HEALTH NOTES
Free cancer talks scheduled soon
CancerCare, a nonprofit organization, will present two, free workshops: “Progress in the Treatment of Follicular Lymphoma,” on Tuesday, and “Thriving and Surviving with Chronic Myelogenous Leukemia,” on Wednesday.
Both workshops are accessible by phone or on the Internet and will be held from 12:30 p.m. to 1:30 p.m.
Physicians from Harvard Medical School, Michigan State University, MD Anderson Cancer Center and the University of Arizona will be among those speaking.
To register, call 1-800-813-4673 or go online at http://www.cancercare.org/connect.
Tulane, BR General make history in May
When medical students graduated in May, it was the first time in the 177-year history of the Tulane University School of Medicine that a portion of its class spent its final hospital training years in Baton Rouge.
Baton Rouge General’s Mid City hospital is the only School of Medicine satellite campus for Tulane.
Called the LEAD (Leadership, Education, Advocacy and Discovery) Academy, the program was established two years ago and allows medical students to spend their third- and fourth-year clinical rotations at Baton Rouge General’s Mid City location.
Magnets pose danger, LSU professor warns
Dr. R. Adam Noel, associate professor of pediatrics at LSU Health Sciences Center in New Orleans, presented information on June 5 to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission about the cases he’s seen and followed regarding children swallowing “magnet toy” balls.
The toys contain magnets made of a “rare earth” mineral that contain the strongest magnetic force on Earth, according to a news release from the LSU Health Sciences Center.
“When they are swallowed separately, they attract each other, killing whatever tissue is between them. Symptoms do not appear until the damage has been done,” the news release said.
Noel’s presentation to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission will be on more than 80 cases involving the magnets. Close to one-third of the cases required surgery to repair perforations or holes in the intestines. Three cases involved the removal of parts of organs and structures, the LSU Health Sciences Center reports.
More information about the magnets can be found at the website of The American Academy of Pediatrics at http://www.aap.org. Type “magnets” in the search box.
La. physicians take part in conference
Physicians from Lafayette General Medical Center are presenting live cases from their hospital in video-conferenced presentations during the New Cardiovascular Horizons conference, which began Wednesday and concludes Saturday in New Orleans.
The conference, sponsored by the Cardiovascular Institute of the South and the South Louisiana Clinical Research Foundation, is presenting new technologies and devices to help prevent limb loss, due to such conditions as peripheral artery disease and critical limb ischemia, according to a news release on the conference.
Physicians and surgeons also attending are from St. John’s Hospital in Detroit; Hospital San Juan de Dios in San Jose, Costa Rica; Yale New Haven Hospital in New Haven, Conn., and other hospitals from around the country. Live cases done at several of the medical institutions are part of the proceedings, according to the release.
Grant helps center add screenings
The Rite Aid Foundation has presented the Mary Bird Perkins Cancer Center with an $8,000 grant to expand screenings for colorectal cancer.
Working in partnership with local Councils on Aging across the Mary Bird Perkins Cancer Center’s 18-parish service area, the grant will be used to screen people older than 50 who are at higher risk for the disease, according to a news release from the center.
The Rite Aid Foundation previously awarded a $10,000 grant to Mary Bird Perkins Cancer Center in 2010.
Compiled by Ellyn Couvillion
Advocate staff writer