Latest Thoracic diaphragm Stories

SHREWSBURY, N.J., April 23, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Kurt Matthewson went out for his typical run one morning, and quite suddenly, felt shortness of breath and was unable to continue. When the problem persisted he went to a specialist, who administered tests revealing the left side of Matthewson's diaphragm was not functioning due to damage to his phrenic nerve, the nerve that controls function of the diaphragm muscle. The diaphragm muscle is the primary muscle involved in breathing....

SHREWSBURY, N.J., Oct. 16, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Imagine a 12-year-old boy's greatest joy is to take deep breaths for the first time in nearly half his life. That's the case with Tristan Loitz, from Fairbanks, Alaska, who made the trip for groundbreaking phrenic nerve surgery with Dr. Matthew Kaufman of The Institute for Advanced Reconstruction in Shrewsbury, New Jersey. For Kaufman, reconstructive plastic specialist and the only known surgeon to perform phrenic nerve surgery,...

Dr. Kaufman's groundbreaking work with phrenic nerve surgery in pediatric cases to be featured at the prestigious annual congress NEPTUNE, N.J., Aug. 1, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Dr. Matthew Kaufman of the Center for Treatment of Paralysis and Reconstructive Nerve Surgery at Jersey Shore University Medical Center has been selected to speak at the European Respiratory Society's (ERS) annual congress, taking place from September 1st - 5th, 2012 in Vienna, Austria. Dr. Kaufman's...

MPM caused by exposure to asbestos; latest in IASLC's Journal of Thoracic Oncology Patients with early stage malignant pleural mesothelioma (MPM), a cancer that develops in the lining of the lungs, may be eligible for aggressive multi-modality therapy involving surgery, radiotherapy and chemotherapy. There are two main approaches, and controversy has existed about which approach is superior. One is called extrapleural pnemonectomy (EPP), a very extensive surgery where surgeons remove the...

Treatment with the calcium-sensitizing drug levosimendan may be effective in improving muscle function in patients with respiratory muscle weakness, which often accompanies chronic diseases such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and congestive heart failure, according to researchers in the Netherlands, who studied the effects of the drug on healthy volunteers. The drug, which is normally prescribed in patients with acute heart failure, increases the sensitivity of muscle tissue...

BLUE ISLAND, Ill., July 13, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Chronic reflux patients who also suffer from large hiatal hernias can now get relief in just one visit to the operating room. MetroSouth Medical Center general surgeon Felipe Gracias, MD, Palos Park, is the first physician in Illinois to treat both conditions using a combination of laparoscopic surgery for the hiatal hernia, and an incisionless procedure using an endoscope through the mouth to treat the reflux. In the past, patients with...

CLEVELAND, Oct. 8 /PRNewswire/ -- Synapse Biomedical Inc. announces today that they have received the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) designation of the NeuRx Diaphragm Pacing System (DPS)(TM) as a Humanitarian Use Device (HUD) for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) patients with a stimulatable diaphragm who are experiencing chronic hypoventilation and has now submitted for Humanitarian Device Exemption (HDE) approval. (Logo:...

Physicians at UT Southwestern Medical Center soon will begin implanting a new device designed to improve breathing in patients with upper spinal-cord injuries or other diseases that keep them from breathing independently.UT Southwestern University Hospital "“ St. Paul is only one of only two sites in Texas and one of 25 in the country currently equipped to implant the device, called the NeuRx Diaphragm Pacing System.The device is designed to give patients more freedom and to help slow...

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced Wednesday it had approved a medical device that allows people to breathe without a ventilator.  The implantable device, called the NeuRx DPS RA/4 Respiratory Stimulation System, was tested about five years ago on actor Christopher Reeves.Developed by Oberlin, Ohio-based Synapse Biomedical Inc., the device provides electrical stimulation of the muscles and nerves in the diaphragm, allowing spinal cord injury patients to breathe for at...

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved a device that stimulates the diaphragm and allows some people to breathe without a mechanical ventilator. The FDA said the NeuRx DPS RA/4 Respiratory Stimulation System, an implantable electronic device, is used by certain spinal cord injury patients to breathe for at least four hours a day without a ventilator. Spinal cord injuries can cause paralysis, which can impact the muscles of the chest and abdomen, including the diaphragm -- the...