New treatments

[Badbessie]

I thought the group would be interested in this. This treatment as been used for a number of years to help certain groups with kidney failure.However it as now been tested to help those with resistant infections.

sciencedaily.com/releases/2...

[mrsmummy]

Excellent development. Thank you for sharing it on here.

[Badbessie in reply to mrsmummy]

There is a slight problem.. the cost. The five treatments required would be very expensive. However if you look at the cost of hospital admissions etc against a possible long term solution then I am sure a good case could be made. There is also the need for a quite invasive procedure before this could start. A vascular catheter would need to be put in either in large veins in the neck or groin. This is to enable the dialysis machine to have the blood flows for the exchange to take place.

[O2Trees]

That's great BB. For those who regularly get pseudomonas, this could be wonderful. I hope it gets trialled asap then adopted widely.

[Hidden]

Thank you so much BB. My consultant is at the University Hospital in Bham. I will ask her how it is going. Definitely a new approach and makes sense.

[Badbessie in reply to Hidden]

I think this was done in Birmingham USA.

[Hidden in reply to Badbessie]

well in the article it says Birmingham University in conjunction with Newcastle. As both of the British ones are known for their research. I hope that is the case. Unfortunately research and development in the US rarely reaches us but British research, slow as the wheels grind, tends to bring positive results. Fingers crossed.

[Hidden in reply to Badbessie]

Hi BB Just looked up Ian Henderson, he is at Bham university Hospital (QE) Edgbaston and the other centre is Newcastle on Tyne. Lovely. Thanks for finding the article and sharing it.

[Badbessie in reply to Hidden]

My apologies littlepom I read tons of different articles and mixed one with another. Happily I got the importance of the research right,.lol

[Billiejean_2]

It makes a lot of sense but doesn't seem like anything that would be widely available to patients any time soon. But of course, it is wonderful to hear of any progress in treatment of Pseudomonas and other difficult infections.

[Badbessie in reply to Billiejean_2]

It's enormously expensive. Requires an invasive procedure and like any treatment of this nature carries a number of risks. However if I had a long term infection I would go for it. The machines to do it are in Renal units and have been for many years. The technology is years old and I was using them 10 years ago. All that's happened is that they have worked out to help another group of patients.

[JudyHh1]

This seems like a wonderful breakthrough for people suffering from lung problems. Is it available in the UK for individuals with the lung problems it is supposed to help? I am in the US and it takes forever for the FDA (food and drug administration) to approve new medications or procedures. Hopefully you don't have a similar problem inthe UK.

[Badbessie in reply to JudyHh1]

This is a very old procedure. They have been completing plasma exchanges both here and in the U.S for at least 10 years. Normally it used to help certain conditions which cause renal failure. But with some slight modifications they have found a way to help those with long term respiratory conditions. Plasma exchange is safe it's just the little mod that needs approval.