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Brain & Spine Surgery

MICHIGAN BRAIN & SPINE

SURGERY CENTER

What every patient using medical marijuana should know

Medical-MarijuanaWith more pain patients turning to medical marijuana (and recreational cannabis) to ease their discomfort, clinicians might want to consider issues pertaining to driving and working while under the influence.

Gerald Aronoff, MD, medical director, Carolina Pain Associates, and medical director, North American Pain & Disability Group, Charlotte, North Carolina, doesn’t prescribe opiates to his patients until he first screens them for any illegal substance, including tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), a psychoactive ingredient in cannabis.

And he recommends other doctors do the same.… [Continue Reading]

The Prescription Drug Abuse Epidemic

dreamstime_s_9988205Despite years of research and advocacy, prescription drug abuse remains an epidemic in the United States. Every single day, 44 people die from prescription drug overdoses, and drug-related poisonings are now the leading cause of death due to unintentional injuries. The National Survey on Drug Use and Health reports that 15 million people over the age of 12 have abused prescription drugs in the past year, and 6.5 million people did so just in the last month.

Keep in mind, these drug statistics are specific to prescription drugs ONLY. These stats don’t even consider alcohol or illegal drugs. When you consider that these numbers are for drugs that people are obtaining legally, from a doctor, they are even more staggering!… [Continue Reading]

New hope for GBM

Glioblastoma

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and ImmunoCellular Therapeutics have agreed on a Special Protocol Assessment (SPA) for the latter’s upcoming Phase 3 trial of its ICT-107 product candidate in newly diagnosed glioblastoma multiforme (GBM).1

An SPA is a written agreement between a drug manufacturer and the FDA regarding clinical trial design (clinical endpoints, size, statistical methodology, etc.). An SPA endorsement from the FDA constitutes, by extension, a de facto endorsement of the clinical trial protocol being reviewed. The SPA process is designed for Phase 3 trials whose data will form the primary basis for biologic licensing application (BLA) or new drug application (NDA) efficacy claims. Final marketing approval of prospective therapies, of course, remains contingent on the actual results of their respective Phase 3 investigations. 2,3

Pharmaceutical companies are not required to reach an SPA agreement with the FDA, nor are they required to comply with the FDA recommendations furnished therein. Indeed, SPA is initiated solely via company request. However, due to the investments of time and money demanded to facilitate late-stage research, manufacturers are highly incentivized to submit to SPA oversight and advice as a means of markedly mitigating the inherent risks associated with new drug development.3… [Continue Reading]

Endoscopic Lumbar Fusion using Rise IntraLiF system

RISE_TLIF1Michigan Brain and Spine Surgery Center is pleased to announce that Dr. Lucia Zamorano performed the first Endoscopic Lumbar Fusion in Michigan using Rise IntraLiF system of Globus Medical. “We are able to perform a lumbar fusion through an 8.5 mm cannula using endoscopic visualization; with the expandable cage we can restore the disc height with a controlled distraction and optimal fitting”, explains Dr. Zamorano.

Endoscopic Lumbar Fusion is the most Minimally Invasive Spine Surgery technique to perform a fusion and “it will revolutionize and change the ways we do fusions, minimizing the approach, causing less damage to normal structures and improving the biomechanical construct with better patients outcomes” Dr. Zamorano adds.

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Spinal cord injuries on the rise among elderly

spine-mriHealthDay News — While the overall rate of traumatic spinal cord injuries remain stable, the rate of injury among older Americans is increasing, according to research published in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

Nitin Jain, MD, MSPH, an associate professor of physical medicine and rehabilitation at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine in Nashville, Tenn., and colleagues collected data on 63,109 U.S. patients with acute traumatic spinal cord injury. The researchers found that the number of spinal cord injuries increased from 2,659 in 1993 to 3,393 in 2012. However, the rate of injuries — the number of cases per total U.S. population — remained stable. In 1993, the rate of spinal cord injuries was 53 cases per one million people. In 2012, it was 54 cases per million.

… [Continue Reading]

Underweight increase risk of Dementia

dementiaBeing underweight in middle-age may raise the risk for dementia later on, while being overweight or obese may protect against dementia, hints the largest study yet to look at the association between body mass index (BMI) and dementia risk.

“Our findings contradict many but not all previous studies and is currently controversial” Nawab Qizilbash, MBChB, MRCP (UK), head of OXON Epidemiology Ltd, and honorary senior lecturer in epidemiology, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, United Kingdom, told Medscape Medical News.

… [Continue Reading]

Deep Brain Stimulation: New Hope For Alzheimer?

alzheimersAlzheimer’s disease (AD) could be the next frontier for deep brain stimulation (DBS) therapy.

A small phase 1 pilot study showed that some patients with AD who received constant stimulation to the fornix — the principle outflow tract from the hippocampus — had increased hippocampal volume after 1 year.

There was also some evidence that this increased hippocampal volume correlated with cognitive benefit.

… [Continue Reading]

Risk of adjacent segment disease after spine surgery: predictors for future surgery

spine surgeryA group of researchers examined the risk factors for adjacent segment disease following spinal fusion and non-fusion surgery and published their findings in the Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery.

The retrospective analysis examined a consecutive series of 1,358 patients who underwent cervical spine surgery performed by a single surgeon. The procedural breakdown included:

• 1,038 anterior approaches
• 29 posterior approaches
• 28 combined anterior and posterior approaches

… [Continue Reading]

Long term cell use linked to Brain Tumor Risk

cell-phone-useLong-term use of both mobile and cordless phones is associated with an increased risk for glioma, the most common type of brain tumor, the latest research on the subject concludes.

The new study shows that the risk for glioma was tripled among those using a wireless phone for more than 25 years and that the risk was also greater for those who had started using mobile or cordless phones before age 20 years.

“Doctors should be very concerned by this and discuss precautions with their patients,” study author Lennart Hardell, MD, PhD, professor, Department of Oncology, University Hospital, Örebro, Sweden, told Medscape Medical News.

… [Continue Reading]

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