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Match Devan Tatlow’s Bone Marrow, Save His Life

Four-year-old Devan Tatlow’s struggle with leukemia has caused quite a stir on the Internet, prompting celebs like Paris Hilton and Kim Kardashian to encourage people to donate their bone marrow. Dr. Jon LaPook talks with Devan’s family about their search for a match.


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Umbilical Cord Blood: Save It and Save Lives

Imagine throwing a lifesaving treatment in the garbage. That’s exactly what happens in the United States over ten thousand times a day because we do not routinely offer to collect precious umbilical cord blood at the time of birth. Thousands of Americans — many of them children — needlessly die annually because they cannot find either a bone marrow or umbilical cord blood match to help treat conditions like lymphoma and leukemia. Yet umbilical blood is discarded as medical waste in the vast majority of the more than four million births occurring each year. Read more »

Medical Devices: Spell “Stromuhr,” Win The Spelling Championship

gtj5ly7i.jpgThey seem to like medical devices in the high stakes world of spelling championships. Anamika Veeramani, from Cleveland, Ohio, won the Scripps National Spelling Bee this weekend by spelling “stromuhr,” a rheometer designed to measure the amount and speed of blood flow through an artery.

Don’t feel bad — we’d never heard of it before either, and we’re supposed to be experts in this stuff. Education never ends…

Merriam-Webster: Stromuhr

London Science Museum: Ludwig-type stromuhr, London, England, 1920-1940

Press release: National Spelling Bee: A Spawning Ground for Future Physicians and Obscure Diseases

*This blog post was originally published at Medgadget*

What’s Sexier Than Compression Stockings?

Compression stockings are cool ... right?  :pThanks to the happy combination of Factor V Leiden and being pregnant, I’m rocking a higher chance than average for a blood clot while traveling.  Back in October, when I was just a few months along, a lot of my travel was on the Acela, cruising back and forth between Boston and Philly, in addition to some flights.  So I needed to take these clotting risks into account.

“You’re telling me I should pick up some compression stockings, then?”  I asked my obstetrician, after we had discussed my upcoming travel plans. Read more »

*This blog post was originally published at Six Until Me.*

A 32-Year-Old Had A Stroke: Could It Happen To You?

The Shermans

Deanna and Rebecca Sherman

As many as 15% of Americans have a blood disorder (called anti-phospholipid antibody syndrome – APS) that can increase their risk for blood clots and stroke. While these antibodies are especially common in people with certain auto-immune diseases like SLE (systemic lupus erethematosis – or “lupus”) quite a few people have them without ever knowing it. In fact, most people with APS remain asymptomatic their entire lives – but for an unlucky few, the disorder can cause devastating consequences.

I interviewed Rebecca Sherman about her recent stroke caused by APS. Listen to the podcast here.

Dr. Val: Tell me about the events leading up to your stroke.

Sherman: I was a young, healthy 32-year-old with no idea that I had anti-phospholipid antibodies in my blood. One morning when I was washing my face at my boyfriend’s house I suddenly noticed that one side of it was frozen. I was standing in front of the bathroom sink and I fell to the floor with the washcloth in my hand. I couldn’t walk or talk – the whole right side of my body didn’t do what I wanted it to do. So I threw the washcloth at my boyfriend’s head (with my left hand). Luckily my aim was good (he was asleep in bed) and the bed was near the door to the bathroom –  the cold, wet object caused him to jump out of bed and find me. Read more »

Blood Transfusions: Can Blood Get "Stale" In The Blood Bank?

I was intrigued by a news story all over the wires today and yesterday – that blood transfusions may do more harm than good. Over 4.5 million Americans receive blood transfusions for one reason or another each year in the US. Two new studies have been published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, suggesting that blood can get “stale” much sooner than we think. Although we’ve known for a while that blood transfusions should be given only when critically needed, this news is interesting in that it may explain why blood transfusions are not a panacea.

Blood contains nitric oxide – a gas that is used as a signaling molecule in humans. It can trigger the relaxation of blood vessel walls, which is important in getting blood flow and oxygen to areas of the body that need it. Nitric oxide exists in small amounts in the bloodstream, but it can evaporate rapidly once outside the body (such as in a transfusion bag). So the question is: how critical is it to have nitric oxide dissolved in the blood given via transfusion?

The Red Cross keeps blood for up to 42 days after it is donated (though nitric oxide depletion may occur within hours) and will continue to do so until it is clearly shown that the expiration dates should be shortened. Further research is underway to test whether or not infusing nitric oxide back into blood is a viable option to improve its ability to oxygenate the recipient. It’s not easy to do this, since nitric oxide is a very tricky gas that can become a free radical or an acid in the presence of certain oxygen species. So the exact proportion of nitric oxide is critical – a little does just the right thing, but too much can be harmful or even fatal – which is probably why we haven’t tested this in humans yet, only dogs.

Still, many have high hopes for adding nitric oxide to the blood supply – Dr. Jonathan Stamler of Duke University appears to have applied for more than 50 nitric oxide associated patents and, not surprisingly, is taking the lead on various research studies, including the two new ones mentioned in my first paragraph.

My personal take on this? Blood transfusions are a serious treatment that can save lives, but should not be given willy nilly to “boost” people’s hematocrits.  I’ve witnessed physicians giving their patients an extra unit of blood “just to perk them up a bit” prior to discharge from the hospital. That behavior is not safe or appropriate. So before you undergo a blood transfusion, make sure you really need one. Until we figure out how to replace nitric oxide safely in the blood supply, the life-saving potential benefits of a transfusion must outweigh the risks of stroke and heart attack from nitric oxide-depleted blood.This post originally appeared on Dr. Val’s blog at RevolutionHealth.com.

Latest Interviews

IDEA Labs: Medical Students Take The Lead In Healthcare Innovation

It’s no secret that doctors are disappointed with the way that the U.S. healthcare system is evolving. Most feel helpless about improving their work conditions or solving technical problems in patient care. Fortunately one young medical student was undeterred by the mountain of disappointment carried by his senior clinician mentors…

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How To Be A Successful Patient: Young Doctors Offer Some Advice

I am proud to be a part of the American Resident Project an initiative that promotes the writing of medical students residents and new physicians as they explore ideas for transforming American health care delivery. I recently had the opportunity to interview three of the writing fellows about how to…

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Latest Book Reviews

Book Review: Is Empathy Learned By Faking It Till It’s Real?

I m often asked to do book reviews on my blog and I rarely agree to them. This is because it takes me a long time to read a book and then if I don t enjoy it I figure the author would rather me remain silent than publish my…

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The Spirit Of The Place: Samuel Shem’s New Book May Depress You

When I was in medical school I read Samuel Shem s House Of God as a right of passage. At the time I found it to be a cynical yet eerily accurate portrayal of the underbelly of academic medicine. I gained comfort from its gallows humor and it made me…

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Eat To Save Your Life: Another Half-True Diet Book

I am hesitant to review diet books because they are so often a tangled mess of fact and fiction. Teasing out their truth from falsehood is about as exhausting as delousing a long-haired elementary school student. However after being approached by the authors’ PR agency with the promise of a…

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