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Press Releases

The following is the press releases for the current year. Or you can search our Press Releases.

Jun 30, 2009 Protein Often Used in Spinal Fusion Surgery Associated With Higher Rate of Cervical Spine Complications, Greater Hospital Charges Bone-morphogenetic protein used in spinal fusion is found to be associated with a higher rate of complications in certain types of fusions.

Jun 29, 2009 Hypoglycemia During Hospitalization Linked to Higher Mortality Risk Hospitalized Diabetics who develop hypoglycemia have longer stays and higher risk of death

Jun 26, 2009 Hospitals Join Disability Community to Launch Initiative to Improve Access and Care for People with Disabilities In collaboration with Boston’s disability community and the Boston Center for Independent Living (BCIL), BWH and MGH have begun a comprehensive and landmark effort to improve access and care for people with disabilities.

Jun 23, 2009 Largest study of Vitamin D and Omega-3s set to begin soon at Brigham and Women's Hospital Researchers will collect data from 20,000 men and women throughout the U.S. on the effects of these supplements on the prevention of cancer and cardiovascular disease and the potential to reduce health disparities.

Jun 22, 2009 Total knee replacement is very cost-effective in the US Medicare-aged population High-volume health centers confer greater value per dollar spent compared to low-volume centers.

Jun 19, 2009 Using math to take the lag out of jet lag Researchers at Brigham and Women's Hospital and the University of Michigan have developed a software program that prescribes a regimen for avoiding jet lag using timed light exposure.

Jun 8, 2009 An Estimated 4 Percent of Older U.S. Men Have Dry Eye Disease Dry eye disease is common among American men older than 50 and increases with age, high blood pressure, benign prostate disease and the use of antidepressants, according to researchers at BWH.

Jun 4, 2009 Healthy, Older Men Live Longer With Aggressive Prostate Cancer Treatment Researchers at Brigham and Women’s Hospital (BWH), have found that older men, who are otherwise healthy, benefit from aggressive treatment for unfavorable-risk prostate cancer.

May 27, 2009 Elderly Who Feel Unsafe Are at Higher Risk for Mobility Disability Perceived neightborhood safety was found to affect the likelihood of elderly adults developing a mobility disability.

May 22, 2009 Healthcare Leader Dr. Gary Gottlieb Keynotes Commencement Dr. Gary L. Gottlieb, President of Brigham and Women’s Hospital, will be the keynote speaker at Bunker Hill Community College’s 35th commencement exercises, on Saturday, May 30.

May 13, 2009 Clues to How Blood Forms in Life’s Earliest Stages Researchers from Brigham and Women's Hospital and Children's Hospital Boston showed that shear stress increases the expression of master regulators of blood formation.

May 12, 2009 Brigham and Women’s/Faulkner Hospitals Highlighted in Healthcare Equality Index 2009 BW/F’s Leadership in Equal Treatment of LGBT Patients Highlighted in Human Rights Campaign Foundation & Gay & Lesbian Medical Association’s Index.

May 11, 2009 Gleason Score of 3+4 is not equal to 4+3 in Lethal Prostate Cancer Researchers at BWH have shown that Gleason score is a strong predictor of prostate cancer mortality and that mortality rates differ among patients with a Gleason score of seven depending on whether Gleason pattern four is primary or secondary.

Apr 28, 2009 Gene Therapy Shows Potential in Treating Diabetic Polyneuropathy Intramuscular injections of VEGF gene show promise for improving neuropathic symptoms in individuals with diabetic polyneuropathy.

Apr 27, 2009 Smokers Get Help with the Use of Electronic Health Record Researchers at Brigham and Women’s Hospital (BWH) have found that by enhancing the electronic health record, physicians were more likely to document a patient’s smoking habit and that access to cessation counseling was improved.

Apr 27, 2009 Electronic System Demonstrates Potential to Reduce the Risk of Adverse Drug Events The use of an electronic application and a revision to the medication reconciliation process can significantly decrease the number of potentially harmful medication discrepancies.

Apr 20, 2009 A More Direct Delivery of Cancer Drugs to Tumors Researchers at BWH engineer nanoparticles for targetted delivery of chemotherapeutic drugs.

Apr 13, 2009 Brigham and Women’s Hospital Supports National Healthcare Decisions Day BWH is participating in an effort to highlight the importance of advance healthcare decision-making—an effort that has culminated in the formal designation of April 16 as National Healthcare Decisions Day.

