Healthcare Solutions
Liver transplant program celebrates 25 years of care
Feb. 18, 2016—Twenty-five years ago, Julie Damon’s family was preparing to say their goodbyes. Comatose and on life support at Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC) with liver failure, the options for the 45-year-old wife and mother of two were slipping away.
Study leads to new heart transplant decision support tool
Feb. 18, 2016—Because donor organs are scarce, understanding the mortality risk associated with heart transplantation is an important consideration when evaluating patients for transplant.
VU Inside: Dr. William Fissell’s Artificial Kidney
Feb. 12, 2016—Vanderbilt University Medical Center nephrologist and Associate Professor of Medicine Dr. William Fissell IV is making major progress on a first-of-its kind device to free kidney patients from dialysis. He is building an artificial implantable kidney with microchip filters and living kidney cells that will be powered by a patient’s own heart.
Cardiologist Hood keeps patients’ best interests at heart
Feb. 11, 2016—When Rob Hood, M.D., began practicing cardiology 30 years ago he could not have imagined that fitness would one day be measured on a device worn around his wrist.
Transplant Center initiative seeks to boost cancer education
Feb. 11, 2016—Lindsay Ramsey Smith, MSN, R.N., a quality consultant for the Vanderbilt Transplant Center (VTC), recently uncovered some interesting data that sparked a center-wide improvement project.
Slight chemical change may improve TB treatments: study
Feb. 11, 2016—One small chemical change to an existing antibacterial drug results in a compound that is more effective against its target enzyme in tuberculosis, Vanderbilt researchers have discovered.
Study identifies potential colon cancer biomarker
Feb. 11, 2016—A protein that suppresses a key cancer pathway in the colon may be a potential biomarker for colitis-associated tumors, researchers at Vanderbilt University Medical Center reported last month in the journal Gut.
Prostate cancer survivors’ risk of heart disease studied
Feb. 4, 2016—The 3 million prostate cancer survivors in the United States are likely to die from something other than cancer, thanks to early detection, effective treatment and the disease’s slow progression.
VICC joins other major cancer centers in HPV vaccine campaign
Feb. 4, 2016—In response to low national vaccination rates for the human papillomavirus (HPV), Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center (VICC) has joined 68 of the nation’s other NCI-designated cancer centers in recommending increased HPV vaccination for the prevention of cancer.
Grant spurs research into trauma-induced vision loss
Feb. 4, 2016—Tonia Rex, Ph.D., and colleagues at the Vanderbilt Eye Institute are working to uncover how best to treat ocular trauma, the fourth leading cause of blindness worldwide.
Findings offer new insight on how cell division proteins work
Jan. 28, 2016—A family of proteins with critical roles in cell division, synaptic transmission and cell migration don’t all function the way scientists thought they did, according to two new studies led by Vanderbilt researchers.
Cochlear implant’s success is music to patient’s ears
Jan. 28, 2016—Sidney Kleinman is living proof that you’re never too old to have your hearing restored.