The ReBuilder effective for the treatment of the chronic pain of Peripheral Neuropathy

How do I use the ReBuilder for neuropathy pain?

Simply sit in your easy chair and turn on the ReBuilder for a soothing 30 minute treatment.

What is the ReBuilder?

The ReBuilder is a proven and doctor recommended, electronic pain treatment. The ReBuilder is fully registered with the FDA for the treatment of neuropathic symptoms. It is covered by private insurance companies such as Empire Life, Sun Life, and Desjardins, with more joining the list daily. The ReBuilder is specifically designed for the pain related to Peripheral neuropathy of any etiology, such as diabetic, idiopathic, alcoholic, inherited, and the pain of chemotherapy induced neuropathy. The ReBuilder is designed to be used in the privacy of your own home.
It consists of a small, hand held, battery powered stimulator that sends a comfortable electronic pulse to your feet and legs (or hands and arms) that can restore full nerve function. You can think of it like a heart pacemaker that restores and improves heart function: the ReBuilder restores, stabilizes, and rebuilds the nerves in your hands and feet.
ReBuilder 300 Unit
ReBuilder 2407 Professional Unit
Before each impulse is sent, the ReBuilder analyzes the waveform of your nerves, determines any abnormalities, creates the unique waveform of the healing signal necessary, administers that signal to both feet simultaneously, and then re-evaluates the result. This process happens 7.83 times every second. Each successive signal is constantly being adjusted to conform to what your nerves need in real time. The ReBuilder is powered by a common 9 volt battery and is microprocessor controlled.
The ReBuilder is not a common TENS device that is designed to temporarily block nerve signals; the ReBuilder is a unique form of TENS and restores (opens) nerve pathways so that your nerves function properly. Relief is usually felt with the very first treatment.
To use it, you simply sit in your easy chair, put on the conductive socks, and turn on the ReBuilder for a soothing 30 minute treatment. Your ReBuilder automatically shuts itself off at the end of the treatment session (just in case you fall asleep).
The ReBuilder works for your feet and legs, hands and arms... it even can be used to relieve pain in your lower back or the numbness associated with the sciatic nerve (sciatica). Sometimes this condition can be referred to as piriformis entrapment syndrome.
Your ReBuilder can also treat the painful symptoms of arthritis, MS, and many other forms of chronic pain, including post-surgical pain. Your ReBuilder can also stop the pain and numbness of sciatica. The sciatic nerve can become pinched within overworked muscles and the ReBuilder can quickly eliminate those symptoms as well.
The ReBuilder is used in Cancer treatment Centers all over the world to eliminate the neuropathy symptoms that develop of the result of chemotherapy. If the ReBuilder can stop and reverse pain from chemo-induced neuropathy, it can surely help you.
"The ReBuilder has helped our patients who have painful side effects from chemotherapy neuropathy so much..." Cancer Treatment Centers of America.
The difference between the ReBuilder and a TENS device

The ReBuilder is not a "common" TENS device. The ReBuilder is specifically designed to treat the painful symptoms of neuropathy and sciatica. Neuropathic and sciatic pain is diffuse, usually affecting the entire lower half of the body, ly the feet and legs. Sometimes Peripheral neuropathy can also affect your hands, and arms. Because of this diffuse, bilateral nature of neuropathy and nerve pain in general, the area to be treated is too large to be treated with a common TENS. In addition, a common TENS, whether it is microcurrent or not, blocks nerve transmissions, while the ReBuilder does the exact opposite...it opens and conditions the nerves and the nerve paths.
It can be very dangerous to use a common TENS device in the way the ReBuilder is used. This is because a common TENS device is designed to be used with the conductive skin electrodes placed close together, normally about 4 to 6 inches apart. If you were to place the pads farther apart, such as one pad on one foot and the other on the other foot like the ReBuilder does, the common TENS will unsafely continue to put out more and more current until it either burns itself out or it burns out your nerves. It can over stimulate your nerves and cause them to go into fibrillation, (like in a heart attack), causing permanent damage.
The ReBuilder has special bio feedback circuits built in that not only isolate the power source from the patient, but can automatically adjust and limit the output power for the patient's safety.
The ReBuilder is different from other common TENS devices in that it analyzes in real time, the waveform that the nerves are responding with, and then creates a specific waveform to gently nudge the dysfunctional nerves back to full function. We have discovered in our research here in our own lab, that nerves communicate with each other like an FM radio. In an FM radio, each station is looking for a specific frequency and waveform as a 'carrier". Then the data sent from the radio station is translated to music or voice. Similarly, your nerves expect to communicate with each other, your brain, and your muscles with specific frequencies and waveforms. The ReBuilder reads all this data from your nerves, determines the various deficiencies, creates a custom output signal, and does it all in real time, and it does this 7.83 times per second to give your nerves a chance to re-polarize and not become overloaded or go into fibrillation.
While most TENS use a simple square wave, and others use a dampened sinosoidal waveform, neither of these outputs speak the special of nerves, therefore they only serve to, in effect, shout to the nerves. The ReBuilder whispers.
The ReBuilder was originally cleared by the FDA in 1987 and has been under going constant improvements ever since then. It was approved for Medicare and Insurance coverage in 2005. One such improvement was the addition of special circuitry to enable the ReBuilder to administer its healing signals via special, silver laced electrically conductive socks and gloves. These gloves are manufactured by us to match the impedance and other electrical parameters of the ReBuilder to provide a safe, effective treatment system for the pain associated with diabetic Peripheral neuropathy, sciatica, Peripheral vascular disease and Peripheral artery disease.
Special safety alert: There is only one ReBuilder, and you should be careful not to accept any substitutes such as a regular TENS or cheap, imported, socks or gloves.
A regular TENS is designed to be used with the electrodes placed about 4 to 6 inches apart. When the electrodes are placed one on each foot or hand, the amount of tissue between the electrodes is about 300 times greater, which means that the electrical resistance is 300 times greater. A regular TENS has to overcome this higher resistance, and can overload itself. Regular TENS do not have circuits to "blow a safety fuse" so they keep right on pumping out more and more current, and this can cause permanent, even fatal damage to your nerves. Regular TENS devices can be very dangerous. Always demand "Brand Specific: ReBuilder Model 300 or Model 2407."
Do not accept any conductive garment that does not have a permanent sewn-in label indicating that it is the authentic ReBuilder Brand Specific Conductive Garment. Cheap imitations are likely manufactured in China, and besides having a lesser manufacturing quality relative to the sewing, we have found many samples to be contaminated with chemicals just like the contamination found in Chinese drywall and Chinese toys. When contaminated, the electrical impulses can cause a transdermal (across the skin) migration of lead, asbestos, cadmium, etc. into the skin of your feet and can cause permanent damage that is not immediately noticeable, but cannot be reversed. You can cause permanent damage to the nerves in your feet or hands if you use cheap imitation gloves or socks.
Our socks are manufactured here in the US by us, in our own manufacturing facility. The material first undergoes a rigorous QC process, then washed, then special conductive minerals are infused into the material to standardize the conductivity and make the garments sustain repeated washings and to properly and safely carry the unique ReBuilder impulse to your nerves.
Always demand the original, Brand Specific, ReBuilder products.
How does the ReBuilder work?