Apr 10, 2009 BWH Surgeons Perform Facial Transplant Brigham and Women’s Hospital (BWH) plastic surgery team, led by Dr. Bohdan Pomahac, performed a partial face transplant April 9, 2009, the second such procedure to be performed in the U.S.

Mar 31, 2009 Exposure to Traffic Pollution Linked to Increased Risk of Developing Rheumatoid Arthritis Researchers using data from the Nurses' Health Study found that women living nearer to major roadways had an increased risk of developing RA.

Mar 30, 2009 Lowering Levels of Both Cholesterol and Inflammation with Statin Therapy Significantly Improves Cardiovascular Outcomes New Data Presented at the American College of Cardiology's 58th Annual Scientific Session Demonstrating the Potential Benefits of Statin Therapy

Mar 29, 2009 New Data From JUPITER Trial Finds Statin Therapy Reduces Risk of Dangerous Blood Clots Participants in the landmark JUPITER trial who were taking a daily statin, cut the risk of blood clots in the veins overall by more than 40 percent.

Mar 23, 2009 New Needle Device Offers Potential Solution for Complicated Percutaneous Access Referencing an oil drill model, researchers from BWH created a needle that automatically stops when passing into cavity or tissue of lower density.

Mar 19, 2009 Analysis of Public Reporting of Risk and Mortality in Interventional Coronary Care Finds Certain Public Health Hazards Researchers at BWH find that current guidelines for reporting outcomes may dissuade doctors from caring for sickest patients.

Mar 16, 2009 Defibrillators may have little benefit for older heart failure patients with comorbidities Researchers at Brigham and Women’s Hospital (BWH) found that older people with comorbidities and those with multiple hospital admissions related to heart failure are unlikely to receive a meaningful survival benefit from implanted defibrillators.

Mar 2, 2009 Brigham and Women's Hospital Receives National Recognition for Surgical Outcomes The American College of Surgeons National Surgical Quality Improvement Program has recognized BWH as a hospital that has achieved exemplary outcomes for surgical patient care.

Mar 2, 2009 Potential Cause of Cardiovascular and Metabolic Risks of Shift Work Uncovered Researchers find a link between circadian misalignment and an increased risk of cardiovascular and metabolic consequences.

Feb 25, 2009 Guidelines for More Conservative Prescribing Practices A Commentary suggests a list of 25 guiding principles to help prescribers improve their effectiveness.

Feb 23, 2009 Vitamin B and Folic Acid May Reduce Risk of Age-Related Vision Loss New research from Brigham and Women’s Hospital finds that taking a combination of vitamins B6 and B12 and folic acid appears to decrease the risk of age-related macular degeneration in women.

Feb 19, 2009 Rosuvastatin Dramatically Reduces Common Stroke Among Apparently Healthy Men and Women with Low Cholesterol but Elevated C-Reactive Protein Levels In the landmark JUPITER trial of 17,802 patients, researchers from Brigham and Women’s Hospital (BWH) report that rosuvastatin reduces by nearly 50 percent the risk of stroke among individuals who had low levels of cholesterol.

Feb 18, 2009 Public Reporting of Pneumonia Antibiotic Timing Has Not Resulted in Adverse Effects In 2004, the Hospital Quality Alliance (HQA) began publicly reporting hospitals’ performance on 10 quality measures. Now, researchers at BWH, have studied the nationwide effects of one of the measures on patient care for the first time.

Feb 3, 2009 Higher Altitudes May Mean Longer Lifetime for Dialysis Patients The elevation at which a dialysis patient with end-stage renal disease resides may influence their lifespan.

Jan 27, 2009 Genetic Variant Linked to Development of Uterine Fibroids in White Women Genetic variant previously linked to decreased stature in white women is found to also indicate predisposition for the development of uterine fibroids.

Jan 20, 2009 Brigham and Women’s Hospital Earns Recognition as an AASM Comprehensive Academic Sleep Program of Distinction BWH is the second hospital in the country to be recognized as having a Comprehensive Academic Sleep Program of Distinction by the American Academy of Sleep Medicine.

Jan 14, 2009 Surgical Safety Checklist Drops Deaths and Complications by More Than One Third A pilot program conducted at hospitals in eight cities around the world has shown that the use of a simple surgical checklist during major operations can lower the incidence of deaths and complications by more than one third.

Jan 12, 2009 Small, Independent Primary Care Practices Not Ready for the Patient-Centered Medical Home Researchers at BWH found that small, independent primary care practices may find it challenging to qualify as a Patient-Centered Medical Home.