Improved Care for Kidney Patients Reduces Medicare Costs and Saves Taxpayers Money Apr 14, 2009
"Fistulas make a real, proven difference in the health of the patient. By providing a method of dialysis that is safer, longer lasting, and less likely to cause infection, fistulas are seen as the gold standard for vascular access," said Bradley. Fistulas reduce serious infections and complications leading to hospitalizations and mortality often associated with other forms of vascular access for kidney patients ... In addition, fistulas cost less to maintain than other forms of access and are... (PR Newswire)
Cte d'Ivoire: Fistula - Two-Hour Operation Corrects Decades-Long Affliction Apr 8, 2009
In the UNFPA centres - in the cities of Korhogo, Man and most recently Bouak; - services are free; the programme will continue as long as funding is available through the agency's Thematic Fund for Maternal Health, UNFPA gynaecologist Abou Pauline told IRIN. UNFPA is urging the Ministry of Health to maintain free care for women with fistulas ... In the Korhogo recovery room were three young women ages 17 to 18, whose fistulas were caused by difficult deliveries ... "Obstetric fistula is a... (allAfrica.com)
Sierra Leone Calling: CSU professor, ex-pupil help with childbirth Mar 30, 2009
A specially trained surgeon is needed to repair the fistulas. The center has a full-time urologist and surgeons from other countries volunteer their time. (Modesto Bee, CA)
Dialysis Via Fistulas May Help Young or Old Mar 17, 2009
FRIDAY, March 13 (HealthDay News) -- A new study finds that people with chronic kidney disease, whether young or old, respond equally well to dialysis done through arteriovenous (AV) fistulas, surgically created passageways between veins and arteries to help in the circulation of filtered blood. In calling AV fistulas the "gold standard of access for kidney dialysis patients," one of the study's authors said the findings show that the pathways last longer, require less repair work, and are... (MEDLINEplus)
Faulkner nurses heading to Africa to help women in Niger Feb 26, 2009
Mary White and Kathleen Scott, operating room nurses at Faulkner Hospital, will join a medical contingent to heal women in Niger suffering from vaginal and rectal fistulas. This will be the first trip for White and the fifth for Scott. (Rsolindale Parkway Transcript, MA)
DaVita Releases Top Clinical Priorities for 2009 Feb 24, 2009
DaVita along with the National Kidney Foundation (NKF), and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) consider fistulas the optimal type of access for dialysis. Research studies show fistula patients have the fewest complications, such as infection or clotting, compared to all other access choices. (PR Newswire)
After a devastating birth injury, hope Feb 24, 2009
The foundation had brought in two surgeons who would operate and teach doctors and nurses from different parts of Tanzania how to repair fistulas and care for patients afterward ... Speaking to doctors and nurses in a classroom at the hospital, Dr. Jeffrey Wilkinson, an expert on fistula repair from Duke University, noted that women with fistulas frequently became outcasts because of the odor ... Fistulas are a scourge of the poor, affecting two million women and girls, mostly in sub-Saharan... (International Herald Tribune)
New Therapy With Stem Cells To Treat Crohn's Disease Feb 22, 2009
Firstly, doctors choose to use corticosteroids and immunosuppressant and biological drugs to control the inflammatory process and prevent complications of the disease such as stenosis (narrowing of the intestinal lumen) or fistulas (openings from the intestinal lumen to other organs, such as the intestine, bladder, vagina, or skin). However, over the course of the disease, as much as 70% of severe patients require surgery to remove segments affected by the disease, due to failure of the... (Science Daily)
DaVita 4th Quarter 2008 Results Feb 11, 2009
DaVita, Inc. company logo. (PRNewsFoto) TORRANCE, CA USA. (PR Newswire)
Nature Clinical Practice Gastroenterology and Hepatology Feb 8, 2009
This Review discusses the pharmacological and surgical approaches for the treatment of fistulas in patients with Crohn's disease, including novel therapeutic approaches. Discussion of the epidemiology and pathology of fistulizing Crohn's disease is also provided. (Nature News Service)
Australia's Mother Teresa Mar 29, 2008
The injuries, called fistulas, are caused when a baby's head becomes stuck in the birth canal, sometimes for up to five days ... Women with fistulas are shunned by their husbands and families because of their smell, and are often forced to live in small huts away from others ... " The West's last dedicated fistula hospital closed its doors due to lack of need in New York in 1895. In Sweden, the government put a midwife in every town in 1876 and halved the maternal death rate within six months.... (Sydney Morning Herald -- World)
Nfocus Neuromedical Announces Acquisition of StarFire Medical Mar 7, 2008
