Partnering with families to minimize exposure to anesthesia
In medicine, the best imaging can mean the difference between the right diagnosis and the wrong one. A successful treatment and an ineffective one. The radiology team at Boston Children’s Hospital carries out more than 200,000 imaging exams on children each year. Ranging in length from five minutes to two hours, all MRI scans require children to ... Read More about Partnering with families to minimize exposure to anesthesia
Families and data scientists build insights on Phelan-McDermid syndrome
This is the third year that Jacob Works has made the trip down to Boston Children’s Hospital from Maine. With research assistant Haley Medeiros, he looks at pictures, answers questions, manipulates blocks and mimes actions like knocking on a door. His father, Travis, and another research assistant look on through a window. “At first, we ... Read More about Families and data scientists build insights on Phelan-McDermid syndrome
What you should know about hip labral tears in young athletes
Labral tears are a common injury of the hip, particularly with young athletes who may have underlying hip anatomy issues, such as hip dysplasia or impingement. Treatments for labral tears range from rest and physical therapy to open surgery. Recovery (and time away from sports) can take days, weeks, or even months. It’s important that ... Read More about What you should know about hip labral tears in young athletes
How to prevent ACL injuries in female athletes
An ACL (anterior cruciate ligament) tear is a devastating injury that can end an athlete’s season and sometimes take up to a year to fully recover. Along with the pain and long rehab process, it also carries the consequences of a high rate of re-tear and increased risk for osteoarthritis. But what if you could ... Read More about How to prevent ACL injuries in female athletes
GALLERY: Custom-built ‘trainers’ help clinicians master procedures
Walking into the SIMPeds Engineering Studio, a few blocks from Boston Children’s Hospital, the first thing you notice is body parts — high-fidelity replicas of human anatomy in various sizes. Some are in a glass display case, while others are laid out in various states of assembly, from a lone finger to the complete abdominal cavity of ... Read More about GALLERY: Custom-built ‘trainers’ help clinicians master procedures
Startup uses Uber to get patients to their medical appointments
Getting to the doctor will soon get easier for some struggling patients. Boston Children’s Hospital has joined forces with the ride-hailing service Uber to pilot a non-emergency medical transportation platform. The online, HIPAA-compliant tool, called Circulation, connects with health care information systems, enabling hospitals to schedule Uber rides for patients. The pilot will serve Boston Children’s, Mercy Health ... Read More about Startup uses Uber to get patients to their medical appointments
Using newborns’ own umbilical cords as shunts for heart surgery
Cardiac surgery is reducing the use of plastic — starting with an operation for newborns who have life-threatening heart disease generally called single ventricle. Single ventricle is so dangerous because it means only one of the heart’s two ventricles can adequately pump blood. Typically, affected infants undergo open-heart surgery to receive a Blalock shunt, which ... Read More about Using newborns’ own umbilical cords as shunts for heart surgery
Detecting shunt failure in hydrocephalus without imaging or surgery: ShuntCheck
Antonio Venus-Reeve, 14, had his first shunt surgery for hydrocephalus when he was 2½ months old. Born at 25 weeks’ gestation, weighing less than two pounds, he had a serious brain bleed seven days later. As Antonio’s head began to swell with excess fluid, neurologists at Boston Children’s Hospital told his mother, Joanne Venus-Williams, that ... Read More about Detecting shunt failure in hydrocephalus without imaging or surgery: ShuntCheck
Microbiome therapeutics: 6 takeaways from a MassBio panel
Seeing the surprising success of “poop pills” in gastrointestinal C. difficile infection, pharma companies and startups are embracing the microbiome as a new therapeutic target for an astonishing range of maladies. To learn what pioneering companies in the space are thinking about the hope and the hype, Vector recently attended a panel on microbiome therapeutics ... Read More about Microbiome therapeutics: 6 takeaways from a MassBio panel
Another use for mTOR inhibitors: Preserving vanishing bones in Gorham-Stout syndrome
The mTOR pathway is fundamental to nearly every cell in the body. It drives processes related to cell growth, protein production and metabolism, influencing everything from neurocognition to tumor growth. Because of this broad role, indications for drugs targeting the mTOR pathway are also remarkably broad. Alexander Malloy, 14, is one of the first patients ... Read More about Another use for mTOR inhibitors: Preserving vanishing bones in Gorham-Stout syndrome