MedBr First to Know 3/7/2016

Go Blue Devils!

     Win, lose or draw...a Duke/UNC basketball game is a “happening” for those of us who grew up in North Carolina and went to either school. Saturday night in Cameron Stadium was so over the top, I’m not sure my heart can stand to do that again! I wonder what it would take to get Coach K to work on my pickleball game?

     Watch our Medical Headline Videos:

•      Burning mouth syndrome is a neuropathic condition that occurs in about 4 percent of the US population. Dr Lance Cohen, an otolaryngologist of ENT Associates in Clearwater, Florida is treating it with amitriptyline as well as cognitive behavioral therapy.
•      Heart disease kills about 610,000 people every year in the US and a new body scanner is providing early detection that may save lives. It is called a ViaScan and Dr John Duncan, founder/ CEO and former chief of clinical research at the Cooper Institute in Dallas says we could prevent heart attacks by 50 percent in one year if all men over age 40 would get a heart scan.
•      SBRT is a high dose of focused radiation that may make a huge difference in patients with tough-to-treat liver cancer. Dr Alexander Kirichenko, a radiation oncologist for Allegheny Health Network in Pittsburgh, says everything actually moves inside our body when we breathe and so does the tumor but SBRT adjusts to this.

     My favorite story this week is the special report on the UCF engineering students who have designed a 3D wheelchair device that will cost less than $400 compared to several thousand that people pay now. In 2014 this same student group, Limbitless Solutions, unveiled and distributed 3D bionic arms for children at no cost.

     Another heartwarming story this week is about a photo therapy called Brilliance from a company called Design Revolution (D-Rev). It is being used to treat severely jaundiced babies and the team is now moving on to design prosthetics.

     In case you missed them, you may want to check our past reports, Premium Content in Archives Good News, You Have Tapeworms! A New Way to Banish Panic Attacks. Premium Content in the Archives may be purchased for as little as $9 for 24-hour, unlimited access. If you would like to access Premium Content for the first time click here.

     Finally, a cardiologist at Orlando Health, Arnold Einhorn, MD, tells us about “Heartbuds: A Remote Stethoscope” that will be approved by the FDA soon.

And there's more where that came from...

Marjorie Bekaert Thomas

President, Ivanhoe Broadcast News

“You don’t have to be fearful of somebody spouting bad ideas. Just out-argue them. Beat ‘em. Make the case as to why they’re wrong. Win over adherents. That’s how things work in a democracy.”
-- Barack Obama, “President Obama Praises University of Missouri Protesters: ‘I Want an Activist Citizenry,’” ABC News, Nov. 15, 2015