Diabetes, Pediatric Services, Research

Ultra-fast-acting inhaled insulin, Afrezza, trialed at Norton Children’s Endocrinology

Afrezza inhaled insulin, currently approved for adults, is being tested for children in a clinical trial at Wendy Novak Diabetes Institute, a part of Norton Children’s Endocrinology, affiliated with the UofL School of Medicine. Norton Children’s is one of 40 sites nationally participating in the Phase 3 trial. Afrezza is an ultra-fast-acting inhaled mealtime insulin,…

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Oncology/Hematology, Pediatric Services, Research

DFMO medulloblastoma clinical trial examines drug’s effectiveness for high-risk cases

Researchers are recruiting pediatric medulloblastoma patients for a novel use of difluoromethylornithine (DFMO) to prevent relapse. The multisite study, sponsored by the Beat Childhood Cancer Consortium and led by Michael Angelo C. Huang, M.D., pediatric neuro-oncologist at Norton Children’s Cancer Institute, affiliated with the UofL School of Medicine, looks at whether DFMO offers a new…

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Adult Services, Neuroscience, Research

Butyrate-producing gut bacteria a promising avenue for Alzheimer’s treatment

Butyrate-producing gut bacteria are a promising target for preventing and treating memory loss associated with Alzheimer’s disease, according to research presented recently at the Alzheimer’s Association International Conference (AAIC) in Amsterdam, Netherlands. The research in 3XTg mouse model demonstrated that oral administration of tributyrin mitigates age-associated loss of butyrate-producing bacteria and prevents the decline in…

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Cardiovascular, Pediatric Services, Research

Norwood vs. COMPSII for critical left heart obstruction with prior palliation

Surgeons face two choices for infants with critical left heart obstruction who have had prior hybrid palliation: a Norwood operation or a comprehensive stage II (COMPSII). The critical left heart obstruction cohort of the multi-institutional Congenital Heart Surgeons’ Society looked at patient characteristics and outcomes for these two pathways. The study, “Norwood Operation Versus Comprehensive…

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Adult Services, Oncology/Hematology, Research

Natural killer cell leukemia trial underway

A human Phase 1 immunotherapy clinical trial is underway using natural killer cells, or NK cells, to target relapsed or refractory acute myeloid leukemia. Acute myeloid leukemia patients who have exhausted other treatment options are potential candidates for the trial, ClinicalTrials.gov ID NCT05470140. The trial uses cytokine-reprogrammed, non-engineered, “off-the-shelf” NK cells from a healthy donor….

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Adult Services, Oncology/Hematology, Research

Lutetium Lu 177 dotatate available for advanced neuroendocrine tumor treatment

Norton Cancer Institute is the only site in Louisville offering lutetium Lu 177 dotatate (Lutathera), a second-line treatment targeting advanced-stage neuroendocrine tumors in adult patients. The drug is indicated when a patient starts to lose response to the first-line therapies, lanreotide (Somatuline) and octreotide acetate (Sandostatin). Norton Cancer Institute To refer a patient to Norton…

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Adult Services, Neuro-Oncology, Research

Glioblastoma immunotherapeutic SurVaxM studied at Norton Healthcare Brain Tumor Center

Researchers at the Norton Healthcare Brain Tumor Center are conducting a clinical trial to determine whether a promising new immunotherapy drug, SurVaxM, improves survivability of glioblastoma. SurVaxM targets survivin, a protein in 95% of glioblastomas and many other cancers. The immunotherapeutic is designed to trigger the patient’s immune system to attack cancer cells with survivin….

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Adult Services, Oncology/Hematology, Research

Gilteritinib and venetoclax regimen yields encouraging results against FLT3-mutated AML

A new regimen of FMS-related tyrosine kinase 3 (FLT3) inhibitor gilteritinib and venetoclax was tolerable at standard doses and produced high response rates for advanced, FLT3-mutated acute myeloid leukemia (AML) in a multicenter Phase 1 study. “The results were encouraging. We saw high rates of marrow response and promising overall survival for this high-risk group…

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Adult Services, Neuroscience, Research

Mental health and provider considerations when treating multiple sclerosis

As mental health disorders can be one of the “invisible” symptoms of multiple sclerosis (MS), mental health care can be a part of routine MS care through the regular use of screening tools and an integrated approach to treatment, according to a recently published paper. Mood and mental health disorders such as depression, anxiety, adjustment…

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Adult Services, Pediatric Services, Research

Essentials of clinical trials

Clinical trials and studies, which are essential to the development of new drugs and treatments, need to be conducted under strict ethical, clinical and investigational structures. The most common are investigational trials with new medications or new devices. There are also studies involving outcome measurements and those looking at how people most effectively manage disease….

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Adult Services, Pediatric Services, Research

Clinical research: Asking questions, sharing answers

Clinical research drives progress for every element of health and requires global collaboration. At Norton Healthcare alone, our research teams lead and contribute to studies about pediatric medicine, cancer, infectious diseases, cardiology, neurology, the spine, orthopedics and many other specialties. Research requires meticulous attention to detail and a strong commitment to ethical integrity, not to…

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Adult Services, Oncology/Hematology, Research

Advancing the standard of cancer care and offering patients access to new therapies

Our goal is to offer every patient the option of the latest treatment available for their cancer. To do that, Norton Cancer Institute is participating in approximately 170 clinical trials at any time. These clinical trials involve nearly 500 patients either enrolled and receiving treatment, or in follow-up. For the participating patients, these studies offer…

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