ROGERS — Allison Moss Johnson, M.D., an Internal Medicine physician, has joined the medical staff of Northwest Health System, practicing at the W.D.M.D. Internal Medicine and Heart Clinic in Rogers.

 

Dr. Johnson received her medical degree from the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) in Little Rock and then completed an Internal Medicine residency there, serving as Chief Resident.

 

In practice since 2006, Dr. Johnson also served as an assistant professor of medicine for the UAMS Department of Internal Medicine. She comes to the Northwest Health System from Philadelphia, where she was an assistant professor of medicine in the Department of Internal Medicine at Thomas Jefferson University.

 

LITTLE ROCK — Researchers at Arkansas Children's Hospital Research Institute (ACHRI) recently received a $2 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to determine if some children are at higher risk for toxicity associated with a common over-the-counter pain medicine.

 

Acetaminophen is the most widely used drug for treating pain and fever in the world and is found in over 100 over-the-counter products. While it is believed safe at recommended doses, it's also known that acetaminophen toxicity is one of the major causes of acute liver failure. This research could bring us one step closer to being able to predict which children are likely to have increased susceptibility to liver injury from acetaminophen noted Laura James, MD, the study's lead investigator and a clinical pharmacologist and toxicologist at Arkansas Children's Hospital (ACH).

 

James also is a professor in the Department of Pediatrics at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) and chief of Clinical Pharmacology and Toxicology at ACH.

 

The five-year study will track patients who have been prescribed therapeutic doses of the over-the-counter drug by physicians as a part of standard inpatient treatment at six hospitals around the United States. Data from these patients will be compared with data from diagnosed cases of acetaminophen toxicity that are seen in emergency rooms at the same sites.

 

The scientists will study the cases to see if there are similarities in how the acetaminophen alters proteins in the patients' blood samples. The research could lead to a profile of biomarkers that would designate some children as facing a higher risk for acetaminophen toxicity.

 

The research is a collaborative effort among investigators at several institutions. They include Dean Roberts, PhD, a research associate professor in the College of Medicine at UAMS, and Dr. Jack Hinson, PhD, a professor and director of the Division of Toxicology in the UAMS College of Medicine.

 

In addition, investigators from the Proteomics Core Laboratory at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences and the Metabolomics Laboratory at the National Center for Toxicological Research will participate in the analysis of samples.

 

The study will be performed in collaboration with other pediatric researchers who are members of the Pediatric Pharmacology Research Unit (PPRU) Network, which is funded by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. Arkansas Children's Hospital has participated in the PPRU Network since 1994, and Dr. James is principal investigator of the ACHRI PPRU.

 

Preliminary studies to support the project were funded in part by the Arkansas Biosciences Institute, the major research component of the Tobacco Settlement Proceeds Act of 2000.

 

LITTLE ROCK – The internationally known multiple myeloma program at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) will receive $19.5 million over five years to continue work that has already developed new treatments for this cancer of plasma cells, a type of white blood cell present in the bone marrow.

 

In 2004, Bart Barlogie, M.D., Ph.D., director of the UAMS Myeloma Institute for Research and Therapy (MIRT), was awarded $17.9 million from the from the National Cancer Institute (NCI) to fund an ongoing comprehensive research program, entitled "Growth Control of Multiple Myeloma." That grant was distributed over five years, concluding in June.

 

The $19.5 million NCI grant is the fourth five-year renewal of continuous funding from the NCI, which supports much of the ongoing research at the Myeloma Institute, a part of the UAMS Winthrop P. Rockefeller Cancer Institute. Barlogie's work has led to a median survival rate of more than eight years today for Myeloma Institute patients, compared to a 34 percent five-year survival rate for multiple myeloma patients, as documented by the NCI between 1995-2001.

 

Myeloma Institute scientists have analyzed the genetic and cellular mechanisms of multiple myeloma, leading to new treatments for patients who come to UAMS from every state and more than 50 countries. With a genetic analysis tool developed at UAMS, a patient's disease can now be identified as a more aggressive (high-risk) or less aggressive (low-risk) form of multiple myeloma.

 

Clinical trials under way are among the first for multiple myeloma or any other cancer to involve risk-specific treatment plans based on the genetic makeup of the tumor.

 

Batesville — For the second consecutive year, White River Medical Center (WRMC) received the Arkansas Medicaid Inpatient Quality Incentive (IQI) Award, an award developed through a partnership between Arkansas Medicaid, the Arkansas Foundation for Medical Care (AFMC), and the Arkansas Hospital Association. The award was for inpatient services provided from July 2008 through June 2009.