The DSB is a silicone balloon which is used to treat neurovascular fistulas and aneurysms through endovascular (less-invasive catheter) techniques. The DSB can be navigated to the site of pathology, inflated and detached to produce a permanent embolization for symptomatic carotid-cavernous fistulas and for aneurysm treatment through parent vessel occlusion ... Current and future product programs are aimed at rapid treatment of aneurysms and fistulas in the brain. (PR Newswire)
Asian Women At Risk For Arterial Defect, Study Suggests Feb 12, 2008
A group of researchers in the Netherlands discovered that many people with congenital aneurismal fistulas share traits that may help doctors prevent attacks by identifying and treating patients at risk ... Published cases revealed that the left coronary artery is the most common origin of coronary artery fistulas ... The authors also learned from the literature that 19 percent to 26 percent of these fistulas have aneurysms, or weakening in the blood vessel wall. (Science Daily)
Practitioners of FGM to be jailed Jan 18, 2008
Other effects are deaths as a result of shock and bleeding, infections, fistulas, and damage to the baby's brain due to prolonged and difficult labour. Mrs Florence Ali, President of the Ghanaian Association for Women Welfare (GAWW), organizers of the workshop, said the practice took place in secluded areas in the Upper East, Upper West, Northern and Brong Ahafo and Volta Regions and that migrants from countries like Benin, Nigeria, Togo, Cote d'Ivoire and Niger practice FGM in Ghana. (Ghana Web, Ghana)
Putting Teeth Into Pet Health Care Jan 9, 2008
Oro-Nasal Fistulas: These are non-healing "tracks" that open up between the mouth and nose. Often, the dog will have sneezing fits that lead to a bleeding nose. (CBS News)
Rape a 'Weapon of War' Dec 26, 2007
SFVS - which arranges counseling, morning after pills and operations on injuries like fistulas, rips in the vaginal wall caused by rape - has helped thousands of rape victims including a ten-month old baby. Most are rural dwellers, attacked while they are working in the fields or fetching water but young boys have also fallen victim to the violence, with Masika's group documenting nearly 40 boys raped this year in North Kivu. (allAfrica.com)
Niger: Botched Birth Survivors Battle Fistula Dec 22, 2007
Ninety percent of the 380 women Dimol has treated for fistulas never finished school, and cannot read or write. Many of the other cases were caused by an obstructed labour which could have been prevented had the woman been given adequate and timely medical attention. (allAfrica.com)
Clinical studies show REMICADE reduces incidence of bowel surgeries in ulcerative colitis patients Oct 16, 2007
REMICADE is also indicated for reducing the number of draining enterocutaneous and rectovaginal fistulas and maintaining fistula closure in adult patients with fistulizing CD. In December 2004, REMICADE was approved for reducing signs and symptoms in patients with active AS. In May 2005, REMICADE was approved for reducing signs and symptoms of active arthritis in patients with PsA. Additionally, in September 2005, REMICADE was approved for reducing signs and symptoms, achieving clinical... (EurekAlert!)
Burkina Faso: Innovation And Education Needed to Head Off Water War Sep 15, 2007
In one village close to the border with Nigeria, women with fistulas were stopped from using water points because it was thought they would spread infection. In another village in the far north of the country, deep inside the desert, access to water points is being limited according to peoples' religion. (allAfrica.com)
US Data Highlight Encouraging Trends, 'Staggering' Costs Of End-stage Renal Disease Aug 14, 2007
"For example, improvements in survival expectations and increased use of fistulas for hemodialysis represent progress. In contrast, ever-increasing numbers of new patients with ESRD tend to suggest that preventive care and health policy practices have been less than optimal." ... The increased use of fistulas for dialysis access reduces problems associated with the use of grafts or catheters. (Science Daily)
Incontinence African scourge (Andy Zieminski) Jun 17, 2007
Carolyn B. Maloney, New York Democrat, said in a statement Friday, delivered in conjunction with a press conference presenting the new film "A Walk to Beautiful." The film, released by Engel Entertainment, chronicles the struggle of five Ethiopian girls and women with obstetric fistulas and each one's journey to the Addis Ababa Fistula Hospital, where they receive successful corrective surgery that costs as little as $300. One of the girls, a 17-year-old named Yenenesh, was pregnant at 13 and in... (Washington Times)
Remicade data in ankylosing spondylitis show improvement in spinal mobility and spinal inflammation Jun 15, 2007
REMICADE is also indicated for reducing the number of draining enterocutaneous and rectovaginal fistulas and maintaining fistula closure in patients with fistulizing CD. In December 2004, REMICADE was approved for reducing signs and symptoms in patients with active AS. In May 2005, REMICADE was approved for reducing signs and symptoms of active arthritis in patients with PsA. Additionally, in September 2005, REMICADE was approved for reducing signs and symptoms, achieving clinical remission and... (EurekAlert!)
