Latest Clinical & Research News
For over 20 years, the Improving Mood-Promoting Access to Collaborative Treatment (IMPACT) model has offered improved care for patients in need of psychiatric care in the primary care setting. At Brigham and Women’s Hospital, a collaborative care paradigm modeled on IMPACT is in the final stages of being rolled out to primary care practices throughout the system.
A recent study out of Brigham and Women’s Hospital advises that older cancer patients receive routine assessments of their ability to conduct certain daily living activities to identify those who need supportive intervention. The study, led by Clark DuMontier, MD, geriatrician and research fellow in Brigham and Women’s Division of Aging, found a correlation between patients’ ability to live independently and their odds of being hospitalized or dying.
For many people, their first interaction with Brigham and Women’s Hospital is through the Emergency Department (ED). Usually, they are in a desperate state. As such, the ED is a critical place for patients who need acute psychiatric care.
For women with complex medical needs, contraception throughout childbearing years may be essential for managing their underlying medical conditions and setting the stage for a healthy pregnancy when desired. To provide the needed expertise, the High Risk Contraception Clinic at Brigham and Women’s Hospital works with patients, often in collaboration with disease sub-specialists, to provide individualized contraceptive care within the framework of the underlying condition.
A soon-to-be published study reports a high prevalence of interstitial lung abnormalities (ILA) and undiagnosed interstitial lung disease (ILD) among first-degree relatives of patients with familial pulmonary fibrosis (FPF) and sporadic idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF). Results suggest screening might be warranted for undiagnosed relatives to facilitate early detection of PF.
A research team from the Department of Neurosurgery at Brigham and Women’s Hospital has published its step-by-step “recipe” for combining microRNAs into genetic therapies. The new publication comes on the heels of earlier work that shows promise for a potential glioblastoma (GBM) gene therapy. In sharing their technique, the researchers hope to help others create transgenes that could target virtually any complex molecular pathway in a broad range of tumors and other disorders.
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Caring for a hospitalized older adult requires the coordinated efforts of various specialists and geriatricians throughout the patient’s hospital stay. At Brigham and Women’s Hospital, an attending physician in the Division of Aging is facilitating such collaboration by developing a co-management service that embeds geriatrics within the hospital’s internal medicine floors.
The Cardiac Amyloidosis Program at Brigham and Women’s Hospital was the first of its kind in the United States. Established 10 years ago by Rodney H. Falk, MD, a widely recognized expert in cardiac amyloidosis, the collaborative program has expanded to diagnose and treat every form of amyloidosis, involving experts from cardiology, cardiac pathology, gastroenterology, hematology, nephrology, oncology and neurology.
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The landmark National Lung Screening Trial found that in high-risk individuals, low-dose CT (LDCT) screening reduced lung cancer mortality by 20 percent relative to chest X-ray. Nine years after those results were published, lung cancer remains by far the leading cause of cancer-related death. And yet, screening for this dangerous disease is lagging.
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As people live longer and lead more active lives in their later years, many opt for elective surgeries to improve their quality of life. With more older people undergoing major surgeries, there has been a dramatic increase in the number of patients developing postoperative delirium and cognitive decline.