A Swedish Medical Center physician is breaking new ground in the area of cochlear implants with his recent surgery on a 9-year-old girl who received the medical implant for single-sided deafness.

Daniel Zeitler, M.D., a neurotologist and skull-based surgeon, is one of only a few medical professionals in the United States to perform the procedure for this population and diagnosis.

According to Zeitler, the young patient's deafness was beginning to take its toll on her both academically and socially.

"Although Claire is an excellent student, she had to sit strategically in the classroom to be able to hear. She often felt socially isolated during basketball practice or active family outings," Zeitler says. "Basically, all the things that a 9-year-old girl likes to do were slowly taken away because of her deafness."

Young Claire received the cochlear implant on November 26. The MED-EL device will be activated on Dec. 18; however, Zeitler says early testing during surgery indicated it was working properly. The use of cochlear implants for single-sided deafness, and for patients as young as Claire, is an emerging practice in Europe, but is extremely rare in the United States. In fact, the FDA has not yet approved the device for single-sided deafness, says Zeitler.

But he agreed to this rare procedure because he feels Claire can benefit greatly from this technology, and he's confident the cochlear implant will dramatically improve the quality of life for this youngster sooner rather than later.

"There's a huge push to initiate clinical trials for its use in these circumstances in the U.S., but only a few anecdotal reports and small objective studies currently exist. Unfortunately, there is no good data or large-scale subjective experiences to make it the norm yet," Zeitler says.

Claire began losing hearing progressively in her right ear at the age of 5 and tried a number of alternative hearing devices, including a traditional hearing aid. However, when her hearing loss became profound, she could no longer obtain any useful benefit from its use. Additionally, she attempted to use an FDA-approved bone-anchored hearing device, but was denied by her insurance. Her insurance is, however, paying for the cochlear implant.

Zeitler is skilled in pediatric cochlear implantation, but his clinical interests also include bone-anchored hearing aids (Baha), benign and malignant tumors of the ear and skull base, facial nerve disorders, cholesteatoma and chronic ear disease, ear infections and hearing loss.

Zeitler also frequently collaborates with neurosurgeons and radiation oncologists in the treatment of a variety of ear diseases and is an active member of the Colorado Neurological Institute.

MED-EL's MAESTRO Cochlear Implant System has proven to be an effective solution for individuals with bilateral severe to profound sensorineural hearing loss. According to Zeitler, the device is expected to last a lifetime.

"Before surgery, Claire was excited and apprehensive, but ready," Zeitler says. "My hope is that Claire's story can be shared with others suffering the same disability, and Claire can be a champion of cochlear implantation for these patients in the future."

The ALS Association will add ten awards totaling $2.9 million to its Translational Research Advancing Therapies for ALS (TREAT ALS) portfolio, funding two clinical management grants, three drug discovery contracts, two clinical pilot studies and three biomarker studies—all focused on finding improved treatments for people with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), otherwise known as Lou Gehrig's disease. The ALS Association's TREAT ALS portfolio presently has 80 active research projects with a total award value of $12 million.

The two clinical management grants, which intend to expand access to care for people with ALS will analyze remote forms of treatments. Edward Kasarskis, M.D., and Richard Kryscio, Ph.D., with the University of Kentucky Research Foundation in Lexington, Ky. will devise and monitor a virtual ALS center that could provide people with the disease with multidisciplinary care remotely in their homes. James Berry, M.D., and Merit Cudkowicz, M.D., with the Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, Mass. have devised a "telehealth" initiative to assess a videoconferencing program that offers home health providers tools to provide care to people with ALS in homes.

The three drug discovery contracts awarded by The ALS Association will support the pre-clinical assessment of therapeutics for the disease, and researchers expect they will lead to the progress of new therapies for ALS. Researchers leading these projects include: Oleg Butovsky, Ph.D., with Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, MA.; Steven Burden, Ph.D., with Skirball Institute, New York University Medical School, in New York, NY; and Rita Sattler, Ph.D., and Jeffrey Rothstein, M.D., Ph.D., at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore, MD.

In addition to the clinical management grants and drug discovery contracts, The ALS Association is supporting two novel clinical pilot studies involving people with ALS with the Northeast ALS Consortium (NEALS) Clinical Trials Network. Jonathan Glass, M.D., and Christina Fournier, M.D., with Emory University in Atlanta, GA, along with Merit Cudkowicz, M.D., and James Berry M.D., in Boston, MA, will work together to determine whether they can identify a subset of people with ALS that respond to immune suppressing medication. Additionally, Jeremy Shefner, M.D., Ph.D., with SUNY Upstate Medical University in Syracuse, NY will test Cogane, a small, non-peptide agent that can penetrate the brain and spinal cord, which has been shown to improve the number of functional motor units and increased the life span in mouse models of ALS.

The ALS Association will also fund three biomarker studies, which could accelerate diagnosis of the disease and hasten clinical trials. Two of the three studies were supported by EMD/ALS Biomarker Research Fund through the Keith Worthington Chapter of The ALS Association.  Researchers include Michael Benatar, M.D., and Joanne Wuu, both with the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine in Miami, Fla., who will look for predictive biomarkers in patients with a genetic form of the disease before they develop symptoms. Patricia Anders, MHG, Boston, Mass. will develop a strength testing device that may more accurately measure response to therapy.  And finally, Lyl Ostrowe, M.D., Ph.D.; Dean Wong, M.D., Ph.D. and Jeffrey Rothstein, M.D., Ph.D., all with Johns Hopkins University, will assess whether a PET imaging marker can accurately distinguish between people with ALS and healthy subjects.

