'treatment' posts

The last 20 years have held significant gains for people living with multiple sclerosis (MS). Thanks to new studies and a full pipeline of those to come, our understanding of the disease and promises for future remedies grows rapidly.

Dr. James Bowen, Medical Director and neurologist at the MS Center at Swedish, wrote an article on this progress n Scientific American MIND. "Solving the Mystery of MS" unpacks the history of MS treatments, from breakthrough treatments to rethinking the disease origin, and offers a comprehensive view of what we know now as well as what lays ahead.

The recommended daily intake of dietary fiber is 25-35 grams per day. Despite this, the average American consumes about 15 grams of fiber per day. You may have heard fiber is important, but read on to learn more about why it matters in your diet.

What is fiber?

Fiber is the portion of plants that is not digested in the gastrointestinal tract. Therefore, it stays in the intestine, aiding in digestion and contributing to stool consistency. Dietary fiber is categorized into soluble fiber and insoluble fiber.

• Sources of soluble fiber: fruits, legumes, oats, and barley
• Sources of insoluble fiber: wheat, rye, grains, and many vegetables

What are the health effects of fiber?

• Decreased risk of coronary artery disease and stroke. This is the leading cause of death in the United States and a diet high in soluble fiber decreases this risk by 40-50%.
• Decreased risk of type 2 diabetes mellitus and improved glucose control in people with diabetes on a diet high in soluble fiber.
• Insoluble fiber is beneficial for many digestive diseases including hemorrhoids, diarrhea, constipation, and diverticular disease.

Is there a downside to a high-fiber diet?

Recently, there has been increasing media attention to the risks of heart damage associated with adjuvant breast cancer radiotherapy.

This observation and debate has been ongoing for a long time in medical literature. Most recently, an article in the New England Journal of Medicine concluded that adjuvant radiotherapy for breast cancer increases the rate of ischemic heart disease. The authors conclude that the risk is associated with the dose of radiotherapy to the heart and begins a few years after the treatment. Dr. Kesarwala, an expert radiation oncologist from Bethesda, reviewed the data and provided a report in the April issue of the ACR Journal Advisor. She noted that “nearly 80% of patients in this study had mastectomies and over 90% had adjuvant chemotherapy with regimens very different from those currently used. This study mixed lymph node-positive patients (48%) with lymph node-negative patients, two sub-populations with different expected overall survival who would also have received different types of radiotherapy.” Other variables such as stage, presence of internal mammary nodes, type of surgery, or details of radiotherapy were not matched between the control and treated patients.

Because the study does not provide details regarding the radiotherapy specifically, it is difficult to interpret the conclusions. The doses of radiotherapy delivered ...

Many people suffer from difficulty swallowing (dysphagia) acutely or chronically. Difficulty with swallowing may be a result of a problem anywhere from the lips to the stomach. It may be identified by weight loss, coughing or choking when eating, delayed cough or regurgitation, or outright obstruction. This is more likely to be an issue after a stroke or in elderly and frail individuals. In the inpatient population, symptoms suggesting some level of dysphagia may be as high as 34%. So what do you do if you feel like your swallow isn’t quite right?

Bowel incontinence is a socially disruptive condition. People living with incontinence often plan their daily activities around bowel movements. In some instances, fecal incontinence leads to people being homebound, fearing an accident in public. Fecal incontinence affects nearly 18% of the population. In addition, nearly 50% of people living in nursing homes are affected (ASCRS, 2011).

What Is The Cause of Fecal Incontinence?
There  can be several causes of fecal incontinence. The most common reason is damage to the anal muscle, or nerves with childbirth.

Incontinence is more common in women, but men are also affected. As women age and their tissues begin to weaken, episodes of incontinence can become problematic.

Other causes of fecal incontinence can include...

Croup is a common childhood illness that can be very frightening to a parent or child. It often starts with the symptoms of a mild cold, such as a runny nose, or sore throat. The child goes to bed as usual and then wakes suddenly in the middle of the night with a barking cough. Often they gasp in between the coughs and make a high-pitched noise called stridor when they breathe in.

Thankfully, croup is rarely dangerous. Most children can be treated at home. But it can be a scary illness for both the parent and the child.

It is important to know how to treat croup at home and when to seek help from your doctor or the emergency room....

One year ago today, the first patients visited the brand new Multiple Sclerosis (MS) Center at Swedish Neuroscience Institute. The 11,700-square-foot facility was designed around the patient experience as part of the MS Center’s commitment to treating the whole person and addressing each patient’s individual emotional, psychological, social and physical needs in a supportive environment.

Since we opened our doors on April 9, 2012, we’ve hit a few new milestones:

• More than 5,400 total patients, including 620 new faces, from around the world received care from our comprehensive treatment team in the last 12 months.

• We welcomed three new providers: neurologist Peiqing Qian, M.D.; physical therapist Kim Kobata, PT; and neuro-psychiatrist Lina Fine, M.D., M.Phil.

• We completed the Pigott Terrace. The 1,500-square-foot outdoor therapy terrace includes a one-of-a-kind system that enables patients to ...