 

AFMC evaluates eligible hospitals for compliance with two separate performance thresholds. One requires that hospitals improve to the Arkansas statewide rate of 95% compliance for selected patient care standards and the other threshold requires a hospital reduce its failure rate by 35%. Meeting one or both thresholds and passing a validation test qualifies the hospital for an award.

 

WRMC received the award based on quality performance measures for treatment of patients with heart failure, patients with pneumonia, and patients having surgery.

 

LITTLE ROCK – Richard McCarthy, M.D., a spine deformity specialist at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS), has been named president of the international Scoliosis Research Society.

 

McCarthy, who treats adults at UAMS and children at Arkansas Children's Hospital, assumed the presidency of the prestigious organization at its 44th annual meeting in San Antonio on Sept. 26.

 

The term scoliosis describes the abnormal curvature of the spine, and McCarthy has become a world leader in the development of a surgery-sparing treatment device.

 

During his year as president, McCarthy will speak and teach around the globe, including such countries as South Africa, Mexico, Taiwan, China, Japan and Turkey. He also will oversee administration of the society, which has 1,059 members from almost every country in the world. His tenure also will include oversight of major meetings of the group in Toronto and Kyoto, Japan.

 

The Scoliosis Research Society's membership is made up of researchers and fellowship-trained spine specialists who treat a range of spinal conditions, including adolescent idiopathic scoliosis, growing spine, kyphosis, adult deformity, trauma, neuromuscular scoliosis and tumors.

 

LITTLE ROCK — Nearly 70 experts from Germany, Italy, China, Brazil and the United States will gather Oct. 9-10 in Little Rock to share their research findings and innovative approaches to treatment of vascular anomalies of the head and neck.

 

The Second International Symposium on Hemangiomas and Vascular Malformations of the Head and Neck: Controversies and Innovations is sponsored by the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) Department of Otolaryngology – Head and Neck Surgery. Gresham T. Richter, M.D., assistant professor in the department, is symposium chairman. The event is being held in collaboration with the University of Marburg, Germany.

 

The symposium will present some of the latest research available on vascular anomalies, which will affect the way these problems are treated, notes James Y. Suen, M.D., professor and chairman of the UAMS Department of Otolaryngology - Head and Neck Surgery.

 

The conference goal is to promote dialogue and collaboration among international clinical experts and basic scientists who study these lesions according to Richter.

 

Information presented at the conference will include research conducted by researchers at the Vascular Anomalies Center staffed by UAMS physicians seeing patients at both UAMS and its pediatric affiliate Arkansas Children's Hospital (ACH). The researchers will reveal the presence of hormone receptors in vascular malformations that may explain why they expand rapidly during puberty and pregnancy, or in women who take birth control pills.

 

Additional research from UAMS/ACH physician-scientists will include their grant-supported work on experimental models of vascular anomalies, how nanoparticles can be used to treat these disorders, and how a common heart medication can control complicated hemangiomas in infants.

 

Researchers will also discuss their identification of molecular changes that support the clinical impression that arterio-venous malformations (AVM) have similarities to cancers and require an aggressive approach to treatment. The center's interventional radiologists will also describe their work on controlling AVM with new vascular embolization materials.

 

LITTLE ROCK — St. Vincent Medical Center/North in Sherwood has joined a University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS)-led network of hospitals to provide life-saving emergency care for stroke patients in Arkansas. 

 

Called Arkansas SAVES (Stroke Assistance through Virtual Emergency Support), the program uses a high-tech video communications system to help provide immediate, life-saving treatments to stroke victims 24 hours a day. The real-time video communication enables a stroke neurologist from Little Rock or Fort Smith to authorize use of a powerful blood thinner within the critical three-hour period following the first signs of stroke.

 

Randy Cason, administrator/CEO of St. Vincent Medical Center/North said the medical center is committed to helping reduce the number of deaths and disabilities caused by stroke due to the lack of immediate diagnosis and treatment. They will also be the first hospital in central Arkansas to partner with UAMS, giving the emergency department immediate access to neurologists to assist with the diagnosis and treatment of stroke patients.

 

The SAVES program is made possible by partnerships between the UAMS Center for Distance Health, the state Department of Human Services and Sparks Regional Health System in Fort Smith. The program was established with a one-year, $6.1 million DHS Medicaid contract.

 

The most recent statistics from the national Centers for Disease Control and Prevention show that Arkansas had 1,847 stroke-related deaths in 2005, which dwarfs Arkansas' other major causes of death. Arkansas ranks third highest among all states in stroke deaths, with 61 per 100,000 residents. Only Alabama and Tennessee had a higher number. The nationwide direct and indirect cost of medical and institutional care of permanently disabled stroke victims was $57.9 billion in 2006.

