Medical Software Helps Alzheimer’s Patients to Communicate

New software that assists caregivers and family members in communicating with Alzheimer’s patients is being used in UK nursing homes. The healthcare software, called Digital Reminiscence Therapy Solutions (DRTS), will be on display at the 2011 Healthcare Innovation EXPO are aimed for use by the elderly and people  with dementia and uses digita...

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New Treatment for Macular Degeneration Wins Health Innovation Award

An innovative new treatment for macular degeneration, received an award from Popular Science Magazine as one of the best healthcare innovations of 2010.  Developed by Vision...

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Stents Open Brain Arteries to Save Stroke Victims

Stroke is the third-leading cause of death in the United States. Most strokes (85 percent) are caused by a blocked blood vessel, which stops blood flow and oxygen to the brain and causes the brain tissue to die. Treating a stroke quickly can stop further damage, prevent or lessen disability and avert death.  New research reported at the International Symposium on Endovascular Therapy reports that stents are an effective first line of treatment for acute stroke patients.In research conducted at the Baptist Cardiac & Vascular Institute in Miami, stents were placed in the blocked brain arteries of 19 acute stroke patients who had not been helped by clot-busting drugs or clot-removal devices. The stents opened up the arteries in 18 of the 19 patients (95 percent), and this resulted in 12 (63 percent) who had minimal or no deficits. Five patients (26 percent) died from major strokes. “Our findings suggest stents can work when clot busting-drugs and clot-removal devices do not, and are a safe and feasible option,” said Italo Linfante, M.D., director of endovascular neurosurgery at the Institute. If stents hadn’t been used to restore blood flow after these serious strokes, mortality or severe disability would have occurred in approximately 80 to 90 percent of patients. Currently, using stents to treat acute stroke is an experimental procedure of last resort, used when all other methods have failed. Stents have long been used preventatively to open up clogged heart and neck arteries to thwart stroke and heart attack. Scientists have recently discovered that stents may also be used as a treatment device, meaning doctors place them in blocked arteries to treat heart attacks and strokes.