Latest Clinical & Research News
Increased immune system activity at the brain’s surface, or meningeal inflammation, is believed to be important for understanding how relapsing remitting multiple sclerosis (RRMS) — the most common early form of the disease — progresses to more advanced clinical stages. But the most commonly available MRI technology, 3 Tesla (3T), offers a limited view of meningeal inflammation.
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A preliminary trial of focused ultrasound (FUS) to open the blood-brain barrier (BBB) in patients with glioblastoma (GBM) is underway at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and two other sites. One of the study’s first patients, treated by neurosurgeon Alexandra J. Golby, MD, has shown that the barrier was breached safely and successfully.
The study is a first step toward using non-invasive FUS technology to deliver chemotherapy more effectively to the site of a brain tumor at concentrations higher than occurs with current treatments.
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Researchers at Brigham and Women’s Hospital have identified several links between the use of immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICPIs) and acute kidney injury (AKI). The risk factors, clinicopathologic features, treatment and long-term outcomes in patients with ICPI-associated AKI, as well as the risk of recurrent AKI with ICPI rechallenge, are detailed in a multicenter study recently published in the Journal of the American Society of Nephrology. These newly identified links will help guide oncologists in treating patients with ICPIs.
Immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs), or blockers, have revolutionized the way some cancer patients are treated. However, effects of these treatments can vary from patient to patient. In some cases, cancer cells and/or the tumor microenvironment can adapt to resist the therapy, leading to poorer outcomes and shorter survival.
Traditionally, juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) has been considered a distinct condition from the types of arthritis seen in adults. But increasingly, research is showing that juvenile and adult forms of arthritis represent a continuum.
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When a 54-year-old woman arrived at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, cardiovascular experts at the Heart & Vascular Center (HVC) discovered that her left main and right coronary arteries were 99 percent blocked.
In 2011, Brigham and Women’s Hospital made headlines as the site of the nation’s first full face transplant. In July 2019, the Brigham set another milestone with the world’s first full face transplant procedure on a black patient and the oldest recipient ever. It was the ninth face transplant at the Brigham and the 15th nationwide.
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For three decades, the Endoscopy Center in the Division of Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Endoscopy at Brigham and Women’s Hospital has been pioneering advanced endoscopic techniques.
Ronald L. Neppl, PhD, a molecular biologist in the Department of Orthopedic Surgery at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, studies the molecular mechanisms that regulate the balance between anabolic and catabolic processes, and how imbalances in these physiological processes may lead to muscle atrophy.
Physicians have a good sense of the symptoms and causes of overactive bladder, and clear guidelines exist for diagnosis. Thanks to advertising for pharmaceuticals and other products, even many members of the general public are aware of this condition and know that treatments are available.