Health Tips

NEW ATRIAL FIB CURE WITHOUT PACEMAKERS, DRUGS

Cardiac rhythm specialists at the University of Pennsylvania Health System have documented the effectiveness of a new technique to cure atrial fibrillation. It eliminates the need for a pacemaker or medication. "This procedure can eliminate atrial fibrillation completely, and patients can resume their lives without relying on mechanical devices or any form of medication, including blood-thinners," says Francis E. Marchlinski, a doctor. She presented her findings at the American College of Cardiologists meeting in Atlanta. Atrial fibrillation is a serious condition, often associated with aging, which results when electrical discharges in one of the atria (upper chambers of the heart) disrupts the normal, organized electrical activity, or "sinus rhythm," generated by the heart's sinus node. The electrophysiologists infuse drugs that promote the firing of so-called "hot spots" in the pulmonary veins. Once those triggers are identified with the use of sophisticated electrical recording techniques, a catheter-based ablation procedure isolates the abnormal fibers.

PROSTATE RADIATION WITH FEWER SIDE EFFECTS

Incontinence and impotence are two major complications feared by men undergoing treatment for prostate cancer, since the bladder and the rectum are the two organs adjacent to the prostate. These organs are often in the line of fire when radiation beams target the cancerous prostate. Using a highly sophisticated technology called Intensity Modulated Radiation Therapy or IMRT, patients are experiencing fewer side effects than they would with conventional and or three-dimensional conformal radiation therapy. Fox Chase Cancer Center in Philadelphia is currently treating prostate cancer patients regularly with IMRT. It allows radiation oncologists to give precise but powerful doses of radiation to the targeted prostate while sparing surrounding healthy organs. "Tumors are not perfectly round. They come in all sizes, shapes, thickness and sometimes intertwine with organs," says Eric Horwitz, a radiation oncologist at Fox Chase Cancer Center. "We precisely calibrate the computers and equipment so that we reach the target with minimal interference to other organs and the IMRT technology makes that possible."

UNDERSIZE INFANTS BETTER IF BREAST FED EXCLUSIVELY

Full-term infants who are born small score an average of 11 points higher on IQ tests if they are exclusively breast fed for the first six months of life compared to those who are given formula or solids early on. The study, published in the March Acta Paediatrica, was conducted by researchers at the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development and the Norwegian University of Science and Technology. The finding also discredits the widely held belief that supplementary feedings of formula and cereal, in addition to breast milk, will help these smaller infants reach normal size faster. Ten percent of all births in the United States are small for gestational age or less than six pounds when born full term. "This study provides strong evidence that exclusive breast feeding for the first six months benefits the cognitive development of both small and normal-size infants," says Duane Alexander, director at the national institute program. "Also noteworthy is the observation that exclusive breast feeding does not compromise growth."

THERAPEUTIC ANGIOGENESIS NEW HEART TREATMENT

An experimental treatment that calls for injecting a gene product into the heart that's designed to produce a protein that promotes blood vessel growth may translate into a future treatment for those who suffer from coronary artery disease. The University of Vermont is one of twelve sites participating in the Angiogenic Gene Therapy trial. The study appears in Circulation: A Journal of the American Heart Association. "Coronary artery disease is the No. 1 cause of death in Vermont, the United States and recently, the world," says Matthew Watkins, a cardiologist who led the study at the University of Vermont and one of the lead authors of the report. Patients with coronary artery disease often experience angina -- chest pain that results when the heart muscle doesn't get as much oxygen as it needs because of blockage in the arteries. Therapeutic angiogenesis is performed via catheterization -- the insertion of a tiny tube into the blood vessels surrounding the heart. A product called growth factor gene is then delivered through the tube into the coronary arteries.

(EDITOR: For more information, about ATRIAL FIB, call (215) 349-5659; about PROSTATE, call (215) 728-7784; about INFANTS, call (301) 496-5133; about ANGIOGENESIS, call (802) 656-7875.)