Team helps patients battle post-COVID cognitive issues
Jane Storie is one of many patients who are experiencing cognitive impairment after recovering from COVID-19. The long-term complication is also impacting her family — husband, James, daughter, Emily, and son, Andrew.
by Bill Snyder and Nancy Humphrey
Jane Storie always considered herself to be a “sunshiny” person. But then, in October 2020, she became ill with COVID-19. Nearly 18 months later,...
Additional COVID vaccine helps protect transplant patients
by Nancy Humphrey
Additional booster doses of vaccine against COVID-19 are particularly important for those who are immunosuppressed, namely those who have had solid organ transplants, a new study shows.
The study, published in the Journal of Infectious Diseases, shows that even after vaccination, patients taking immunosuppressive medications to prevent rejection of an organ transplant have higher...
Black patients with cancer face worse COVID outcomes: study
by Tom Wilemon
Black patients with cancer experienced significantly worse outcomes after COVID-19 diagnosis than non-Hispanic white cancer patients in a study published March 28 in JAMA Network Open.
Investigators of the COVID-19 and Cancer Consortium, which includes more than 125 cancer centers and other organizations, studied the electronic health records of 3,506 patients for the analysis,...
Surveys show VUMC patients value immediate online access to test results
by Paul Govern
Vanderbilt University Medical Center patients are overwhelmingly in favor of having immediate electronic access to their clinical test results, recent surveys show.
A federal rule in effect since April 5 was designed in part to ensure that patients are given electronic access to their health information upon their request and at no cost, including, with very few exceptions,...
Merck says its new Covid pill reduces the risk of hospitalization, death by half for some patients
Merck and Ridgeback Biotherapeutics will seek emergency authorization for their drug, which they say could have “a profound impact in controlling the pandemic.”
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Alarming number of pregnant COVID-19 patients hospitalized in August
by Jessica Stembridge
Vanderbilt University Hospital treated 39 pregnant patients hospitalized with active COVID-19 infections in August, 10 of whom were admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU).
Currently, there are four pregnant and postpartum patients in the Medical ICU with COVID-19 — one patient is still pregnant, and the remaining three patients recently underwent emergency deliveries...
Vaccinated patients avoiding hospital stays as pandemic rages on
by Paul Govern
Vanderbilt University Medical Center is reporting only four persons who have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19 have been diagnosed with COVID during an acute care hospitalization at its facilities over the past four months.
Among those who developed COVID after being fully vaccinated, some were asymptomatic, their infection only discovered through routine screening, while...
VUSM students helping vaccinate patients against COVID-19
by Kathy Whitney
Vanderbilt University School of Medicine students will be rolling up their sleeves and pitching in to vaccinate patients against COVID-19.
Since the pandemic encroached on Nashville last spring, the medical students have been eager to be of service, said Amy Fleming, MD, associate dean of Medical Student Affairs. Many have helped with telehealth appointments, volunteering in...
Convalescent plasma improved survival in COVID-19 patients with blood cancers
by Tom Wilemon
Treatment with convalescent plasma vastly improved the survival rate of patients hospitalized for COVID-19 who also had hematologic malignances that compromise the immune system, according to new data released by the COVID-19 and Cancer Consortium (CCC19).
Patients who received convalescent plasma from donors who had recovered from COVID-19 had a death rate of 13.3% compared to...
Clinic uses new weapon to treat high-risk COVID patients
by Bill Snyder
Vanderbilt University Medical Center has a new weapon in the fight against COVID-19 — an investigational antibody treatment approved last month for emergency use in COVID-19 outpatients at high risk of developing severe disease or requiring hospital care.
The antibody, called bamlanivimab, was discovered by Canadian biotech firm AbCellera and the National Institute of Allergy...
COVID patient’s heart-lung transplant is world’s first
by Matt Batcheldor
Vanderbilt University Medical Center has performed the world’s first dual heart-lung transplant of a COVID-19 patient.
The complex procedure, completed on Sept. 24, is the first heart-lung transplant VUMC has performed since 2006.
The transplant patient, a young man, had cardiomyopathy before contracting COVID-19 in June, said Ashish Shah, MD, professor and chair of Cardiac...