By 2017, the global medical bionic implants market will be worth nearly $18 billion, according to a new report.

The report, "Medical Bionic Implants Market [Vision, Brain, Heart, Orthopedic, & Ear] - Trends & Global Forecasts to 2017," published by MarketsandMarkets, analyzes and studies the major market drivers, restraints, and opportunities in North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, and the rest of the world, from now to 2017.

Bionics involves the study of biological systems in order to develop artificial systems that can replicate their functions. Bionic implants are mechanical or electronic systems that function like living organisms or parts of living organisms. Bionics, when extended to the field of medicine, seeks to replace or enhance organs or parts of the human body using artificial prosthesis. The market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 7.1% from 2012 to 2017 to reach $17.82 billion by 2017.

The global medical bionic implants market is divided into five categories based on the type of products, technology used, and type of fixation. It includes vision bionics, ear bionics, orthopedic bionics, heart bionics, and neural/brain bionics. Medical bionics in pipeline include wearable artificial kidney, bio-lung, and artificial pancreas. The technology segment comprises of electronic and mechanical bionics, while medical bionic implants are classified as externally worn and implantable based on the type of fixation.

The medical bionic implants market has witnessed a myriad of technological advancements over the past two decades. It is expected that this trend will continue in the future in a bid to solve present challenges and fill unmet needs of the market. Manufactures are now focusing on the development of bionic implant products such as wearable artificial kidney, bio-lung, and artificial pancreas for diseases that cannot be cured with alternative treatment methods.

Increasing organ failure owing to aging and age-related disorders, increasing accidents and injuries leading to amputations, and rise in number of people awaiting organ transplants are the major drivers slated to propel the growth of this market. However, a few pivotal factors restraining growth are the high cost of devices and uncertain reimbursement scenarios in different regions, limited surgical expertise, and high cost of development.

The St. Baldrick’s Foundation, a volunteer-driven and donor-centered charity dedicated to raising money for childhood cancer research, is announces its latest cycle of pediatric oncology research grants. This fall, the Foundation will award more than $2.1 million to institutions across the United States. These grants provide resources to institutions enabling them to conduct more research and enroll more kids in ongoing clinical trials. This series of grants, combined with the more than $23 million awarded in July to fund cutting-edge research, brings the St. Baldrick’s Foundation’s funding total to more than $25 million awarded in 2012.

Worldwide a child is diagnosed with cancer every three minutes, and one in five children diagnosed in the United States will not survive, making the Foundation’s efforts to conquer childhood cancers critical. Through the vigorous efforts of volunteers and supporters in the United States and around the world, the Foundation is honored to award these grants, and recognizes the extreme importance of infrastructure grants to help find cures.

“These grants are special because they allow the Foundation to give much needed support to institutions in local areas where St. Baldrick’s participation is strong,” says Becky Weaver, chief philanthropy officer for the St. Baldrick’s Foundation. “Our spring grants fund the best specific hypothesis-driven research projects, based on scientific review. These fall grants support the staff and resources that local institutions need in order to be able to participate in more research – and to offer their patients the most cutting-edge treatments that are often available only through clinical trials. Especially during this time of federal budget cuts, this support is crucial.”

Grants were awarded based on the need of the institution and its patients, anticipated results of the grant and local participation in St. Baldrick’s events.

St. Baldrick’s infrastructure grants were distributed to the following institutions:

Advocate Children’s Hospital, Park Ridge, IL
Albany Medical College, Albany, NY
Alliance for Childhood Diseases, Las Vegas, NV
Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago, Chicago, IL
Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, Inc., Atlanta, GA
Children’s Hospitals and Clinics of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN
Children’s Hospital Central California, Madera, CA
Children’s Hospital of The King’s Daughters, Norfolk, VA
Children’s Hospital University of Missouri Health Sciences Center, Columbia, MO
Georgetown University Medical Center, Washington D.C.
Hackensack University Medical Center, Hackensack, NJ
Jonathan Jaques Children’s Cancer Center – Miller Children’s Hospital, Long Beach, CA
Marshfield Clinic, Marshfield Clinic Research Foundation, Marshfield, WI
Mary Hitchcock Memorial Hospital (Dartmouth), Lebanon, NH
Miller School of Medicine of the University of Miami, Miami, FL
Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York, NY
Pediatric Cancer Translational Genomics Research Conference 2014
Phoenix Children’s Hospital, Phoenix, AZ
Rady Children’s Hospital and Health Center at the University of California San Diego, San Diego, CA.
Rhode Island Hospital, Providence, RI
St. Louis University, Cardinal Glennon Children’s Medical Center, St. Louis, MO.
Spectrum Health Hospitals, Grand Rapids, MI
Stony Brook University Medical Center, The Research Foundation of SUNY, Stony Brook, NY
SUNY Upstate Medical University, Syracuse, NY
Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center, Lubbock, TX
Tulane University Medical School, New Orleans, LA
University of Colorado Denver School of Medicine, Aurora, CO
University of Illinois at Chicago with Rush Medical Center and John H. Stroger Hospital of Cook County, Chicago, IL
University of New Mexico Health Sciences Center, Albuquerque, NM
University of Oklahoma, Health Sciences Center, Oklahoma City, OK
University of Texas Health Science Center San Antonio, San Antonio, TX
Vannie E. Cook Jr. Children’s Cancer Clinic (Baylor), Houston, TX
Wake Forest University Health Sciences, Winston-Salem, NC
Wayne State University, Detroit, MI