Blog | Page 11 of 157 | Boston Children's Answers

Years of experience support the safe use of fine-needle aspiration for pediatric thyroid nodules

Posted on December 17, 2024 by Jessica Cerretani | Research

Ultrasound-guided fine-needle aspiration (FNA) has long been used as a safe and effective way to evaluate thyroid nodules in adults, usually without sedation. Less is known about the safety and tolerability of FNA in children, although small studies suggest that the approach can be performed without sedation and with minimal complications. Now, a report by ... Read More

Tagged: thyroid cancer

A small act of kindness: Blood donations get Sadie off the sidelines after her aplastic anemia diagnosis

Posted on December 16, 2024 by Linsey Covino-Deaso | Patient Stories

Tags: anemia, blood disorder, blood donor center, rare disease

In March of 2024, Sadie’s life was interrupted. A busy high school senior with classes to attend, soccer matches to play, and a much-anticipated trip to France on the horizon, Sadie was very active and felt generally healthy. But when a follow-up appointment at her pediatrician’s office led to an urgent referral to Boston Children’s ... Read More

Tagged: anemia, blood disorder, blood donor center, rare disease

Changing lives through genetics: The Children’s Rare Disease Collaborative

Posted on December 13, 2024 by Nancy Fliesler | Clinical Care, Research

Tags: diagnostics, genetics and genomics, rare disease, research

A 14-year-old girl was having back pain after a car accident and visited an orthopedic clinic at Boston Children’s Hospital. In the course of her care, she joined the Children’s Rare Disease Collaborative (CRDC), a hospital-wide effort to enroll children and adults with rare diseases in genetic studies. Genetic testing revealed that both she and ... Read More

Tagged: diagnostics, genetics and genomics, rare disease, research

Model enables study of age-specific responses to COVID mRNA vaccines in a dish

Posted on December 12, 2024 by Nancy Fliesler | Clinical, Research

Tags: coronavirus, immunology, infectious diseases, vaccines

mRNA vaccines clearly saved lives during the COVID-19 pandemic, but several studies suggest that older people had a somewhat reduced immune response to the vaccines when compared with younger adults. Why? Researchers at Boston Children’s Hospital, led by Byron Brook, PhD, David Dowling, PhD, and Ofer Levy, MD, PhD, found some answers — while providing ... Read More

Tagged: coronavirus, immunology, infectious diseases, vaccines

Could a pill treat sickle cell disease?

Posted on December 11, 2024 by Nancy Fliesler | Basic/Translational, Research

Tags: drug development, hematology, sickle cell disease

The new gene therapies for sickle cell disease — including the gene-editing treatment Casgevy, based on research at Boston Children’s Hospital — have been game-changing for the patients who have received them. But Stuart Orkin, MD, the Boston Children’s hematologist whose work led the way to Casgevy, wants to go even further. “The editing therapy ... Read More

Tagged: drug development, hematology, sickle cell disease

A sickle cell first: Base editing, a new form of gene therapy, leaves Branden feeling ‘more than fine’

Posted on December 9, 2024 by Nancy Fliesler | Clinical, Research

Tags: clinical trials, gene editing, gene therapy, hematology, sickle cell disease

Though he doesn’t remember it, Branden Baptiste had his first sickle cell crisis at age 2. Through elementary school, he was in and out of the hospital with pain episodes, not knowing why. As he got older, he learned he had sickle cell disease. His red blood cells were forming sickle shapes and getting stuck ... Read More

Tagged: clinical trials, gene editing, gene therapy, hematology, sickle cell disease

Keeping up with the tween skin care trend: What’s in those products?

Posted on December 6, 2024 by Veronica Giarla | Health and Parenting

Tags: aging, allergy, culture

More teens and tweens are hitting the mall to grab skin-care products they’ve seen on social media — but are these popular ingredients safe for younger skin? We asked Dr. Jennifer Tan and Dr. Jennifer Huang in Boston Children’s Dermatology Program to weigh in on this trend and break down common ingredients. Trends aren’t for ... Read More

Tagged: aging, allergy, culture

Then and now: Catching up with some of our short bowel syndrome kids

Posted on December 3, 2024 by Jessica Cerretani | Patient Stories

Tags: short bowel syndrome

Also known as “short gut,” short bowel syndrome is a life-threatening condition in which a lack of functioning intestine can make it difficult to absorb the nutrients needed to survive and thrive. Thanks to advances in medical and surgical treatments — many of which have been made by the team in Boston Children’s Center for Advanced ... Read More

Tagged: short bowel syndrome

Injected microbubbles could be a safe way to deliver emergency oxygen

Posted on November 25, 2024 by Albert McKeon | Basic/Translational, Research

Tags: cardiac research, cardiology, drug development, emergency medicine, heart, heart center, research

For years, researchers and clinicians have been trying to find a way to rapidly deliver oxygen to patients when traditional means of oxygenation are difficult or ineffective during critical moments of cardiac or respiratory arrest. Sometimes, hypoxemia caused by airway obstruction or lung disease can be so severe that methods to boost low-oxygen levels (including ... Read More

Tagged: cardiac research, cardiology, drug development, emergency medicine, heart, heart center, research

A universal gene therapy for Diamond-Blackfan anemia is poised for clinical testing

Posted on November 21, 2024 by Nancy Fliesler | Basic/Translational, Research

Tags: anemia, blood, blood disorder, gene therapy, hematology

Diamond-Blackfan anemia (DBA), first described at Boston Children’s Hospital in 1938, is a rare blood disorder in which the bone marrow cannot make mature, functioning red blood cells. Children with this life-threatening anemia have few treatment options. A small handful with a well-matched donor can be cured with bone marrow transplant, but most rely on ... Read More

Tagged: anemia, blood, blood disorder, gene therapy, hematology