Health Highlights: June 18, 2008
June 19 -- Here are some of the latest health and medical news developments, compiled by editors of HealthDay:
FDA Approves Breathing Aid Used By Christopher Reeve
A device that helps people with spinal cord injuries breathe without a ventilator for at least four hours at a time has been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, the agency said Wednesday.
Actor Christopher Reeve, who died in 2004, first used the then-experimental device a number of years ago, the Associated Press reported. He had been paralyzed below the neck after a horseback riding accident in 1995.
The NeuRX DPS RA/4 Respiratory Stimulation System uses four electrodes to stimulate the diaphragm, a lower abdominal muscle that's essential for breathing. People who are paralyzed due to spinal cord injury often lose control of the muscle, which contracts when a person inhales and relaxes when a person exhales.
"While the NeuRx RA/4 does not cure paralysis of the diaphragm, allowing patients to be free from a mechanical ventilator for at least four hours a day may enhance their quality of life," Dr. Daniel Schultz, director of the FDA's Center for Devices and Radiological Health, said in a statement.
The device is manufactured by Synapse Biomedical Inc., in Oberlin, Ohio.
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Tiger Woods Facing Knee Surgery, Out for Season
Golf legend Tiger Woods will miss the remainder of the 2008 season to have reconstructive surgery on a torn anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) in his left knee.
Woods tore the ligament last summer while running near his Orlando, Fla. home, he said on his Web site. In April, he had arthroscopic surgery on the area, and while recovering, sustained a double stress fracture of the left tibia, The New York Times reported Wednesday.
The announcement came two days after Woods' dramatic victory at the U.S. Open in San Diego after a 19-hole sudden death playoff. Despite the win, he had a noticeable limp and often winced after making shots.
Woods said he had hoped to avoid reconstructive surgery until after the season ended. There had been no prior mention of an ACL injury, the newspaper said.
