Barnes-Jewish Hospital | Washington University Physicians

CURIOSUS: The Art and Science of Medicine

ky00r-ee-OH-sus; Latin; adjective Eager to learn or know; inquisitive


EVOLUTION OF HEART-VALVE REPAIR Wednesday, January 31, 20240

EVOLUTION OF HEART-VALVE REPAIR

Study the anatomy of a human heart, and you’ll notice there are four chambers and four valves that work sequentially to move blood into the heart and then out into the body. As the heart contracts and relaxes, its valves work in a set order, opening and closing to ensure that blood flows in one direction. Advances made in cardiology and heart surgery now allow specialists to repair or replace any of the heart valves using a variety of techniques, including minimally invasive surgery.

ONCOLOGY REPORT: THERANOSTICS DELIVERS A ONE-TWO PUNCH Tuesday, January 30, 20240

ONCOLOGY REPORT: THERANOSTICS DELIVERS A ONE-TWO PUNCH

Many of us are familiar with the most common strategies for treating cancer: surgery, chemotherapy and radiation therapy. But in the past two decades, more targeted treatments have been developed. One such innovation, called theranostics, uses specially engineered radioactive tracers in combination with advanced imaging techniques, to not only find and map cancer cells throughout the body, but also serve as a beacon, lighting a path that cancer-destroying drugs can follow.

BREAST-DENSITY CHANGES LINKED TO CANCER RISK Tuesday, January 30, 20240

BREAST-DENSITY CHANGES LINKED TO CANCER RISK

Many middle-aged and older women get mammograms every one to two years to screen for breast cancer. When specialists read these mammograms, they assess breast density along with signs of cancer, comparing a woman’s previous mammograms to her most recent one to look for worrisome changes. But some changes are difficult to detect by eye. A study by researchers indicates that previous mammograms hold underutilized data that could help identify women at high risk of breast cancer.

FROM SILENCE TO SOLUTIONS: TREATING PELVIC ORGAN PROLAPSE Tuesday, January 30, 20240

FROM SILENCE TO SOLUTIONS: TREATING PELVIC ORGAN PROLAPSE

Pelvic organ prolapse – which occurs when the uterus, bowel, bladder or top of the vagina “drops” or bulges into the vagina – affects one in four women in their 40s and half of all women in their 80s, according to the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. The condition can cause serious discomfort and affect everything from a woman’s ability to work, exercise and control her bowel and bladder function. When treated, it can result in the resolution or minimization of symptoms.

ROBOTICS: MAKING MEDICINE BETTER Tuesday, January 30, 20240

ROBOTICS: MAKING MEDICINE BETTER

Robotic technology is being used in the operating room as a tool during surgery. The technology gives transplant surgeons additional flexibility, dexterity, articulation, visualization and stability, all of which are used to retrieve kidneys from living donors and transplant them into people in need of a new kidney. Pulmonologists rely on those same robotic qualities to perform biopsies of small tumors located deep inside the lungs.

A WATCHFUL EYE Tuesday, January 30, 20240

A WATCHFUL EYE

For the past six years, the Anesthesiology Control Tower (ACT) has provided a watchful eye over 60 operating rooms at Barnes-Jewish Hospital, serving nearly 1,000 patients per week. Like the air traffic control tower, the ACT provides additional sets of eyes to help anesthesia clinicians head off and troubleshoot rare but potentially life-threatening perioperative events that can occur unpredictably.

RESEARCH RESULTS: ASPIRIN AND HEART ATTACK Tuesday, January 30, 20240

RESEARCH RESULTS: ASPIRIN AND HEART ATTACK

For people who have experienced a heart attack or stroke, taking a daily aspirin has been shown to prevent a second one. Yet, despite aspirin’s low cost and its clear benefits in such scenarios, fewer than half of people worldwide who have had a heart attack or stroke take the medication, according to a new study led by researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and University of Michigan.

MAKING WAVES: HIGH-INTENSITY FOCUSED ULTRASOUND FOR ESSENTIAL TREMOR Tuesday, January 30, 20240

MAKING WAVES: HIGH-INTENSITY FOCUSED ULTRASOUND FOR ESSENTIAL TREMOR

More than 7 million people in the U.S. live with a movement disorder called essential tremor. Because essential tremor can make everyday tasks—shaving, writing, driving a car—difficult if not impossible, living with essential tremor presents significant challenges. Treatment for essential tremor includes medication, a surgical option called deep-brain stimulation and a newer, non-surgical therapy known as high-intensity focused ultrasound.

MUSIC THERAPY: GIVING WINGS TO THE MIND Tuesday, January 30, 20240

MUSIC THERAPY: GIVING WINGS TO THE MIND

Belief in the connection between music and the body and mind’s well-being dates back millennia, but the genesis of modern music therapy occurred after World War II, when physicians and nurses witnessed the positive emotional and physical response recovering veterans had to music. Since those observations were made, music therapy has developed into an accredited, allied health profession that uses interventions to address the physical, emotional, cognitive and social needs of groups or individuals.

PLATELET-RICH PLASMA THERAPY TREATS MILD ARTHRITIS Tuesday, January 30, 20240

PLATELET-RICH PLASMA THERAPY TREATS MILD ARTHRITIS

The platelets in our blood are best known as clotting agents, but they are great healing agents, too. Platelets don’t just clot. They also help structures to regrow and remodel. Washington University orthopedics specialists at Barnes-Jewish Hospital make the most of platelets’ healing qualities through platelet-rich plasma therapy. The best candidates for this procedure are people who have arthritis, especially mild arthritis.

