A patient’s genetic makeup may explain the “placebo effect,” in which people perceive that a fake treatment makes them feel better, according to a study that may help researchers design better clinical trials. Kathryn Hall, HMS research fellow in medicine at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, is the lead author. Ted Kaptchuk, HMS associate professor of medicine at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, is also an author of the study.
Israel-based Neuronix, which has developed a non-invasive medical device to help to treat Alzheimer’s disease, expects the system to be approved by the U.S. Food & Drug Administration in late 2014. Alvaro Pascual-Leone, HMS professor of neurology at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, is leading a trial of the system.
Aspirin, one of the world’s oldest and cheapest drugs, has shown remarkable promise in treating colon cancer in people with mutations in a gene that’s thought to play a role in the disease. Among patients with the mutations, those who regularly took aspirin lived longer than those who didn’t, a major study found. Andrew Chan, HMS associate professor of medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital, led the study.
A majority of patients with advanced lung and colorectal cancer harbor the fundamental misperception that treatments that can extend life and alleviate pain might also cure them, according to a new study. Jane Weeks, HMS professor of medicine at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, led the team. Deborah Schrag, HMS associate professor of medicine at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, is a co-author. David Ryan, HMS associate professor of medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital, is also quoted.
An HMS-affiliated hospital is backing away from its decision to promote a paper linking the artificial sweetener aspartame and cancer, now saying the evidence was “weak.”
Ravi Parikh, a fourth-year student at HMS, was a guest on Radio Boston to discuss Question 2, the Mass. ballot question about physician-assisted suicide.
Knee replacement surgeries are skyrocketing. A new study highlights the role of communication and shared decision-making between doctors and patients in determining who gets knee replacements and other elective procedures. Elena Losina, HMS associate professor of orthopedic surgery and Jeffrey Katz, HMS professor of medicine, both of Brigham and Women’s Hospital; and Karen Sepucha, HMS assistant professor of medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital, are quoted.
Seventy-five Massachusetts doctors, hospital facilities, eye clinics, and rehabilitation centers received drugs in recent months produced by the New England Compounding Center, the Framingham pharmacy under investigation for producing tainted injections linked to nearly 300 cases of fungal meningitis in 16 states, and 23 deaths, the US Food and Drug Administration said. Several HMS-affiliated hospitals are on the list.