New Prevention, Treatment Methods For Patients With Painful Bowel Inflammation May 24, 2007
Complex anal fistulas, abnormal connections between the anal canal and the skin, is a chronic and highly debilitating condition affecting primarily young people and seriously compromising their quality of life. Management of complex fistulas is a challenge due to the limitations of current treatments, such as surgery and biological therapies, which are not satisfactory ... This study found that the proportion of patients whose fistulas were healed was significantly higher with Cx401 (71%) than... (Science Daily)
SOS Hospital treating casualties of Mogadishu fighting Apr 25, 2007
Babies have been born there, sick children have been made well, many little ones have been vaccinated against common diseases and mothers and children have benefited from an emergency feeding programme run in cooperation with the EU. The surgical facilities have been used not only to deliver babies but also to rectify fistulas in young mothers, whose lives have been positively changed as a result of the surgery. It was truly a life saving place for many women and children (at no cost to them)... (AlertNet)
Full Frame shows a world of realities Apr 13, 2007
Lumo is taken to a hospital run by HEAL Africa in the town of Goma, near the border with Rwanda, where she and other patients are operated on and allowed to heal from their fistulas, which make the women incontinent. The filmmakers tell this story almost entirely through the daily dialogue of the patients, and a counselor's interview with Lumo, who has to undergo several unsuccessful surgeries before finally being healed. (Herald Sun)
Nfocus Neuromedical Inc. Raises Over $20 Million in Series B Financing Apr 4, 2007
Current and future product programs are aimed at rapid treatment of aneurysms and fistulas in the brain. Nfocus evolved from the recent merger between CardioVasc Inc. and Acta Vascular Systems Inc., two Silicon Valley start-ups in the field of interventional neuroradiology. (PR Newswire)
CardioVasc Acquires Acta Vascular Systems, Becomes Nfocus Neuromedical, Inc. Apr 4, 2007
For more information about brain aneurysms or hemorrhagic stroke see: and About Acta Vascular Systems, Inc. Acta Vascular is a privately held Silicon Valley start-up company founded by Thomas Ross in 2004 to bring established neurovascular technology from Europe to the US. The company's Goldvalve Detachable Balloon was one of the first endovascular treatment devices developed for fistulas, aneurysms and related conditions. Additional information about Acta Vascular is available at About... (PR Newswire)
Degrees in homeopathy slated as unscientific Mar 29, 2007
Alternative therapies are now a degree subject at some British universities. But do they deserve these credentials. (Nature News Service)
Bowel Disorders: IBS and IBD Mar 17, 2007
Lesions in Crohn s disease involve the presence of strictures, abscesses, and fistulas. Signs and symptoms in Irritable Bowel Syndrome. (Suite101.com)
Humira Approved for Crohn's Disease Mar 1, 2007
It may also cause unusual connections between the intestines and skin called fistulas. Most people with the disease are diagnosed between ages 15 and 35. (MEDLINEplus)
FDA approves new treatment for crohn's disease Feb 28, 2007
Crohn's disease is a chronic, incurable, inflammatory bowel disease that causes diarrhea, cramping and abdominal pain, and in some cases, abnormal connections (fistulas) leading from the intestine to the skin. "Humira has been shown to reduce signs and symptoms, and to induce and maintain clinical remission of Crohn's disease in patients who have had an inadequate response to conventional therapy, and in those patients who did not benefit from treatment, or who were intolerant to previous... (SpiritIndia)
