PRESS-NEWS.org - Press Release Distribution
PRESS RELEASES DISTRIBUTION

Bone growth factor may increase benign tumors but not malignant cancer

Also studies evaluating 'Y-stenting' for aneurysms and new software to help protect brain during glioma surgery

2013-09-06
(Press-News.org) Philadelphia, Pa. (September 6, 2013) – Patients undergoing spinal fusion surgery with bone morphogenetic protein (BMP) appear to be at increased risk of benign tumors—but not cancers, reports a study in the September issue of Neurosurgery, official journal of the Congress of Neurological Surgeons. The journal is published by Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, a part of Wolters Kluwer Health.

Other papers in the September Neurosurgery report on a stent-assisted approach for difficult-to-treat brain aneurysms and a new software program to help in identifying and protecting critical areas during brain tumor surgery.

BMP Linked to Increased Risk of Benign Tumors Dr. Nandan Lad of Duke University Medical Center and colleagues analyzed the risk of cancers and benign tumors in nearly 4,700 patients receiving BMP as part of spinal fusion surgery. Bone morphogenetic protein is a growth factor that can promote new bone formation. It is FDA-approved for one specific type of spinal fusion surgery, but has become widely used "off-label" for other fusion procedures.

Contrary to previous smaller studies, patients receiving BMP as commonly used today, had no increase in systemic or malignant cancer risk, compared to a matched group undergoing spinal fusion without BMP. However, spinal fusion with BMP was associated with a higher risk of benign tumors: about 30% higher, after adjustment for other factors.

Although absolute risks were small, patients receiving BMP had a higher rate of benign tumors of the nervous system—especially of the tissues lining the spinal cord and brain (meninges). The increase in these soft tissue tumors may be related to the "large local dose" of BMP around the spine, the researchers suspect. The results of this large, independent, propensity-matched study suggest that the use of BMP in lumbar fusions is associated with a significantly higher rate of benign neoplasms, but not malignancies.

'Y" Stents Effective for Difficult-to-Treat Brain Aneurysms Dr. Kyle M. Fargen of University of Florida and colleagues evaluated the use of "Y-stent coiling" to block off (occlude) aneurysms in 45 patients at seven U.S. hospitals. The stent-assisted technique was used for difficult-to-treat aneurysms located at the bifurcation (branching) of two blood vessels.

Y-stent coiling produced "excellent" initial aneurysm occlusion in 84 percent of patients. On angiograms performed at ten months' follow-up, the occlusion rate had increased to 92 percent. Three patients required repeat treatment.

The Y-stent approach provides neurosurgeons with a valuable alternative treatment for aneurysms that would be difficult or impossible to treat with surgery. Based on their findings, Y-stent coiling offers "low complication rates and excellent clinical and angiographic outcomes," Dr. Fargen and coauthors conclude.

New Approach Helps Neurosurgeons Protect 'Eloquent Cortex' Dr. Vinodh A. Kumar of University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center and colleagues evaluated new software that helps locate and protect the "eloquent cortex"—critical areas involved in speech or movement—during brain tumor surgery. The program, called "deformable anatomic templates" (DAT), can be overlaid on the patient's brain MRI and displayed in two- and three-dimensions to assess the normal position of eloquent structures relative to the patient's brain tumor. The software is ideally suited for infiltrative brain gliomas.

DAT alerted the surgeon when the glioma was located in or very close to areas of eloquent cortex. In many cases, it provided information that could not be obtained from standard brain-mapping techniques. The study provides "proof of concept that DAT supplements preoperative, intraoperative, and postoperative analysis of eloquent cortex in areas in close proximity to or within gliomas," the researchers write.

### About Neurosurgery Neurosurgery, the Official Journal of the Congress of Neurological Surgeons, is your most complete window to the contemporary field of neurosurgery. Members of the Congress and non-member subscribers receive 3,000 pages per year packed with the very latest science, technology, and medicine, not to mention full-text online access to the world's most complete, up-to-the-minute neurosurgery resource. For professionals aware of the rapid pace of developments in the field, Neurosurgery is nothing short of indispensable.

