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Print2010 Health trends and technology
Technological advances, both large and small, in the healthcare field have improved our quality of life, from slowing the pace of aging to saving lives. Here's a look at some recent examples in Central Ohio.
Copyright 2010 Crestock
Brain stimulation
Dr. Ali Rezai, of the Ohio State University Medical Center, is one of the foremost practitioners of Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS), also known as neuromodulation.
DBS can be compared to a pacemaker for the brain, regulating electrical impulses that can cause a number of conditions, from Parkinson’s disease to epilepsy to severe addiction. Some uses for the treatment are still in FDA-required clinical trials, but Rezai uses the procedure every day to treat patients with movement problems.
“The brain controls the movement of all of your muscles, head to toe,” Rezai says. “Electricity is the language of the brain.”
In DBS, millimeter-thin electrodes are put deep into the brain. Along with a small power source implanted in the patient’s chest, the electrodes regulate the brain’s electrical impulses.
The device is used to treat Parkinson’s, in which patients experience uncontrolled movements, stiffness and rigidity. It’s also employed for essential tremor, a genetic condition in which people experience shaking of the extremities, and dystonia, a painful and debilitating condition that causes uncontrolled contraction of the muscles.
“Deep brain stimulation calms the electrical chaos in the brain,” Rezai says.
Rezai performed the procedure on a 7-year-old dystonia patient whose body was so twisted that he couldn’t walk. A year later, the boy was playing soccer, he says.
A Parkinson’s patient in his early 50s was so affected he couldn’t work or interact with his children, and he came to the point where he could do little more than crawl around his home. “After surgery, he did so well he ran a triathlon,” Rezai says. “This procedure gives patients a new lease in their quality of life.”
DBS already is used to treat movement disorders, depression and obsessive-compulsive disorder. FDA approval to use DBS in epilepsy treatment is expected in 2011, Rezai says. Alzheimer’s trials will start next year, as well. Rezai says be believes that trials to treat traumatic brain injury, severe addiction, eating disorders and autism also will prove successful.
Saving lives with robotics
While it sounds like science fiction, CyberKnife is a new technique used to perform life-saving procedures with pinpoint accuracy.
Douglas Widman, a radiation oncologist with Mount Carmel Health Systems, uses CyberKnife to treat cancer. The device, which is a remotely controlled robotic system, can be used to treat cancers of the prostate, lung, brain, spine, pancreas and kidney. The machine delivers radiation precisely, targeting just the cancer cells and sparing the surrounding healthy areas from being damaged.
“With CyberKnife, we can treat cancers we couldn’t have dreamed of treating before,” Widman says. For instance, a cancerous growth right against the optic nerve was difficult to treat because radiation of that nerve would cause permanent blindness. Doctors faced the same challenge with cancer occurring too near the spinal cord.
Because CyberKnife is so accurate, doctors can deliver much higher doses of radiation, leading to markedly shorter treatment times. Prostate cancer treatment typically calls for 44 low-dose treatments in eight weeks. With CyberKnife, treatment can be reduced to five occasions.
Dr. John Ryzenman of the Ohio Ear Institute uses CyberKnife to treat acoustic neuroma, a benign growth on the vestibular nerve in the ear. “A hundred years ago, this was a life-threatening tumor,” Ryzenman says. Today, the condition is treatable, thanks to modern technology.
Because there’s no pain associated with the condition, people might not pay much attention to the mild symptoms that accompany the growth—hearing loss or ringing in one ear. “If it grows large enough, it can compress the brain stem and affect the part of the brain that regulates breathing and movement,” he says.
But thanks to MRIs and other developments, the tumors now often are discovered when they’re tiny. The CyberKnife can be used to zap the tumor, halting its growth almost completely.
The CyberKnife frequently is used in tight spaces and next to delicate structures, so the machine’s ability to adapt is a huge advantage. Other radiosurgery technologies require that a frame be fastened to the patient’s body with screws. The frame outlines the area where the beams should go. CyberKnife requires no frame and makes adjustments as the patient shifts even a little, as happens with breathing.
“Sophisticated imaging is done throughout the course of treatment, and the machine automatically compensates for any movement,” Mount Carmel’s Widman says.
The machine uses up to 150 beams of radiation, delivered one at a time, to reach the cancer from every angle. Instead of a wide swath of radiation entering the body, the CyberKnife sends out pencil-sized beams.
Although the treatment time is dramatically lessened and dosages are much higher, patients experience the same sorts of side effects they would during a traditional course of treatment—and no more severe.
