Letter from Ivanhoe's President

Knowing Your Options

     For any of you looking for birthday gifts or presents for another special occasion, the biggest hit in my family this Christmas was a painting of my sister’s Border Collie, ABBA, by Katelynn Overton. I also got one done of my business partner Bette’s new German Shepherd puppy, Mia. All it took was e-mailing pictures on my iPhone to Katelynn and she expertly captured these young dogs in all their glory. If you’re interested, e-mail Katelynn for a list of her prices. Part of each sale goes to help her sister, Stacie, pay for her diabetes alert dog, Grace.

     Watch our Medical Headline Videos:

• For the first time ever, there may be a definitive way to determine bio-markers to diagnose post-traumatic stress disorder, according to Brian Engdahl, Ph.D., a psychologist at the VA Medical Center’s Brain Sciences Center in Minneapolis. Take a look at “Brain Scans for PTSD” where researchers at the VA and at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center are collaborating on a year-long study of magnetoencephalography (MEG) to see PTSD, so they can then treat it quickly and track responses to treatment.

• We gave you a preview of this story a few months ago, and now here’s the complete report from Vanderbilt University Medical Center on the woman whose life was saved after she was decapitated internally from a car accident. Watch “Decapitated but not Dead!” to see how Matthew McGirt, M.D. and other doctors performed a 30-hour surgery which had the patient up and walking after just three days.

• For the 25 million people who deal with GERD every day, Dr. Miguel Burch at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center is offering relief with a new medical “sewing machine” approach. See “Getting Rid of GERD” about this innovative procedure which, in a three-year clinical trial, had 80-percent of the patients off their daily anti-acid medication and able to eat more types of food. Anything that can get you off medication has a lot to recommend it!

     This week’s In-Depth Doctor’s Interview is with Julie Kanter, M.D., Director of Sickle Cell Center of Southern Louisiana and Interim Director of Pediatric Bone Marrow Transplant at Tulane University School of Medicine, who discusses a successful bone marrow transplant done for a young patient with both sickle cell disease and lupus, which also reversed the organ dysfunction in her kidneys. In our story from Ohio State University Medical Center, Dr. Michael Miller talks about breast reconstruction options that many women don’t know about, including getting immediate reconstruction at the same time as a mastectomy. Dr. Miller emphasizes how important it is for women to be aware of their choices, since recent studies show that 70-percent of women eligible for breast reconstruction are not informed of their options.

     In case you missed them, you may want to check our past reports, Premium Content in Archives Heart with a Hole Saves Little Girl or Premium Content in Archives Vitamin D Deficiency and Type 2 Diabetes. Premium Content in the Archives may be purchased for as little as $9 for 24-hour, unlimited access. If you would like to access Premium Content for the first time click here.

     Finally, do you get drowsy when you eat? In our story, “Be ‘Pre’ Pared: Prediabetes Red Flags,” feeling tired upon eating may be a possible sign of prediabetes. A study from Northwestern University projects that in the next eight years, 77-percent of men and 53-percent of women will have diabetes or prediabetes, so make sure you read this story to learn about the warning signs and what you can do to prevent or delay diabetes by 60-percent.

January 9, 2012

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