Last week Business Wire reported that the Cambridge, Massachusetts-based medical device developer, InVivo Therapeutics Corporation, expects to begin a human study into their new technology to treat spinal cord injuries soon. This technology uses “biopolymer scaffolding to treat acute spinal cord injuries,” the news source reports. This technology represents a potentially unprecedented ability to treat… Read More
New Programs Helping Reduce Risk of Bedsores for SCI Patients
For patients left immobilized due to spinal cord damage or other injuries, the risk of chronic wounds brought on by pressure ulcers is an everyday reality. These wounds, commonly called bedsores, develop in areas of the skin or tissue that lost blood flow and are dead or dying. When patients remain in one position too… Read More
Alzheimer’s Diagnosis Gets a Boost with FDA Approval of Imaging Drug
Diagnosing cognitive decline in patients may have just gotten easier. Earlier this week, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the new imaging drug, Amyvid. This drug is used in Positron Emission Tomography (PET) imagining scans of the brain in patients who are being tested for Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of cognitive decline…. Read More
New Oxygen Therapy Offers Traumatic Brain Injury Patients Hope
The U.S. National Institutes of Health recently reported the completion of testing of a new treatment for traumatic brain injury known as hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBO2). Although the study results are not yet available, doctors are hopeful this therapy will help speed the recovery of patients struggling with these brain injuries. According to an NBC… Read More
Two Drugs Offer Unexpected Promise for Treating Brain & Spinal Cord Injuries
The New England Journal of Medicine recently found that an inexpensive drug commonly prescribed to patients with “prolonged disorders of consciousness after traumatic brain injury” does significantly improve recovery speed. It is known as amantadine. This study included 184 patients four to 16 weeks after a traumatic brain injury who were in a “vegetative or… Read More
Alabama Becomes Latest State to Push Traffic Fine Increases for Spinal Cord Injury Research
The Alabama news outlet, Alabama Live LLC, announced last week that a bill to increase fines for speeding and other moving violations has passed the State Senate, while a House version has also been sponsored. The news source explains that these fine increases would go to fund spinal cord injury research at the University of… Read More