text:
Researchers at the Medical College of Wisconsin in Milwaukee have found that the risk of radiation injury in normal tissue after exposure may be reduced by a drug in common use. Their study in press appears in the on line issue of the International Journal of Radiation Oncology, Biology and Physics.
It suggests that long-term administration of the drug captopril, starting at three weeks after patients receive total body irradiation in preparation for bone marrow transplantation (BMT), showed a favorable trend for better long-term kidney function and better long-term patient survival. Chronic kidney failure continues to be a major complication in these patients caused by radiation injury.
The research holds promise, not only for protection of healthy tissue during radiation therapy, but also because it may lead to strategies for protection from radiation injury after nuclear accidents, says Eric P. Cohen, M.D., professor of medicine in the division of nephrology, and principal investigator for the study. Our findings overturned the former dogma that normal tissue radiation injury is untreatable, he says.
Kidney failure is a well known and serious complication of BMT and occurs in up to 50 percent of patients within the first 30 days after transplantation, increasing early mortality. Chronic kidney failure is also common and affects the health and well being of people otherwise cured of the cancer for which the BMT was performed.
In a double-blind placebo-controlled trial, the team tested captopril on 52 adults and three children undergoing bone marrow transplant from July 1998 to January 2006 at Froedtert Hospital and Childrens Hospital of Wisconsin, both major teaching affiliates of the College. When compared to a placebo, captopril-treated subjects had better kidney function and better patient survival.
The statistics do not show a definite significant value, but the trends are there, Dr. Cohen says.
|Contact: Toranj Marphetia
Medical College of Wisconsin


text:
Healthcare Topics
Democracy Now! continues to closely follow the movement to reform the healthcare system in the United States. We have interviewed policy makers, doctors, patients, independent journalists, academics, single payer healthcare advocates, and filmmakers.
- Although the rate of new Ebola infections has slowed in some areas, the World Health Organization says it would be premature to read that as a success. New WHO projections suggest there could be between 5,000 and 10,000 new cases a week by December. The head of the United Nations Mission for Ebola Emergency Response told the U.N. Security Council that the steps implemented by the international community are not enough to halt the advance of...October 15, 2014 | Story
- Sierra Leone is pleading for more international help to fight the Ebola outbreak in West Africa. On Saturday, the country recorded 121 deaths in one of the single deadliest days since the disease appeared there more than four months ago. At least 678 people have now died in Sierra Leone, with the official toll for West Africa topping 3,400. On Monday, President Obama said his administration is working on additional protocols for screening...October 07, 2014 | Story
- Despite our advances in medicine, a new book calls for a radical transformation in how we approach the end of life. In "Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End," the physician and best-selling author Dr. Atul Gawande argues that a rigid focus on prolonging life can often undermine what is best for a dying patient. "Medical science has rendered obsolete centuries of experience, tradition, and language about our...October 07, 2014 | Story
- The World Health Organization is warning that the number of new Ebola cases in West Africa is growing faster than relief workers can manage. The organization says that thousands are at risk of contracting the virus in the coming weeks and more medical professionals are urgently needed to help contain the outbreak. So far, Ebola has claimed some 2,400 lives and continues to ravage Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea. It is the worst outbreak since...September 15, 2014 | Story
Dr. Paul Farmer on African Ebola Outbreak: Growing Inequality in Global Healthcare at Root of CrisisAs the death toll from the West African Ebola outbreak nears 1,400, two American missionaries who received experimental drugs and top-notch healthcare have been released from the hospital. We spend the hour with Partners in Health co-founder Dr. Paul Farmer discussing what can be done to stop the epidemic and the need to build local healthcare capacity, not just an emergency response. "The Ebola outbreak, which is the largest in history...August 22, 2014 | Story
- The World Health Organization is now saying the number of reported cases and deaths of Ebola in West Africa vastly underestimates the scale of the outbreak. The official death toll from the Ebola outbreak is now at 1,069 since February. Guinea has become the fourth country in Africa to declare a national health emergency as it battles the spread of the deadly Ebola virus in the worst outbreak since the disease was discovered in 1976. The...August 15, 2014 | Story
"It's a Basic Healthcare Issue": Planned Parenthood's Cecile Richards Reacts to Birth Control RulingIn a closely watched case, the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled most private companies that claim religious objections can refuse to provide birth control in their employee health plans as required by the Affordable Care Act. In a 5-to-4 ruling opposed by all three women on the court, the justices ruled that requiring "closely held corporations" to pay for contraception violates a federal law protecting religious freedom. About 90...July 01, 2014 | Story
- In a blow to women's access to contraception, the Supreme Court ruled 5-4 that Hobby Lobby, and similar closely held corporations with religious objections to birth control, can refuse to include birth control in their employee's healthcare plans. Watch our past coverage of the case.June 30, 2014 | Web Exclusive
- In New York, and in most other states, a transgender person with Medicaid cannot obtain coverage for hormone therapy, which non-transgender women routinely obtain in the form of birth control. The Sylvia Rivera Law Project and other groups have filed a lawsuit challenging a 1998 regulation which prevents Medicaid recipients in New York from accessing sex reassignment surgery, hormones and other forms of care. The lawsuit follows a number of...June 25, 2014 | Story
A Matter of Life and Death: Veterans Affairs Head Grilled over Delays in Care for Returning SoldiersAfter news that dozens of U.S. veterans died during long waits for medical treatment, Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki testified Thursday before a Senate committee about treatment delays and cover-ups at VA medical centers. The committee grilled him about recent claims that VA health clinics in Phoenix, Arizona, and Fort Collins, Colorado, used elaborate schemes to hide records of patients who waited too long for care, and suggested...May 16, 2014 | Story
Show for May 22, 2015
ISIL Seizes Last Government-Run Border Crossing in Syria
U.S. Admits Strike in Syria Killed 2 Children
Yemen: Saudi Shells Kill 5 Ethiopian Refugees
Report: Both Sides in Ukraine Committing War Crimes
TPP Fast-Track Bill Clears Hurdle in the Senate
Senate Scrambles to Act on Bulk Phone Spying Before It Expires
Ireland Holds Historic Same-Sex Marriage Referendum
Boy Scouts President Calls for End to Ban on LGBT Scout Leaders
Baltimore Grand Jury Indicts 6 Officers in Freddie Gray's Death
"Say Her Name" Protests Nationwide Honor Black Women Killed by Police
Akai Gurley's Partner Sues New York City over Police Shooting Death
Washington: Cop Shoots 2 Unarmed Men Accused of Trying to Steal Beer
Thousands Call for $15-an-Hour Minimum Wage at McDonald's HQ
Guatemalan President Fires Top Officials amid Corruption Scandal
El Salvadoran Archbishop Óscar Romero, Killed by U.S.-Backed Death Squad, to Be Beatified

subset: commoncrawl