About the face
No one past the age of 21 relishes the idea of aging, especially if the process comes with wrinkles and age spots. A new chemical peel is working wonders in the field of aesthetics, receiving positive reviews from users.
At Aderma Skin Care Center, specialists work with patients to solve all sorts of skin care problems, and the SkinMedica Rejuvenize Peel is one of their most valuable tools. The process treats moderate to severe skin conditions, including acne, scarring, sun damage, fine lines and wrinkling. It also can be used to lessen the effects of melasma, which is caused by hyper-pigmentation.
Tamara Dohnert, a cosmetic nurse skin care specialist with Aderma, says the strength of the peel makes it highly successful. “It has a 70 percent higher concentration of acids than the other peels that we do here, so it is very effective in skin correction,” she says.
The solution is applied topically to the face, neck, chest or arms and takes 30 minutes to work. After effects are minimal, Dohnert says, with redness for four to six hours, but no real downtime. “You can return to work right away if needed,” she says.
Dohnert says she recommends clients use mineral-based makeup because of its therapeutic base. But whatever makeup a client generally uses can be applied the same day following the procedure. “You can also return to normal activities immediately, but we don’t recommend prolonged sun exposure for the first 24 hours,” she says.
The procedure costs between $150 and $250 and can be repeated every four weeks until the desired results are achieved.
According to SkinMedica, the manufacturer of the peel, a recent clinical trial showed that women ages 23 to 62 who received three consecutive peels reported good results, with 85 percent reporting more youthful skin and 90 percent reporting improved overall condition of skin.
Lovely legs
The face isn’t the only area that raises concerns when it comes to aging. Great legs can be a focal point, but varicose veins can ruin that image and even lead to health problems down the road.
Dr. Lucy LaPerna, a vascular medical specialist with Riverside Radiology, says varicose veins are a widespread problem, and she helps people get rid of these troublesome features. Varicose veins occur when there’s a problem with traffic flow in the vascular system. Blood that reaches the legs and should be returning to the heart and lungs for another trip around the body instead flows downward through faulty valves and pools in the lower half of the body.
While the problem can lead to increasingly poor circulation, ulcerating sores and scar tissue in the chronically swollen skin, symptoms start out small—swelling, fatigue, itching and leg heaviness among them.
And there are the veins that are close to the surface that can ruin all hopes of a great beach body. LaPerna says people from all walks of life can develop varicose veins. While age and obesity are indicators, some people are predisposed genetically to the condition, even if they’re young and thin.
It’s advantageous for aesthetic and medical reasons to remove the veins, but the process of vein stripping that used to be the only recourse was bloody and painful. Today’s methods are much simpler and have a shorter recovery time.
LaPerna uses endovenous laser ablation, an outpatient procedure in which a small catheter is fed into the vein, a laser is emitted and the vein essentially zapped out of existence.
“We basically coagulate the vein through the heat generated by the laser,” LaPerna says. The success rate is 96 percent or higher, with only minimal pain that requires some topical Lidocaine and an ice pack. There is sometimes a little bruising, but patients are back to 100 percent after about a week, LaPerna says.
Firming solutions
Some people, in spite of exercise and a healthy diet, are prone to cellulite—bumpy fat that can mar an otherwise lovely silhouette. Body wraps can lessen the appearance of cellulite, firming the skin and underlying tissues while flushing impurities out of the body.
Mother-daughter team Crystal Schlicher and Sandy Donalds own Allvera Body Wrap & Wellness Center, which offers body wraps using aloe vera as an important ingredient. Taken both internally and in topical form, the plant is reputed to relieve intestinal problems, alleviate blood sugar problems, reduce arthritic swelling and help in healing.
The process involves wrapping the body with stretchy strips of cloth that have been soaked in a solution that helps flush out toxins, soften skin and cause the body to shrink by inches. Schlicher says the experience is a comforting one. “Once they are wrapped, they relax in a reclining chair for 50 minutes listening to calming music,” she says. “Most fall asleep, but they are able to read, as well.”
“People feel extremely relaxed and refreshed,” Donalds says. “Once they find out [the number of] inches lost, they are thrilled with the results.”
“The results are permanent as long as they don’t gain weight,” Schlicher adds. “Clients can come as often as they would like. They just need one day in between. We recommend one to two times a week.”
The results of removing environmental toxins are positive, Donalds says. “Health and beauty begin on the inside of each one of us and toxins are one of the major causes of diseases and health issues,” she says. “Toxins drain us of our youthfulness and leave us feeling and looking much older than we actually are.”
Kristin Campbell is a freelance writer.