HOUSING AS HEALTH CARE Monday, January 29, 20240

HOUSING AS HEALTH CARE

Living unhoused increases the risk for developing mental illness and infectious and non-infectious disease. Hospital to Housing employs a long-range, multi-pronged approach designed to help people with complex, interrelated needs find housing and achieve better health. From its pilot phase in 2019 to its current expansion phase, the program has helped more than 70 people.

LUNG TRANSPLANT: THE PATH TO 2,000 Monday, August 21, 20230

LUNG TRANSPLANT: THE PATH TO 2,000

Thirty-five years ago, specialists at Washington University School of Medicine and what was then Barnes Hospital played an integral role in advancing the new and developing field of lung transplantation. In January 2023, the Washington University and Barnes-Jewish Transplant Center performed its 2,000th lung transplantation. Here’s how it happened.

ONCOLOGY REPORT: WHY IS COLORECTAL CANCER AFFECTING YOUNGER ADULTS? Monday, August 21, 20230

ONCOLOGY REPORT: WHY IS COLORECTAL CANCER AFFECTING YOUNGER ADULTS?

Once considered a disease that primarily affected older adults, colorectal cancer no longer fits that description. Over the past two decades, the number of new cases of colorectal cancer in adults under the age of 50 in the United States and worldwide has increased dramatically. The National Cancer Institute now projects that by 2030 it will be the leading cause of cancer deaths in Americans between the ages of 20 and 49. Oncologists across the country are alarmed by this fairly recent trend—and they want you to take notice, too.

GUT BACTERIA AND BRAIN HEALTH Sunday, August 20, 20230

GUT BACTERIA AND BRAIN HEALTH

A growing pile of evidence indicates that the tens of trillions of microbes that normally live in our intestines—the so-called gut microbiome—have far-reaching effects on how our bodies function. Members of this microbial community produce vitamins, help us digest food, prevent the overgrowth of harmful bacteria and regulate the immune system, among other benefits. Now, a new study suggests that the gut microbiome also plays a key role in the health of our brains, according to researchers from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.

TREATING VENTRICULAR TACHYCARDIA Sunday, August 20, 20230

TREATING VENTRICULAR TACHYCARDIA

Every day, nearly 1,000 Americans die from sudden cardiac arrest, a catastrophic event in which the heart suddenly stops functioning. The most common cause of sudden cardiac arrest is a sustained, super-fast heart rhythm called ventricular tachycardia, commonly called V-tach. Among heart specialists, this condition is known as VT.

MAPPING LABOR CONTRACTIONS IN REAL TIME Sunday, August 20, 20230

MAPPING LABOR CONTRACTIONS IN REAL TIME

Building on imaging methods long used on the heart, researchers have developed a new technology that can produce 3D maps showing the magnitude and distribution of uterine contractions in real time and across the entire surface of the uterus during labor.

TREAT, RESEARCH, EDUCATE, REPEAT: INSIDE ACADEMIC MEDICINE’S VIRTUOUS CYCLE Friday, August 18, 20230

TREAT, RESEARCH, EDUCATE, REPEAT: INSIDE ACADEMIC MEDICINE’S VIRTUOUS CYCLE

Academic hospitals—those affiliated with major medical schools and dedicated not only to caring for patients but to research and training the next generation of physicians—make up just 5% of the 6,100 hospitals in the U.S., but they have a significant impact on the communities they serve. According to a study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), people who receive treatment at an academic hospital are up to 20% more likely to survive a complex illness than those treated at a non-academic hospital.

NEW TREATMENT FOR ADVANCED-STAGE PROSTATE CANCER Friday, August 18, 20230

NEW TREATMENT FOR ADVANCED-STAGE PROSTATE CANCER

Men with prostate cancer that has metastasized, spreading to other parts of the body, now have a new treatment option available to them that, though not lifesaving, can offer a better quality of life. Approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in 2022, a drug, called lutetium Lu 177 vipivotide, or Pluvicto, may be used in patients for whom other available treatments did not work or became ineffective.

COMPLEX SPINAL SURGERY: SMALLER INCISIONS, GREATER PRECISION Thursday, August 17, 20230

COMPLEX SPINAL SURGERY: SMALLER INCISIONS, GREATER PRECISION

Imagine surgeons performing surgery with the assistance of augmented reality glasses. Or doing complex, minimally invasive procedures through an incision smaller than your fingernail. These aren’t some-day scenarios; they represent the latest advancements in spine surgeries, making these procedures more precise while causing less damage to surrounding healthy muscle and tissue.

MENOPAUSE: A DIVERSE EXPERIENCE Monday, August 14, 20230

MENOPAUSE: A DIVERSE EXPERIENCE

Hot flashes. Night sweats. Irregular menstrual periods.

Black women approaching menopause may experience these symptoms—and others—for a decade before their menstrual cycles cease all together. White women, on average, experience menopausal symptoms for approximately 6½ years.

HOPE AND HEALING FOR EPILEPSY Monday, January 30, 20230

HOPE AND HEALING FOR EPILEPSY

Worldwide, some 50 million people live with epilepsy. They face increased risks of falls, car accidents, burns and more, potentially leading to significant injury or even death. Work being done at Washington University School of Medicine and Barnes-Jewish Hospital, and at other academic health-care systems across the U.S., is now giving people with epilepsy many options for decreasing the frequency or severity of their seizures, or even removing them from their lives altogether.

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