Telemedicine services

Telemedicine services

SALEM

In September, Salem Regional Medical Center launched a pilot program with Akron Children’s Hospital Mahoning Valley to provide telemedicine services to enhance newborn care for premature or critically ill infants.

Telemedicine is the electronic exchange of medical information from one site to another to improve a patient’s clinical health status, and may include remote access to specialty physician consultations, patient monitoring and training resources.

The joint SRMC-Akron Children’s pilot program includes the use of a two-way video conferencing system via a high-speed network to link SRMC’s medical professionals with Akron Children’s neonatologists in coordinating a newborn’s care, said Brenda Bacon, New Beginnings unit director.

As part of the tele-newborn pilot project, Akron Children’s also will provide clinical education and training. If a transfer to Akron Children’s is needed, the neonatologist will help with the process of coordinating more urgent care for the critically ill or premature newborn, officials said.

Colorectal cancer and gene mutations

COLUMBUS

One in every six colorectal cancer patients diagnosed under 50 has at least one inherited genetic mutation that increases their cancer risk, and many of these mutations could go undetected with the current screening approach, according to initial data from a statewide colorectal cancer screening study conducted at The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center – Arthur G. James Cancer Hospital and Richard J. Solove Research Institute (OSUCCC – James).

In this new analysis, the OSUCCC – James team offers the first detailed report of the prevalence and spectrum of specific mutations in 25 genes associated with inherited cancer syndromes in an unselected series of colorectal cancer patients. The study includes data from 450 patients with early- onset colorectal cancer recruited from a network of hospitals throughout Ohio.

“The prevalence of hereditary cancer syndromes among early-onset colorectal cancer patients, including Lynch syndrome, was quite high, which presents a tremendous opportunity for us to save lives through early detection based on genomic risk factors. It is critical that people find out at a young age if they are genetically predisposed to cancer so they can take steps to prevent cancer from occurring at all,” says Heather Hampel, principal investigator and senior author of the paper.

To learn more about the statewide colorectal cancer screening initiative at the OSUCCC – James, visit cancer.osu.edu/OCCPI or call 888-329-1654. Patients diagnosed in Ohio from January 2013 to present may qualify to participate. The enrollment deadline is Saturday.

Study: Aspirin useful in cancer prevention

PORTLAND, ORE.

Researchers have outlined for the first time a key mechanism by which low-dose aspirin may inhibit cancer-cell proliferation and metastasis. Aspirin reduces the ability of blood platelets to raise the levels of a particular protein that can support malignant cells and allow them to survive and spread, scientists say.

It has long been known that low-dose, or “baby,” aspirin can have some benefits in protection against cardiovascular disease, and there’s increasing evidence it may be useful in cancer prevention as well – especially colon cancer.

Anyone considering use of low-dose aspirin should do so only in consultation with their physician, researchers said.

The research was published by scientists from Oregon Health & Science University and Oregon State University in AJP-Cell Physiology, with support from the National Institutes of Health, the American Heart Association and Altarum Institute.