Latest Clinical & Research News
Endocrinology patients tend to have chronic illnesses that require lifelong care. Furthermore, many endocrine conditions evolve, so appropriate treatment approaches can change over time as well.
Gait speed and grip strength are objective measures of physical health that have been shown to predict important health outcomes in older adults such as functional decline, acute care use and death. According to a recent study, these measures are particularly important to assess in older patients with hematologic malignancies including leukemia, lymphoma and multiple myeloma.
Read More
Delirium, a sudden onset of confusion frequently seen in older patients, was once thought to be a temporary condition that patients “snapped out of” after being discharged from the hospital. However, it is now recognized that delirium may lead to longer-term cognitive impairment and poor health outcomes, including an increased risk of death, nursing home placement and memory problems.
Read More
Many older patients with hematologic cancers have another condition to worry about—one they don’t always feel comfortable discussing with their health care team. As people are living longer, memory problems have become increasingly prevalent. However, little is known about the impact of cognitive impairment, and specific domains of cognitive impairment, on older cancer patients and their survival.
An intranasal vaccine for Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is expected to begin its first human trial in 2020, culminating nearly 25 years of research led by Howard L. Weiner, MD, co-director of the Ann Romney Center for Neurologic Diseases at Brigham and Women’s Hospital.
In September 2019, results from the DAPA-HF trial revealed that SGLT2 inhibitors may be helpful for patients with heart failure. These therapies may also be used to prevent heart failure in patients with diabetes*. However, a way of accurately identifying which diabetes patients are most at risk for heart failure has been elusive.
Read More
It can be challenging to assess the effects of dietary changes on a disease, especially when those changes involve eliminating common, often beloved foods from a child’s diet. However, Leonardo D. Riella, MD, PhD, FASN, associate director of kidney transplantation at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, found a way to make the elimination process both effective from a research perspective and fun for a group of young kidney disease patients.
Read More
As part of its care package for patients with advanced emphysema, the Lung Center at Brigham and Women’s Hospital offers a minimally invasive procedure to place one-way endobronchial valves into the airways of a diseased lobe. The valves offer the symptom relief of lung reduction without the risks of surgery.
Edwin Silverman, MD, PhD, is a pioneer in studying how genetics impact COPD risk. His team, which includes leading researchers such as Craig Hersh, MD, MPH; Dawn DeMeo, MD, MPH; Michael Cho, MD, MPH; Peter Castaldi, MD; and Xiaobo Zhou, PhD, generated findings that could have profound implications for the future of COPD treatment.
For over a decade, the Foot and Ankle Service in the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery at Brigham and Women’s Hospital has conducted research that places a strong emphasis on optimizing perioperative care for foot and ankle surgery patients.
