Originally published August 27, 2012 at 4:42 PM | Page modified August 27, 2012 at 4:42 PM Group Health Cooperative has settled a class-action lawsuit by agreeing to cover behavioral-health treatment for autism, an important moment and model for other Washington insurers. Indeed, the state Health Care Authority followed with its partial settlement of a class-action lawsuit, agreeing to cover intensive early-intervention behavior therapy for children with autism-spectrum disorders whose parents have health insurance through the state's Uniform Medical Plan. Coverage for Medicaid patients is also close to an agreement. Convincing insurers to pay for neurodevelopmental and behavioral therapies used to treat this range of clinical conditions is a huge step that ought not be downplayed. These therapies can produce dramatic improvements in children with autism, allowing them to attend school and participate in mainstream activities. Therapeutic costs can easily run families tens of thousands of dollars a year. Washington's mental-health parity law requires coverage for neurodevelopmental and behavioral therapies. That's considerable leverage, but it did not stop insurers from excluding the therapies. Adding to families' challenge in getting coverage is the debate over whether certain treatments are medical, and covered by insurance, or educational, and thus falling under the … Continue reading →

Editor's Choice Main Category: Autism Also Included In: Mental Health Article Date: 27 Aug 2012 - 11:00 PDT Current ratings for: Autism Treatment Options For Adolescents Are Not Supported By Evidence Melissa McPheeters, Ph.D., M.P.H., director of Vanderbilt's Evidence-Based Practice Center and senior author of the report published by the Department of Health and Human Services' Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) commented: "Overall, there is very little evidence in all areas of care for adolescents and young adults with autism, and it is urgent that more rigorous studies be developed and conducted." Zachary Warren, Ph.D., director of the Vanderbilt Kennedy Center's Treatment and Research Institute for Autism Spectrum Disorders added: The researchers analyzed over 4,500 studies and re-evaluated 32 on methods of treatment for autism patients aged 13 to 30 - they were all published between January 1980 and December 2011. Results of the study showed some evidence supporting the effectiveness of treatments in improving social skills and how the patients performed educationally in areas such as reading and vocabulary. However, these investigations were small and were not followed up. Medical interventions were found to have a lack of supporting evidence in terms of effectiveness in treating young … Continue reading →

ScienceDaily (Aug. 27, 2012) Vanderbilt University researchers studying interventions for adolescents and young adults with autism are reporting that there is insufficient evidence to support findings, good or bad, for the therapies currently used. Although the prevalence of autism is on the rise, much remains to be discovered when it comes to interventions for this population, the researchers concluded. "Overall, there is very little evidence in all areas of care for adolescents and young adults with autism, and it is urgent that more rigorous studies be developed and conducted," said Melissa McPheeters, Ph.D., M.P.H., director of Vanderbilt's Evidence-Based Practice Center and senior author of the report, a systematic review of therapies published by the Department of Health and Human Services' Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ). Zachary Warren, Ph.D., director of the Vanderbilt Kennedy Center's Treatment and Research Institute for Autism Spectrum Disorders, said, "There are growing numbers of adolescents and adults with autism in need of substantial support. Without a stronger evidence base, it is very hard to know which interventions will yield the most meaningful outcomes for individuals with autism and their families." Key findings: The researchers systematically screened more than 4,500 studies and reviewed the 32 … Continue reading →

ScienceDaily (Aug. 27, 2012) Patients who resume smoking after a stroke increase their risk of death by three-fold, according to research presented at ESC Congress 2012 by Professor Furio Colivicchi from San Filippo Neri Hospital. The researchers also found that the earlier patients resume smoking, the greater their risk of death with one year. "It is well established that smoking increases the risk of having a stroke," said Professor Colivicchi. "Quitting smoking after an acute ischemic stroke may be more effective than any medication in reducing the risk of further adverse events. However, on the other hand, our study shows that stroke patients resuming active smoking after leaving the hospital can raise their risk of dying by as much as three-fold." The purpose of the study was to gauge the effects of resuming smoking after a stroke, and to see how many patients are likely to relapse. Cardiologists from S. Filippo Neri Hospital in Rome, in collaboration with neurologists from the Santa Lucia Foundation of Rome, tracked 921 patients (584 men and 337 women, mean age 67 16 years) who reported being regular smokers before they were hospitalized with acute ischemic stroke. All patients ceased smoking while in the hospital … Continue reading →