About Wolters Kluwer Health Wolters Kluwer Health is a leading global provider of information, business intelligence and point-of-care solutions for the healthcare industry. Serving more than 150 countries and territories worldwide, Wolters Kluwer Health's customers include professionals, institutions and students in medicine, nursing, allied health and pharmacy. Major brands include Health Language®, Lexicomp®, Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, Medicom®, Medknow, Ovid®, Pharmacy OneSource®, ProVation® Medical, and UpToDate®.

Wolters Kluwer Health is part of Wolters Kluwer, a market-leading global information services company. Wolters Kluwer had 2012 annual revenues of €3.6 billion ($4.6 billion), employs approximately 19,000 people worldwide, and maintains operations in over 40 countries across Europe, North America, Asia Pacific, and Latin America. Follow our official Twitter handle: @WKHealth.


ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

New connection between stacked solar cells can handle energy of 70,000 suns

2013-09-06
North Carolina State University researchers have come up with a new technique for improving the connections between stacked solar cells, which should improve the overall efficiency of solar energy devices and reduce the cost of solar energy production. The new connections can allow these cells to operate at solar concentrations of 70,000 suns worth of energy without losing much voltage as "wasted energy" or heat. Stacked solar cells consist of several solar cells that are stacked on top of one another. Stacked cells are currently the most efficient cells on the market, ...

Static killers?

2013-09-06
Since its discovery in the early 1990s, the protein STAT1 (Signal Transducer and Activator of Transcription 1) has been found to be central in passing signals across immune cells, ensuring that our bodies react quickly and appropriately to threats from viruses or other pathogens. Animals without STAT1 are also prone to develop cancer, suggesting that STAT1 is somehow involved in protection against malignant cells. The STAT1 protein is known to be phosphorylated on at least two positions: phosphorylation of a particular tyrosine (tyr-701) is required for the protein to enter ...

Education protects women from the obesity associated with urban living

2013-09-06
Research into the rise in obesity associated with the burgeoning industrial and service sectors in low- and middle-income countries found that education is a key factor in reducing the negative impact on women's health. The study, conducted by researchers at UCL and published in the journal BMC Public Health, found that women with no formal education who were working in sedentary occupations were twice as likely to be 'centrally obese' – defined by measuring waist circumference – compared to women with no education working in agriculture. However, for women with at ...

Research yields first detailed view of morphing Parkinson's protein

2013-09-06
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - Researchers have taken detailed images and measurements of the morphing structure of a brain protein thought to play a role in Parkinson's disease, information that could aid the development of medications to treat the condition. The protein, called alpha synuclein (pronounced sine-yoo-cline), ordinarily exists in a globular shape. However, the protein morphs into harmful structures known as amyloid fibrils, which are linked to protein molecules that form in the brains of patients with neurodegenerative diseases. "The abnormal protein formation ...

Study suggests debris flows on arctic sand dunes are similar to dark dune spot-seepage flows on Mars

2013-09-06
A team of scientists from Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) has demonstrated that frozen water in the form of snow or frost can melt to form debris flows on sunward-facing slopes of sand dunes in the Alaskan arctic at air temperatures significantly below the melting point of water. The debris flows consist of sand mixed with liquid water that cascade down steep slopes. SwRI scientists made their observations at the Great Kobuk Sand Dunes, in Kobuk Valley National Park, Alaska. This site serves as an Earth-based cold-climate "analog" to dunes on Mars. Debris flows formed ...

Growing thin films of germanium

2013-09-06
WASHINGTON, D.C. Sept. 6, 2013 -- Researchers have developed a new technique to produce thin films of germanium crystals -- key components for next-generation electronic devices such as advanced large-scale integrated circuits and flexible electronics, which are required for gadgets that move or bend. Unlike conventional methods, the new approach does not require high temperatures or other crystals to act as seeds to grow the germanium crystal. And, the researchers say, the new method can be used to produce germanium films with a very large area, allowing for more potential ...

ISFM takes a stand on welfare of unowned cats

2013-09-06
London -- Long-term confinement is not a humane option for the control of feral and stray or abandoned cat populations, according to new guidelines issued by the International Society of Feline Medicine (ISFM) in its Journal of Feline Medicine and Surgery published by SAGE. According to the society, which is the veterinary division of the charity International Cat Care, culling to control cat populations is also rarely effective or acceptable, whereas trap–neuter–return programmes and rehoming (in appropriate cases) can offer effective and humane solutions, but need to ...

