GOOD HEALTH NEWS!
From cancer to migraines to arthritis, some exciting advances in early diagnosis and treatments
NEW TESTS DETECT DEADLY LUNG CANCER EARLY
EARLY DIAGNOSIS is one of the best ways to beat cancer, and there is good news on this front. Two new tests for lung cancer can detect this killer in time for treatment to be effective, thus giving patients a better chance for a cure.
In the first test, developed by Vadim Backman, professor of biomedical engineering at Northwestern University, cell samples taken from inside an individual’s cheek are viewed through a specialised microscope. The microscope detects particular cellular changes, indicating whether lung cancer may be developing.
The second is a simple breath test. Exhaled breath contains thousands of volatile organic compounds ( VOCs) that vary in composition and pattern. A subset of four VOCs has been discovered in the exhaled breath of lung cancer patients.
“We hope that breath analysis will allow us to diagnose patients with primary or recurrent lung cancer long before they suffer from symptoms, when we have more options for treating them, giving them the best chance for cure,” says cardiothoracic surgeon Dr Erin M. Schumer, whose research on this technique was published in early 2016 in The Annals of Thoracic Surgery.
The technology to measure VOCs in exhaled breath already exists and the devices may eventually become an in-office tool for doctors to use for personalised screening, diagnosis and follow-up for various diseases.
SMELL TEST COULD DETECT PROSTATE CANCER
A ‘SMELL’ TEST promises to be an immediate and accurate diagnostic tool for prostate cancer. This may save thousands of lives and save thousands of men from having to undergo invasive investigations. The test is now in advanced clinical trials and is expected to be available in late 2017.
Dr Raj Persad, consultant urologist
Imagine a blood test that could predict whether you are likely to have a heart attack within five years
at Southmead Hospital, England, said: “If this test succeeds a full medical trial it will revolutionise diagnostics.
“Even with detailed biopsies there is a risk we may fail to detect prostate cancer in some cases.”
More than 1.1 million cases of prostate cancer were recorded globally in 2012, according to the World Cancer Research Fund International.
WHAT’S YOUR HEART ATTACK RISK?
IMAGINE THE DAY when a blood test could predict whether you are likely to have a heart attack within five years, thus allowing you and your medical practitioner to do everything possible to prevent such an event.
Well, another simple blood test, developed by researchers at the National Heart and Lung Institute, Imperial College London, promises to do just that.
If clinical trials are successful, instead of using age, sex, cholesterol and blood pressure levels and medical history to evaluate your risk of heart problems, the new test looks at protective antibodies that already exist in your system. These immunesystem-produced antibodies, called IgG, seem to shield the body from a heart attack, even when cholesterol and blood pressure are high.
A five-year study found that patients with the lowest levels of IgG antibodies had the highest risk of heart attack, while those who had high levels of IgG were less likely to suffer from cardiovascular disease. The findings will enable doctors to be more efficient in identifying those who need to be more closely monitored. If the blood test reveals low levels of IgG, patients can be given preventative therapies before their condition escalates.
TREATMENT BREAKTHROUGH FOR BREAST CANCER
“ASTONISHING!”, “groundbreaking!” and “game- changing potential!” is how breast cancer experts are describing the results from a recent trial.
Researchers from Cancer Research UK gave women with aggressive breast
cancer a combination of two cancertreating drugs: Herceptin ( trastuzumab) and Tyverb (lapatinib). After 11 days of treatment with the drug combination, 17 per cent of women saw their tumours shrink drastically. Even more impressive: tumours completely disappeared in another 11 per cent of women given both drugs.
In the trial, the researchers had been looking to see how the combined drug treatment affected tumours between diagnosis and surgery. The “unexpected” results were “dramatic”, said trial co-leader Professor Judith Bliss. Both drugs are current breast cancer treatments, so the combination therapy could be prescribed very soon – excellent news for some breast cancer patients.
NON-INVASIVE HELP FOR THE PARTIALLY BLIND
UNTIL NOW, vision loss due to glaucoma or optic nerve damage has generally been considered irreversible. But results from a German clinical trial published last year have demonstrated significant vision improvement in partially blind patients after ten days of non-invasive, transorbital alternating current stimulation (ACS). This is when alternating currents of electricity are applied to the area of the brain that processes vision.
“ACS treatment is a safe and effective means to partially restore vision after optic nerve damage,” commented lead investigator Bernhard A. Sabel.
And more good news for those with low vision: a specialised miniature camera mounted onto their eyeglasses dramatically improves their ability to read.
