Pedal the Cause Announces 2012 Grant Recipients

2012/02/24

It’s a common thought when you sign a check over to a charity: Where is my money going?  The cycling event Pedal the Cause answered that question last night.

At their “Yellow Jersey” dinner at Moulin in south city honoring those who raised $2,500 or more, Pedal executive director Jay Indovino announced 12 research grants made possible by the $1.3 million raised at the fall 2011 event. While you may hear about dollars being awarded by charities through grants, this news is different in a lot of ways:

1) Pedal the Cause is a St. Louis effort. Every dollar raised stays here.

2) It’s not for one specific cancer. Someone diagnosed with head & neck cancer or leukemia is being helped just as much as someone diagnosed with breast cancer.

3) Every dollar goes to fight cancer at the Siteman Cancer Center (the only National Cancer Institute Comprehensive Cancer Center within 240 miles of St. Louis) and St. Louis Children’s Hospital (which, in partnership with Washington University School of Medicine, is leading research with the Children’s Discovery Institute.)

4) Event costs are paid for through generous corporate partners, including Edward Jones and Michelob Ultra. If you raise $500, you are giving $500 to fight cancer.

All of this is critical to the advancement of cancer research as well. Last night, Siteman Cancer Center director Timothy Eberlein, MD, and St. Louis Children’s Hospital’s Joshua Rubin, MD, PhD, talked about how critical these dollars are in an environment where research dollars are hard to come by. If you didn’t participate in Pedal the Cause in the last couple of years, we hope you consider in 2012. They have “early bird” specials they will be announcing to allow people to register at a 50% discount for a period of time. Keep an eye on  www.pedalthecause.org. Registration starts March 1 and we hope to see you and your bike this fall.

For more about Pedal, watch this story from yesterday with KSDK’s Leisa Zigman and Dr. Rubin:

-Jason Merrill

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Lawrence Lenke, MD, Named New Spinal Surgery Chief

2012/02/23

Congratulations to Lawrence Lenke, MD. In an announcement from Washington University School of Medicine, Dr. Lenke was named chief of spinal surgery at Washington University Orthopedics at Barnes-Jewish Hospital. From the release:

“Larry Lenke is an outstanding surgeon, researcher and educator, and I am confident he will lead the spine division to new levels of excellence,” says Richard H. Gelberman, MD, the Fred C. Reynolds Professor and head of Orthopaedic Surgery.

Dr. Lenke sees pediatric and adult patients requiring spinal surgery. His practice is devoted spinal surgery, with an emphasis on complex reconstructive surgery and the treatment of various spinal deformities such as scoliosis, kyphosis, spondylolisthesis, and many other anomalies of the spine.

For more information about treatment of spinal injuries at Barnes-Jewish Hospital, click here or for more about Dr. Lenke, watch this video:

 

-Jason Merrill

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New Therapies Helping People with Abdominal Aortic Aneurysms

2012/02/20

The first FDA-approved fenestrated endovascular abdominal aortic vascular graft for Phase II of the multicenter prospective trial was implanted in 2009 by Luis Sanchez, MD, and Patrick Geraghty, MD.

Abdominal aortic aneurysms (AAA) are a very serious issue. Looking at them, they appear like a bulge in the aorta in the abdomen, and the size of the bulge can is an indicator of how weak the aortic wall has become. If there is no treatment for a large aneurysm, it may continue to expand until it bursts – a life-threatening event.

Over the past few years, Luis Sanchez, MD, Washington University vascular surgery chief at Barnes-Jewish, has been studying use of a new treatment called fenestrated stenting to take care of AAA.

The new devices feature small openings — fenestrations — and are strategically positioned to allow blood to pass into the renal arteries. But when Dr. Sanchez and his colleagues began doing this, it was a challenge to place fenestrated stents because blood vessel anatomy varies from person to person. So now, fenestrated stents are custom-made for each patient, based on measurements and images taken by vascular surgeons Dr. Sanchez and Gregorio A. Sicard, MD, who serves as the principal investigator of a trial testing these endovascular devices.

