregular heartbeats, affect approximately 4 million |
|Americans each year, primarily older adults If left untreated, |
|arrhythmias can lead to serious consequences including heart failure |
|Patients are typically treated with radiofrequency catheter ablation, |
|which burns the heart tissue near the source of the arrhythmia This |
|procedure can cause serious complications such as stroke |
|A new, safer method of treating these patients is cryoablation This |
|technique uses sub-zero temperatures that destroy the cells causing the
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|abnormal heartbeats Surgeons test the procedure by first inserting a |
|catheter tip with a temperature of 30 degrees Celsius, freezing the tissue|
|that is interfering with the hearts normal electrical impulses If the |
|target site is accurate, the temperature is dropped to -70 degrees |
|Celsius, thereby killing the targeted cells |
|Studies have shown great success with this procedure and patients report |
|no pain during the procedure and few complications and adverse reactions |
|A number of medical centers now offer this treatment option |
|Good Cholesterol Therapy for Clogged Arteries |
|Although LDL bad cholesterol-lowering drugs have made a huge impact on |
|heart disease by halting the build-up of plaque in the arteries, they |
|dont reverse the damage already done or remove the plaque that is already|
|there A new experimental drug, ETC-216 is a synthetic HDL good |
|cholesterol compound that caused significant reduction of arterial plaque |
|within two weeks of treatment during clinical trials Like HDL, the |
|compound transports excess cholesterol and other fats
to the liver for |
|elimination |
|Still in clinical trials, ETC-215 may eventually be used intravenously |
|following heart attacks and other coronary events This is the first time |
|that a drug treatment has shown evidence of not only preventing the |
|progression of heart disease, but also in reversing its effects |
|Inhaled Insulin |
|The more than 5 million Americans who struggle with insulin shots to |
|control their diabetes will soon have a pain-free option Later this year,|
|the first inhaled insulin will be released for people with type 1 and type|
|2 diabetes The insulin is in a powder form that is inhaled before meals |
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|Scientists have been studying injection alternatives, such as insulin |
|patches, pumps, and pills, for decades Inhaled insulin is the most |
|promising mode of insulin delivery to date although some users may still |
|have to take long-acting insulin via injections Clinical trials showed |
|that the control of blood
sugar levels was comparable to patients using |
|four insulin injections |
|Super Cells Boost Brain Activity |
|Non-specialized stem cells can develop into different cell types in the |
|body, replenishing damaged cells Scientists are studying the use of stem |
|cells to create dopamine neurons, the brain cells that help control muscle|
|movements and that are linked with Parkinsons disease |
|By manipulating embryonic bone marrow stem cells into dopamine neurons, |
|researchers may have found a way to replace damaged dopamine neurons with |
|healthy dopamine-producing cells Further study will determine the |
|effectiveness of using stem cell-derived neurons in treating rats with |
|Parkinsons disease |
|Repairing Stroke-Damaged Nerves |
|A collaborative research team from California and Japan discovered that |
|new drugs based on a compound commonly found in the body, prostaglandin, |
|trigger the production of antioxidants that repair nerve damage in mice
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|Antioxidants eliminate free radicals, which are associated with strokes |
|and degenerative brain illnesses such as Alzheimers disease In effect, |
|the drugs trigger the body to rid itself of nerve damage caused by free |
|radicals |
|Preliminary studies show that the drugs specifically target nerve cells |
|and may be less toxic than previous drugs of this type Although a |
|marketable drug is a long way off, this discovery is the first time that |
|researchers have been able to induce the release of specific antioxidants |
|directly into nerve cells where damage from stroke occurs |
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Source:agingresearch.org
