New data support ExAblate 2000 MRgFUS

GE Healthcare (Waukesha, Wisconsin) and InSightec (Tirat Carmel, Israel) said that new data show that the non-invasive ExAblate 2000 Magnetic Resonance-guided Focused Ultrasound (MRgFUS) system is more cost-effective than myomectomy or uterine artery embolization (UAE). The study appears in the January issue of the International Journal of Technology Assessment in Health Care.

ExAblate 2000 is currently used commercially as a treatment for symptomatic uterine fibroids. The ExAblate procedure takes about three to four hours and normally allows the patient to go home the same day and return to normal activities within a day or two.

Hysterectomy, the most common treatment for this condition, is a major surgery, requiring two to five days of hospitalization plus six to eight weeks of recovery, and generating significant complications. Many women have chosen to suffer from the severe symptoms that fibroids cause rather than undergo hysterectomies or other invasive procedures.

Journal reports on MRSA eradication

Two common strains of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, commonly known as MRSA, were virtually eradicated in the laboratory by exposing them to a wavelength of blue light, in a process called photo-irradiation that is described in a paper published online ahead of print in Photomedicine and Laser Surgery (New Rochelle, New York). The article will appear in the April 2009 issue (Volume 27, Number 2) of the peer-reviewed journal published by Mary Ann Liebert, Inc. The paper is available free online at www.liebertpub.com/pho

The authors report that the higher the dose of 470-nm blue light, the more bacteria were killed. High-dose photo-irradiation was able to destroy 90.4% of the US-300 colonies and the IS-853 colonies. The effectiveness of blue light in vitro suggests that it should also be effective in human cases of MRSA infection, and particularly in cutaneous and subcutaneous infections.

New glucose monitoring study published

Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute (CLSI; Wayne Pennsylvania) recently published Performance Metrics for Continuous Interstitial Glucose Monitoring; Approved Guideline (POCT05-A), which provides recommendations for methods for determining analytical and clinical metrics of continuous interstitial glucose monitors (CGMs).

CGMs are medical devices that measure glucose in the interstitial fluid just under the skin. CGM offer patients the potential of monitoring their glucose and managing insulin levels without repeated fingersticks. CGM technology has the potential to revolutionize diabetes management by providing real-time information not only about current glucose level, but also about time-dependent characteristics of glucose fluctuation, in particular about the short-term or instantaneous glucose rate and direction of change.

CLSI specializes in standards and guidelines for the healthcare and medical testing community.