The clinical trial is currently in its extended phase, continuing to enroll patients who fit the criteria as the device awaits final approval from the FDA. For more, watch this video here:

-Jason Merrill

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Concussions Are Brain Injuries — Know The Symptoms

2012/02/17

 

Sports medicine specialist Mark Halstead, MD, is known for his work in treating concussions in young athletes

Concussion awareness has probably never been higher. As a lifelong fan of the NFL, it’s been interesting to see the game change from one where hits to the head were celebrated, to one where hits to the head can lead to suspension. And that’s at the professional level. That says nothing about the young athletes at the high school level who can suffer dangerous injury from a hit to the head.

It’s because concussions are nothing to mess around with. According to our Mark Halstead, MD, a sports medicine expert with Washington University Orthopedics, Barnes-Jewish Hospital and St. Louis Children’s Hospital, concussions are ”an injury to the brain,” he says.

Last night, KSDK talked with Dr. Halstead about the impact of conussions:

“We do know that if you have repetitive concussions, you’re more likely to have more severe symptoms or more likely to have one than the person who’s never had one before,” Halstead said. “Someone who’s had three concussions is nine times more likely to have symptoms that are worse than someone who’s had one for the first time.”

Recently, Dr. Halstead participated in a study in the journal Pediatrics that said childhood concussions have doubled, even as sports participation has gone down.

So it’s important to know concussion symptoms:

  • Loss of Consciousness (although most concussions don”t involve being “knocked out”)headache
  • Feeling Dizzy/Foggy/Slow
  • Trouble thinking, remembering, or concentrating
  • Nausea/Vomiting
  • Drowsiness/Decreased energy
  • Ringing in the ears
  • Slurred Speech

For more information about concussions, visit our website here.

-Jason Merrill

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New Study Says Blood Pressure Should Be Taken In Each Arm

2012/01/31

Getting blood pressure taken is a doctor visit staple. Here’s the list: You step on a scale, you walk back to the little room, sit on the table, get your temperature taken and get a cuff squeezed around your arm.

Arm … or should it be arms?

“We’ve been taught since medical school to take blood pressure in both arms, especially for an initial patient evaluation or for somebody with hypertension,” says Alan Braverman, MD, Washington University cardiologist at Barnes-Jewish Hospital. “In some people there is a difference in the blood pressure between the left and right arm and the higher arm is the higher blood pressure.”

This notion is advanced in the new edition of the British medical journal The Lancet in a study titled “Do differences in blood pressure between arms matter?” The findings indicate a disparity in readings between the right and left arm could be a sign of vascular disease and a greater risk of dying from heart disease.

“A blood pressure that’s different in one arm to the other by more than 10 millimeters of mercury is an abnormal finding and can be a sign of underlying vascular disease,” says Dr. Braverman. ”For instance, if someone had a narrowing in one artery going to the right arm, the blood pressure in the right arm would be lower than the left arm and if I just checked the blood pressure in the right arm I would mistakenly think the blood pressure is normal.  It’s not only a sign of undiagnosed high blood pressure it’s a sign of underlying perihperal vascular disease which is a sign of heart disease.”

Problem is, many physicians do not take blood pressure readings in both arms, despite the fact Dr. Braverman pointed out — it’s a basic taught in medical school.

“As a good habit we try do it in each arm, some physicians feel a pulse in each arm,” he says. “It’s more important in the initial visit with the patient.”

For more about the study, read more on our website here.

-Jason Merrill

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Material From Kitchen Sponges Stop Nosebleeds In New Procedure

2012/01/27

Nosebleeds are common. In fact, 60 percent of us have them at some point, but for some it can be very serious. Primarily for those with high blood pressure or on blood thinners, nosebleeds may require medical treatment.

Our Colin Derdeyn, MD, director of the Stroke and Cerebrovascular Center at Washington University School of Medicine and Barnes Jewish Hospital, recently presented data at the International Symposium on Endovascular Therapy finding that a treatment involving the same material in kitchen sponges can make these nosebleeds a thing of the past.

In the procedure, Dr. Derdeyn, an interventional radiologist, performs a minimally invasive embolization, in which polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) particles (the material in kitchen sponges) are injected into the blood vessels to the nose. To do this, he threads a tiny tube called a catheter into a groin artery and advances it through the body to one or more of the four arteries that supply the nose, injecting the PVA particles.  The particles temporarily stop the blood flow, halting the nosebleed and allowing the area to heal. PVA has been used safely in the body medically for about 50 years.

You can read more here in USA Today or watch this interview with KSDK’s Kay Quinn:

For more about Dr. Derdeyn, watch this video here:

-Jason Merrill

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