Latest Children's Hospital Boston Stories

Clinicians document decreased costs, improved care BOSTON, May 6, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- A quality improvement platform developed at Boston Children's Hospital could help health care provider groups continuously improve their medical practice, curbing costs and improving patient outcomes. Successful outcomes associated with the platform, called Standardized Clinical Assessment and Management Plans (SCAMPs) and supported by a consortium of Massachusetts payers, are featured...

Focuses on female-specific treatment for injury prevention, exercise habits and hormonal balance BOSTON, April 3, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Boston Children's Hospital announces the Female Athlete Program, co-directed by Kathryn Ackerman, MD, MPH and Martha Murray, MD, both of the Sports Medicine Division. One of the only programs in the country of its kind, the Female Athlete Program combines sports medicine specialties to help pediatric and adult female athletes stay as healthy...

Promising compound may help protect babies during vulnerable window BOSTON, March 4, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The underdeveloped immune systems of newborns don't respond to most vaccines, leaving them at high risk for infections like rotavirus, pertussis (whooping cough) and pneumococcus. Researchers at Boston Children's Hospital have identified a potent compound that activates immune responses in newborns' white blood cells substantially better than anything previously...

--CHOP Cardiology Researchers Analyze Poor Growth in Children with Congenital Heart Disease-- PHILADELPHIA, Feb. 19, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The poor growth seen in children born with complex heart defects may result from factors beyond deficient nutrition. A new study by pediatric researchers suggests that abnormalities in overall growth regulation play a role. "When compared with their healthy peers, children with congenital heart disease have impaired growth, as measured...

Striking differences in 30-day readmission rates may inform prevention efforts BOSTON, Jan. 22, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Unintended hospital readmissions have become a key quality-of-care indicator, prompting penalties to adult hospitals with a high rate of patient readmissions within 30 days. Using national data, a study led by Boston Children's Hospital looked at readmission rates at dedicated pediatric hospitals and found great variability. Findings appear in the January...

Findings on heart muscle growth could lead to novel approaches for treating heart failure in children BOSTON, Jan. 10, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Researchers at Boston Children's Hospital have found, for the first time that young humans (infants, children and adolescents) are capable of generating new heart muscle cells. These findings refute the long-held belief that the human heart grows after birth exclusively by enlargement of existing cells, and raise the possibility...

Spinoff venture will develop genomic sequencing solutions utilizing Ion Torrent technology for clinical applications SAN FRANCISCO, Jan. 8, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Boston Children's Hospital has partnered with Life Technologies Corporation (NASDAQ: LIFE) to launch Claritas Genomics, a new company formed to develop next-generation, genetic and genomics-based diagnostic testing solutions. The venture combines advanced instrumentation, software and bioinformatics...

National study connects higher rates of relapse in pediatric cancer patients to drug shortage, offering first example of patients hurt by shortages and renewing calls to protect patient access to lifesaving treatments MEMPHIS, Tenn., Dec. 26, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- A national drug shortage has been linked to a higher rate of relapse among children, teenagers and young adults with Hodgkin lymphoma enrolled in a national clinical trial, according to research led by St. Jude...

A combination of three blood-borne proteins may bolster efforts to prevent graft loss years after transplant BOSTON, Dec. 26, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Researchers at Boston Children's Hospital have found a combination of biomarkers related to blood vessel and tissue injury that, when measured together, could signal when a transplanted heart is becoming damaged to the point of failure, a process that is often undetected. The markers would give doctors an opportunity to...

Proteins found in urine may enable diagnosis of Kawasaki disease BOSTON, Dec. 20, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- A set of proteins detected in urine by researchers at Boston Children's Hospital may prove to be the first biomarkers for Kawasaki disease, an uncommon but increasingly prevalent disease which causes inflammation of blood vessels that can lead to enlarged coronary arteries and even heart attacks in some children. If validated in more patients with Kawasaki disease, the...