 

While many stroke patients are rushed to their local hospital emergency room, they still are at high risk of death or permanent disability. That's because emergency rooms aren't likely to be staffed by a neurologist who can diagnose the type of stroke and whether to treat it with t-PA, the blood-clot dissolving agent used for ischemic stroke. Although potentially life-saving for people with an ischemic stroke, t-PA may be detrimental if the patient has a hemorrhagic stroke, which occurs when a blood vessel ruptures and bleeds into surrounding brain tissue.

 

The Arkansas SAVES system relies on the state Health Department's hospital preparedness high-speed video network transmission lines that provide the live, video communication necessary to link an on-call neurologist with a local hospital physician who is caring for a stroke patient.

 

Ten other Arkansas hospitals are participating in the SAVES program: Baptist Health Medical Center – Arkadelphia, White River Medical Center in Batesville, Baxter Regional Medical Center in Mountain Home, Booneville Community Hospital, DeWitt Hospital, Johnson Regional Medical Center in Clarksville, McGehee-Desha County Hospital, Mena Regional Health System, Helena Regional Medical Center and White County Medical Center in Searcy.

 

The SAVES program will continue adding hospitals across Arkansas in the coming months, said Curtis Lowery, M.D., director of the UAMS Center for Distance Health.

 

Since the program began Nov. 1, 68 stroke patients have been consulted by SAVES neurologists and 11 have received the t-PA drug.

 

BENTONVILLE, AR (Oct. 9, 2009) — Northwest Medical Center – Bentonville took on an international flavor for the first few days of October, as a local orthopedic surgeon shared his hip arthroscopy expertise with three foreign surgeons (two from Turkey and one from Lebanon) who flew to Northwest Arkansas to be trained on the relatively new minimally invasive procedure.

 

Oct. 1-2, Chris Dougherty, D.O., who is one of only a handful of U.S. surgeons performing the procedure at present, hosted international colleagues Reha N. Tandogan, M.D., and Asim Kayaalp, M.D. (who practice together in an orthopedic group in Ankara – the country's capital); and George Ecrassi, M.D. (who practices at St. George's Hospital in the Lebanese capital – Beirut).

 

Dr. Dougherty is a board-certified orthopedic surgeon who is on staff at Northwest Medical Center – Bentonville and practices at The Agility Center and Dougherty Sports Medicine in Bentonville (adjacent to the hospital campus). He has fellowship training in arthroscopy and sports medicine and also serves as the team physician for the Northwest Arkansas Naturals minor-league baseball team, an AA affiliate of the Kansas City Royals. Dr. Dougherty, who is an instructor for master-level courses in arthroscopy for the Arthroscopy Association of North America, also taught his foreign visitors the double-bundle anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction – an innovative procedure he developed and for which he has filed a patent. Thus far, he has instructed surgeons from 11 countries on four continents.

 

The visiting surgeons are themselves instructors in their own countries (practicing at major orthopedics and sports injury referral centers), and they intend to take back what they have gleaned from their visit and share it with their colleagues at home. The Turkish surgeons say soccer injuries (knee and leg) are by far the most common in sports medicine in their homeland. But from Lebanon, Dr. Ecrassi gave an unexpected answer: basketball, volleyball and skiing. These sports, he says, are quite popular avocations in his country and produce a more varied palette of orthopedic ills, including many shoulder injuries. Hip arthroscopy, however, is an area the visitors find promising.

 

The world is now abuzz about hip arthroscopy and the diseases that can be diagnosed and treated without the need to do an open surgery observed Dr. Tandogan. But he said there are far too few people doing it and that's why they are here to learn for themselves and to take that knowledge back to their own countries, where they can teach others.

 

The Turkish surgeons trained in Ankara but each has visited and studied abroad. Dr. Tandogan completed a one-year fellowship in France and later studied in Dallas with Robert W. Jackson, M.D. (the physician credited with bringing arthroscopy to North America in the mid-1960s). That relationship resulted in Dr. Jackson writing a chapter on the history of arthroscopy for a medical textbook authored by Dr. Tandogan. Dr. Kayaalp also studied with Dr. Jackson and has traveled to the United States several times as a visiting surgeon at places such as Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. Dr. Ecrassi, who studied in Lebanon and France (Paris and Strasbourg) also served a three-year fellowship at Johns Hopkins and a one-year fellowship at Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia.

 

Batesville — Governor Mike Beebe presented the Governor's Quality Award for Performance Excellence to Gary L. Bebow, White River Medical Center Administrator/CEO at a ceremony recently in Little Rock. WRMC is the state's third hospital and the second industry in Batesville to receive Arkansas' highest quality recognition. In its 15th year, the program has honored 15 companies in four award levels of Performance Excellence (in descending order of qualifications): the Governor's Quality Award, the Achievement Award, the Commitment Award, and the Challenge Award.