The device recognises text and reads it to the user, who uses an earpiece, according to researchers with UC Davis Health System, California. The device can also be programmed to recognise faces and money and grocery items.
BLOOD TESTS ACCURATELY DETECT ALZHEIMER’S
LIKE CANCER, early diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease can be of tremendous benefit to the patient. Two blood tests – developed separately and an ocean apart – can detect with
an extremely high degree of accuracy if a person with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) is in the early stages of Alzheimer’s, or another cause of dementia.
Researchers at Rowan University in New Jersey, US, and at the Universities of Ruhr Bochum and Göttingen, Germany, both developed blood tests. More than 47 million people worldwide have dementia, and for the majority of them, their dementia is caused by Alzheimer’s.
This is a big advance as the blood tests offer many potential benefits for Alzheimer’s patients. It could allow specialists to slow the progression of the disease through lifestyle adjustments, medication and planned medical care. The German test has completed a clinical trial, and further studies are now needed.
STUNNING RECOVERIES LONG AFTER A STROKE
A 71-YEAR-OLD wheelchair-bound stroke victim is walking again.
Scientists at California’s Stanford University School of Medicine have reported that seven of 18 stroke patients who agreed to undergo a trial therapy injecting stem cells into the damaged parts of their brains have showed “stunning” results.
Gary Steinberg, the study’s lead author and chair of neurosurgery at Stanford, said in an interview that while he is cautious about “overselling” the results of such a small study, his team has been “stunned” that seven of the 18 patients experienced significant improvement in their abilities following treatment.
“Their recovery was not just a minimal recovery like someone who couldn’t move a thumb now being able to wiggle it. It was much more meaningful,” said Steinberg, who personally performed most of the surgeries.
Incredibly, the therapy worked for patients whose strokes had occurred between six months and three years previously. The new therapy essentially turns the adult brain back into an infant brain so that it can
Patients’ improvements show what was thought to be impossible: the brain can rebuild itself
rebuild itself – something that was not thought possible until now.
The scientists believe the therapy could also work for traumatic brain injury and neurodegenerative conditions such as Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s and Lou Gehrig’s disease.
Dr Nicholas Boulis, a neurosurgeon and researcher at Emory University, said, “There is certainly reason to be enthusiastic based on the magnitude of responses from these patients.”
VACCINE COMING TO FIGHT AGAINST HOSPITAL GERMS
TODAY WE WORRY that we may get sicker when we’re in hospital than we were when admitted – and it’s no joke. Germs continue to flourish in hospitals, and Clostridium difficile (CD) is one of the most prevalent and dangerous, especially for the elderly. But a vaccine may soon be available.
German scientists have developed a substance that elicits an immune response against CD, a gut bacterium.
The potential vaccine primes the immune system to recognise the pathogen itself, and produce antibodies to destroy it. The discovery may pave the way for developing inexpensive and effective vaccines and drugs against CD. Other companies are also working on a vaccine, including Pfizer and Sanofi Pasteur.
LIGHTING CAN LIGHTEN THE PAIN FOR MIGRAINE SUFFERERS
A GREEN LIGHT may get the green light for migraine sufferers as researchers at Harvard University have found that low-intensity green light seems to reduce pain.
It’s been known for some time that light can trigger or increase pain for migraine sufferers: white, blue, red and amber light all increase migraine pain. But with the discovery that green reduces the pain, the team hopes that specially developed sunglasses that screen out all light waves except green will help.
Professor Rami Burstein and colleagues designed experiments in which they measured the magnitude of the electrical signals generated by the retina (in the eye) and the cortex (in the brain) of these patients in response to each colour of light. They found that blue and red lights generated the largest signals in both the
retina (the eye) and the cortex (the brain) and that green light generated the smallest signals.
ELECTRICAL STIMULUS REDUCES ARTHRITIS PAIN
CLINICAL TRIALS delivering electric current to the vagus nerve – which runs from our brain stem to our abdomen – have demonstrated that stimulating the vagus nerve significantly improved pain and swelling in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA).
RA is a chronic inflammatory disease that affects around 2% of Australians. “These results support our ongoing development of bioelectronic medicines designed to improve the lives of people suffering from chronic inflammatory diseases and give healthcare providers new and potentially safer treatment alternatives at a much lower total cost for the healthcare system,” says Anthony Arnold, chief executive officer of SetPoint Medical, which is developing the therapy.
While focused on rheumatoid arthritis, the trial’s results may have implications for patients suffering from other inflammatory diseases, such as Crohn’s and Parkinson’s.