Indiana Jones meets George Jetson

2013-09-06
WASHINGTON, D.C. Sept. 6, 2013 -- A team of researchers from Uppsala University in Sweden has designed a microplasma source capable of exciting matter in a controlled, efficient way. This miniature device may find use in a wide range of applications in harsh environments, but can also help revolutionize archaeology. As the researchers describe in the Journal of Applied Physics, produced by AIP Publishing, their new device offers many advantages, such as electromagnetic compatibility, an integrated fluidic system, and Langmuir probes for plasma diagnostics. At the ...

NASA sees Tropical Storm Lorena bringing heavy rains to Mexico's west coast

2013-09-06
NASA's Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission satellite known as TRMM passed over Tropical Storm Lorena from its orbit in space on Friday, Sept. 6 and measured the rate in which rain is falling from the storm. Lorena was soaking some areas of Mexico's west coast and is headed for landfall in Baja California, Mexico. On Friday, Sept. 6, a tropical storm warning was in effect for Baja California Sur from Agua Blanca to Buenavista, and a tropical storm watch was in effect for Baja California Sur North of Agua Blanca to Santa Fe. Tropical Depression 12E intensified into Tropical ...

Mother chimps crucial for offspring's social skills

2013-09-06
Orphaned chimpanzees are less socially competent than chimpanzees who were reared by their mother. Researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics in Nijmegen, The Netherlands, observed that orphaned chimpanzees frequently engaged in social play, but their play bouts were much shorter and resulted in aggression more often. Apparently, chimpanzee mothers endow their offspring with important social skills. It may not come as a surprise, but mother chimpanzees seem to be important for the development of social skills in young chimpanzees. "Orphaned chimpanzees ...

LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:

Study finds COVID-19 mRNA vaccine sparks immune response to fight cancer

ESMO 2025: mRNA-based COVID vaccines generate improved responses to immunotherapy

Drug combo cuts risk of death in advanced prostate cancer by 40%

ADC improves outcomes for patients with advanced triple-negative breast cancer who are ineligible for immune checkpoint inhibitors

Novel treatment combination improves progression-free survival in metastatic, estrogen-receptor-positive HER-2-negative breast cancer

ESMO 2025: Trial results show belzutifan shrinks rare neuroendocrine tumors and improves symptoms in patients

ESMO 2025: Dual targeted therapy shows promise in previously treated advanced kidney cancer patients

New generation of Antibody-Drug Conjugates (ADCs) shows unprecedented promise in early-stage disease

Sylvester Cancer Tip Sheet for October 2025

Three science and technology leaders elected to Hertz Foundation Board of Directors

Jump Trading CSO Kevin Bowers elected to Hertz Foundation Board of Directors

Former Inscripta CEO Sri Kosaraju elected to Hertz Foundation Board of Directors

Citadel’s Jordan Chetty elected to Hertz Foundation Board of Directors

McGill research flags Montreal snow dump, inactive landfills as major methane polluters

A lightweight and rapid bidirectional search algorithm

Eighty-five years of big tree history available in one place for the first time

MIT invents human brain model with six major cell types to enable personalized disease research, drug discovery

Health and economic air quality co-benefits of stringent climate policies

How immune cells deliver their deadly cargo

How the brain becomes a better listener: How focus enhances sound processing

Processed fats found in margarines unlikely to affect heart health

Scientists discover how leukemia cells evade treatment

Sandra Shi MD, MPH, named 2025 STAT Wunderkind

Treating liver disease with microscopic nanoparticles

Chemicals might be hitching a ride on nanoplastics to enter your skin

Pregnant patients with preexisting high cholesterol may have elevated CV risk

UC stroke experts discuss current and future use of AI tools in research and treatment

The Southern Ocean’s low-salinity water locked away CO2 for decades, but...

OHSU researchers develop functional eggs from human skin cells

Most users cannot identify AI bias, even in training data

[Press-News.org] Bone growth factor may increase benign tumors but not malignant cancer
Also studies evaluating 'Y-stenting' for aneurysms and new software to help protect brain during glioma surgery