Johns Hopkins Medicine

Nov 04 2024 10 ep. 1 mins 7.8k

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Explore health topics, medical research, education programs and patient stories from Johns Hopkins Medicine in Baltimore, Maryland.

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A new way of diagnosing prion disease may also help in other diseases, Elizabeth Tracey reports

Nov 04 2024 1 mins

Prions are misfolded proteins that can infect us and cause our normal proteins to fold incorrectly also, and they can be found in the skin, a new study reports. Ted Dawson, a Parkinson disease expert at Johns Hopkins, says this misfolded protein etiology is also seen in this much more common neurological disease. Dawson: It's a real frame shift in the way we think about Parki

What is a prion and how does it cause disease? Elizabeth Tracey reports

Nov 04 2024 1 mins

Prion diseases are caused in people when an aberrant form of a protein that is already in our bodies infects us, and causes the normal protein to fold like it, resulting in neurological disease. A new study found that one type of a prion disease could be accurately diagnosed with two or more skin biopsies. Johns Hopkins neurologist Ted Dawson explains. Dawson: All of us have the pr

Why is it that a disorder that affects the brain can be diagnosed with a skin biopsy? Elizabeth Tracey reports

Nov 04 2024 1 mins

The rare brain disorder abbreviated CJD, for Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, can be diagnosed with two or more skin biopsies, a recent study shows. Johns Hopkins neurologist Ted Dawson says the fact that what causes the disease, a particle smaller than a virus called a prion, can be found in the skin means dispersal is much broader than the brain. Dawson: What it suggests is that t

Making the diagnosis for a rare brain disease may now be easier, Elizabeth Tracey reports

Nov 04 2024 1 mins

Skin biopsies have proven better at diagnosing the rare brain disease Creutzfeldt-Jakob, abbreviated CJD, than doing a spinal tap to obtain cerebrospinal fluid, a new study reports. Ted Dawson, a neurologist at Johns Hopkins, says this new test has multiple advantages. Dawson: This allows one to establish 1, the diagnosis. It can limit the need to have a pathologic diagnosis a

Diagnosing some neurologic diseases may now use a skin biopsy, Elizabeth Tracey reports

Nov 04 2024 1 mins

Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease or CJD is a rare neurological condition that may initially look like dementia and that is ultimately fatal. It’s caused by something called a prion, which is smaller than a virus. Now a new study demonstrates that a skin biopsy done in two or more different places can make the diagnosis. Ted Dawson, a neurologist at Johns Hopkins, says this test cou

Treatment of the skin cancer melanoma continues to improve, Elizabeth Tracey reports

Oct 28 2024 1 mins

The skin cancer melanoma has historically been associated with difficulties in treatment and survival, but that picture is changing rapidly. Now the results of a ten year trial support use of two agents to manage this disease, according to Kimmel Cancer Center director William Nelson at Johns Hopkins. Nelson: Two different immune checkpoint inhibitors, one called ipilimumab and a d

There’s good news for a difficult to treat breast cancer, Elizabeth Tracey reports

Oct 28 2024 1 mins

So called triple negative breast cancer is associated with increased rates of spread, recurrence and death than other forms, but now long term results of a clinical trial offer better odds against this disease, William Nelson, director of the Kimmel Cancer Center at Johns Hopkins, reveals. Nelson: They did a randomized trial where they gave pembrolizumab, which is an immune checkpo

Even if you’ve had a false positive mammogram you should still have regular screening, Elizabeth Tracey reports

Oct 28 2024 1 mins

Women who’ve had a false positive mammogram may be at increased risk for developing breast cancer later, a recent study shows, so regular mammography is a good idea. Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center director William Nelson concurs. Nelson: If you look at broadly the risk to have breast cancer ultimately detected the history of having a benign breast biopsy increases the risk. T

Just how often do mammograms turn up false positive results? Elizabeth Tracey reports

Oct 28 2024 1 mins

No woman likes to undergo mammography, and when results seem to show a problem when there isn’t one, many will choose to give subsequent studies a miss. That’s according to a recent study Kimmel Cancer Center director William Nelson at Johns Hopkins describes. Nelson: In younger women it turns out that some like 10 to 12% of them will end up having a false positive. One way to

What happens when a woman gets a false positive mammogram? Elizabeth Tracey reports

Oct 28 2024 1 mins

If you are a woman who’s had a mammogram to screen for breast cancer, you may be reluctant to come back again for regular screening if you’ve gotten a positive result that turned out to be false. That’s the conclusion of a recent study described by William Nelson, director of the Kimmel Cancer Center at Johns Hopkins. Nelson: There were 345,000 or so false positives, in other