Public release date: 26-Aug-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ] Contact: ESC Press Office press@escardio.org 33-049-294-8627 European Society of Cardiology Munich, Germany Female gender increases the risk of stroke in patients with atrial fibrillation (AF) aged >75 years by 20%, according to a study presented today at the ESC Congress 2012. The findings were presented by Anders Mikkelsen, from Denmark. The results suggest that female gender should not be included as an independent stroke/thromboembolism (TE) risk factor in guidelines or risk stratification schemes used in treatment of patients with atrial fibrillation. The increased risk of stroke and TE in patients with atrial fibrillation depends on additional risk factors, and female sex has been suggested as one such risk factor. The 2010 ESC Guidelines for the management of atrial fibrillation consider female gender a minor risk factor for stroke/TE, and recommend oral anticoagulants for females … Continue reading →

ScienceDaily (Aug. 27, 2012) Successive, vigorous bouts of leg compressions following a stroke appear to trigger natural protective mechanisms that reduce damage, researchers report. Compressing then releasing the leg for several five-minute intervals used in conjunction with the clot-buster tPA, essentially doubles efficacy, said Dr. David Hess, a stroke specialist who chairs the Medical College of Georgia Department of Neurology at Georgia Health Sciences University. "This is potentially a very cheap, usable and safe -- other than the temporary discomfort -- therapy for stroke," said Hess, an author of the study in the journal Stroke. The compressions can be administered with a blood pressure cuff in the emergency room during preparation for tPA, or tissue plasminogen activator, currently the only Food and Drug Administration-approved stroke therapy. "Much like preparation to run a marathon, you are getting yourself ready, you are conditioning your body to survive a stroke," Hess said of a technique that could also be used in an ambulance or at a small, rural hospital. For the studies Dr. Nasrul Hoda, an MCG research scientist and the study's corresponding author, developed an animal model with a clot in the internal carotid artery, the most common cause of stroke. The … Continue reading →

28 August 2012 | last updated at 12:15AM The first-time mother can hardly hold her son with both hands as she is partially disabled on the left-side of her body, the result of a stroke that happened just hours after delivering El-Rizqy. I remember I had a fever, but I was still excited and wanted to hold and feed my baby. The next thing I knew, I was paralysed and had partial vision loss, she says. I was diagnosed with an ischaemic stroke that resulted from a blood clot in the right-side of my brain. I had a healthy pregnancy and I was never in the high risk group. Even today, I am still undergoing various tests to ascertain the cause of my condition. Emilzunnur was bedridden for three weeks at the hospital after the attack. In the beginning, she felt angry and hopeless and could not accept her fate. She was only 29 then. She recalls: I was crying and emotional all the time. I felt ashamed because I had to depend on others to do things for me, including bathing and putting on clothes. Besides going for physiotherapy treatments, I spent most of my time at home because … Continue reading →

Featured Article Academic Journal Main Category: Stroke Also Included In: Medical Devices / Diagnostics;Neurology / Neuroscience Article Date: 27 Aug 2012 - 2:00 PDT Current ratings for: New Mechanical Clot-Remover Highly Effective In Stroke Trial 5 (1 votes) 4.5 (2 votes) Stroke, where blood supply to the brain becomes restricted, is the fourth leading cause of death in the United States, and is also a common cause of long-term disability. The loss of blood supply leaves tissue starved of oxygen and vital nutrients, and if not restored quickly, the tissue dies off, causing loss of brain function. Doctors don't have many tools to deal effectively with strokes, nearly 90% of which are caused by a blood clot. The most-researched treatment approved in the US is a clot-buster known as tissue plasminogen activator, but this drug has to be given within a small time window of 4.5 hours from the start of the stroke, and the window is even smaller in older patients. If clot-busting drugs are ruled out, then the other option is mechanical retrieval (mechanical thrombectomy), for which the standard treatment uses the Merci Retrieval System. Lead author Jeffrey L. Saver, director of the University of California - Los … Continue reading →

Researchers believe using small nets to extract blood clots from patients brains may be a feasible alternatives to drugs in the future, BBC News reported. When people suffer strokes, clots block blood vessels and starve parts of the brain of vital oxygen, which can lead to various symptoms, including paralysis and loss of speech. Current methods to treat stroke involve using either clot-busting drugs, which must be administered within the first few hours, or pulling the clot out with a coil passed up through the groin. The new method, on the other hand, uses a tiny wire cage instead of a coil, according to the BBC. The cage pushes the clot against the walls of the artery and traps it in the wires. Doctors then can pull the clot back out of the groin. In a clinical trial of 113 patients, 58 percent of those treated with the cage had good brain function after three months, compared to 33 percent treated with the coil. A separate study of 178 patients showed those treated with the cage had nearly double the chance of living independently after treatment. In the future, the cage method may be used as alternative to clot-busting drugs, … Continue reading →