NICE's Original Guidance On Preventing Fractures Due To Osteoporosis Still Stands Following Challenge
Following a legal challenge to the process used to produce NICE's existing guidance on prevention of osteoporotic fractures, the original recommendations remain unchanged in the updated guidance documents published last friday. This means that postmenopausal women with osteoporosis at risk of fractures will continue to have access to a range of drugs to help either prevent them suffering a first fracture (primary prevention) or prevent further fractures after they have suffered one (secondary prevention). The guidance documents have been updated to reflect the Appraisal Committee's consideration of the additional stakeholder comments received following a further consultation in line with the court judgement.
Ponseti Method Of Clubfoot Correction
Clubfoot affects one in a thousand babies born in the United States, but with proper corrective treatment and follow-up, infants born with clubfoot can have feet compatible with an active, normal lifestyle. A new study in the February 2010 issue of the Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery (JBJS) compared two common treatment options for clubfoot - Ponseti method and surgical treatment. "While more conservative treatment methods have become popular in the United States over the last several years, surgical treatment has been the primary option in New Zealand until quite recently, " explained Matthew Halanski, MD, who authored the study with mentors at the Starship Children's Hospital in Auckland, New Zealand.
Grandsons Can Inherit Grandpa's Bone Weakness
The study, published in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism, shows that hip fractures in grandfathers are linked to low bone density and reduced bone size in their grandsons. "This is the first time this risk factor for low bone mass has been demonstrated across two generations, " says associate professor Mattias Lorentzon, who led the research team at the Sahlgrenska Academy. "This new risk factor may be significant for the diagnosis of low bone mass and suggests possible mechanisms for the inheritance of low bone mass and fracture risk." The study looked at around 3, 700 grandparents and their grandsons from a national register. 270 of these grandsons had reduced bone density, in other words less bone mineral in their skeleton.
Zelos Therapeutics Initiates Dosing In A Phase 1 Clinical Study Of Nasal Spray Teriparatide
Zelos Therapeutics, Inc. has initiated dosing in a seven day clinical study of a nasal spray formulation of ZT-034 (teriparatide) that is being developed in collaboration with development partner Aegis Therapeutics, LLC. Nasal spray ZT-034 is being developed as an alternative to Eli Lilly and Company's Forteo (teriparatide [rDNA origin]) which generated approximately $800M in annual sales in 2009 for the treatment of osteoporosis and is administered by daily injection. Non-injectable formulations such as nasal spray ZT-034 could expand the market for parathyroid hormone (PTH) analogs to considerably more than $1 billion. The study design will include a Forteo treatment arm to provide an initial comparison with the marketed product.
Society Of Interventional Radiology Supports Treatment For Painful Spine Fractures: Patient Selection Key
Given the current controversy over vertebroplasty -- a minimally invasive treatment performed by interventional radiologists in individuals with painful osteoporotic vertebral compression fractures that fail to respond to conventional medical therapy -- what's a patient to do? Trust your medical team to decide if you are an appropriate candidate for vertebroplasty and trust the experience of hundreds of thousands of other patients who have undergone the spine treatment successfully and received life-improving effects, says the Society of Interventional Radiology. "Hundreds of thousands of patients have greatly benefited from vertebroplasty with almost complete resolution of their pain;
Tornier And LifeCell trade; Initiate Clinical Trial For Conexa trade; To Repair Rotator Cuff Tears
Tornier, Inc., a global leader in extremities and sports medicine orthopaedics, and LifeCell™ Corporation, a KCI Company (NYSE: KCI), announced the first 13 patients have been enrolled in a multi-center clinical trial to document the clinical value of Conexa™ Reconstructive Tissue Matrix for the surgical repair of large rotator cuff tears. Conexa™ is a porcine-derived tissue matrix with both biologic and mechanical properties that are important to support the repair of injured or surgically reconstructed soft tissue. Launched by Tornier for orthopaedic applications in October of 2008, Conexa™ has been used successfully in approximately 1, 500 patients.
What Is Paget's Disease Of Bone? What Causes Paget's Disease?
Paget's disease of bone, often just called Paget's disease or osteitis deformans, is a condition in which the normal cycle of bone growth is disrupted. The condition affects bone metabolism that allows for old bone to be recycled into new bone throughout life. This can cause bones to become weakened and deformed. In Paget's disease of bone, the rate at which old bone is broken down and new bone is formed is altered. Over time, it may result in bones becoming fragile. Common symptoms of Paget's disease include bone pain and deformity. The disease is named after Sir James Paget, the British surgeon who first described it in 1877. According to Medilexicon's medical dictionary : PagetВ s disease of bone is "a generalized skeletal disease, frequently familial, of older people in which bone resorption and formation are both increased, leading to thickening and softening of bones (the skull), and bending of weight-bearing bones.
In Chronic Pain Patients, Higher Opioid Dose Linked To Overdose Risk
More and more Americans with chronic pain not caused by cancer are taking medically prescribed opioids like Oxycontin ( oxycodone ) and Vicodin (hydrocodone). The January 19 Annals of Internal Medicine features the first study to explore the risk of overdose in patients prescribed opioids for chronic noncancer pain in general health care. The study links risk of fatal and nonfatal opioid overdose to prescription use - strongly associating the risk with the prescribed dose. A team led by Michael Von Korff, ScD, a senior investigator at Group Health Research Institute, studied nearly 10, 000 patients who received multiple opioid prescriptions for common chronic pain conditions like back pain and osteoarthritis.
St. George's Hospital Boosts Trauma Centre With Order For Next Generation CT
St. George's Healthcare NHS Trust has ordered a SOMATOM® Definition Flash CT from Siemens Healthcare. The next generation system will be used as part of the hospital's major trauma and stroke centre to provide fast, low dose images in an emergency setting. Last year, St. George's Hospital was designated one of London's four major trauma centres by Healthcare for London. The hospital offers immediate access to specialist care and treatment for patients with serious injuries in the South West London and Surrey regions. The Definition Flash will support this service, enabling rapid whole-body scanning. The system carries out the fastest available scanning speed in CT (430 mm/s) with a temporal resolution of 75ms and can image a person with a height of six feet six inches in less than five seconds.
3.75 Million Grant Advances Tissue Engineering Partnership
An award from the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases (NIAMS) will aid a partnership between the University of Cincinnati (UC) and Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center in finding new ways to use adult stem cells to speed repair of musculoskeletal soft tissue injuries. The five-year grant is for $3.75 million and involves collaboration between UC's Department of Biomedical Engineering and the Division of Developmental Biology at Cincinnati Children's. David Butler, PhD, UC professor of biomedical engineering, says the award is designated as a Bioengineering Research Partnership (BRP) to support a multidisciplinary research team applying an integrative approach to solving a major biomedical problem.