MASSDEVICE ON CALL — Bin Laden had kidney stones, not kidney disease. The belief that Osama bin Laden needed dialysis to treat kidney disease was false, according to new reports.
U.S. officials said Bin Laden suffered from kidney stones, not debilitating renal problems, according to MSNBC.
Yesterday MassDevice published a story with reports of bin Laden’s renal failure, a condition which the former most wanted terrorist fugitive denied having.
The new reports about bin Laden’s health shed light on how he was able to survive in hiding. The two methods for treating kidney disease, hemodialysis and peritoneal dialysis, take hours and require sophisticated equipment. Though companies such as NxStage Medical Inc. (NSDQ:NXTM) and Baxter International (NYSE:BAX) make systems designed to allow patients to undergo hemodialysis at home, the treatment requires at least one attendant. Peritoneal dialysis would likely require at least once physician and perhaps an entire urology team.
People who suffer from kidney stones can experience brief sharp pains, but the condition — also known as nephrolithiasis — can be kept at bay with drugs. Other treatments include extracorporeal shock wave lithotripsy (ESWL), percutaneous nephrolithotomy, ureteral stents and ureteroscopy, which has become more popular in recent years as endoscopic instruments have gotten smaller.
U.S. officials also reported that Bin Laden had low blood pressure and an enlarged heart, or cardiomegaly, which may have been a symptom of his blood pressure condition.
Medtronic the target of new Senate investigation. The chair of the Senate Finance Committee Max Baucus (D-Mont.) sent Medtronic Inc. (NYSE:MDT) a letter in a bid to determine whether the Fridley, Minn.-based medical device giant’s cancellation of contracts with group purchasing organizations (GPOs) was designed to reduce transparency and increase costs for hospitals, an allegation that has surfaced in recent news reports, writes MedCity News.
"Medtronic canceling these contracts could considerably undermine our efforts to reduce health care costs and increase transparency for consumers and taxpayers," Baucus said in a statement. "Medicare spends billions each year on medical devices for patients and we need to make sure these patients, and the taxpayers, are getting the highest-quality products at the best price."
Bay State medical device exports on the rise. Massachusetts medical device exports are growing more rapidly than the commonwealth’s exports on aggregate, according to a Deloitte study commissioned by device industry council MassMedic. The study’s results show that between 2001 and 2010, device exports grew by a compound annual growth rate of 11 percent, compared with a CAGR of 4.6 percent for overall exports, and devices represented 13 percent of all Bay State exports in 2010, writes The Boston Business Journal.
"Healthtech" the next big thing. Healthtech companies use mobile, cloud, and other information technologies to increase healthcare delivery efficiencies and deliver consumer-centric applications, writes MobiHealthNews. Some proof of the rising temperature in the market is the birth of HealthTech Capital, the first angel investing group to focus exclusively on the space, according to the publication.
The case of the relocating fat cells. A new study led by Drs. Teri Hernandez and Robert Eckel of the University of Colorado indicates that when liposuction is used to remove fat cells from one part of the body, the fat just comes back somewhere else, writes The New York Times.