The ReBuilder uses special electrically conductive socks or gloves (threaded with pure silver strands) or conductive adhesive pads, or twin compartment footbath (your preference) to deliver the healing impulses at the rate of 7.83 signals per second. This specific rate is particularly comforting to nerve cells because it gives each cell sufficient time to repolarize between impulses.
While sitting in your chair or in bed, this soothing signal travels from one foot, up the leg, across the nerve roots in the lower back, then down the other leg to the other foot. This occurs because one sock is electrically positive while the other sock is simultaneously electrically negative, this ensures the signal travels from one foot to the other and effectively treats all the nerves in the lower half of the body at the same time.
The ReBuilder's microprocessor then measures several electrical aspects of your nerves and muscles and automatically adjusts itself to your specific situation and therapeutic needs. The tingling impulses then reverse direction and goes from one foot all the way back to the other foot. In this way, all the nerves from the lumbar area down to your toes are treated.

This back and forth action acts to "wake up" dormant nerves so they function normally again, and re-educates the nerve pathways so you don't get those "short circuits" of shooting pains. It also strengthens weakened leg muscles to help you walk more securely, confidently, and safely.
One portion of the ReBuilder's signal resets the nerve's set points, thus restoring natural sensations and canceling tingling and numbness. Please read on below for a more technical physiological explanation of the physiologic basis of the ReBuilder.
Another unique benefit of the ReBuilder is that it stimulates the brain to release endorphins (pain relievers manufactured by your own body with no side effects) that travel throughout your entire body via the blood stream, helping you to relax and assisting you to fall asleep, and rest all night without medications. These endorphins can also help relieve the pain of arthritis, etc.
Sometimes it can help to understand exactly how your nerves work. To read about the anatomy of your nerves in detail, click here.

Epidemiology

Main article: Epidemiology of cancer

Death rate from malignant cancer per 100,000 inhabitants in 2004.^[99]

  no data

  ≤ 55

  55-80

  80-105

  105-130

  130-155

  155-180

  180-205

  205-230

  230-255

  255-280

  280-305

  ≥ 305

In 2008 approximately 12.7 million cancers were diagnosed (excluding non-melanoma skin cancers and other non-invasive cancers) and 7.6 million people died of cancer worldwide.^[3] Cancers as a group account for approximately 13% of all deaths each year with the most common being: lung cancer (1.3 million deaths), stomach cancer (803,000 deaths), colorectal cancer (639,000 deaths), liver cancer (610,000 deaths), and breast cancer (519,000 deaths).^[100] This makes invasive cancer the leading cause of death in the developed world and the second leading cause of death in the developing world.^[3] Over half of cases occur in the developing world.^[3]
Global cancer rates have been increasing primarily due to an aging population and lifestyle changes in the developing world.^[3] The most significant risk factor for developing cancer is old age.^[101] Although it is possible for cancer to strike at any age, most people who are diagnosed with invasive cancer are over the age of 65.^[101] According to cancer researcher Robert A. Weinberg, "If we lived long enough, sooner or later we all would get cancer."^[102] Some of the association between aging and cancer is attributed to immunosenescence,^[103] errors accumulated in DNA over a lifetime, and age-related changes in the endocrine system.^[104]
Some slow-growing cancers are particularly common. Autopsy studies in Europe and Asia have shown that up to 36% of people have undiagnosed and apparently harmless thyroid cancer at the time of their deaths, and that 80% of men develop prostate cancer by age 80.^[105][106] As these cancers, often very small, did not cause the person's death, identifying them would have represented overdiagnosis rather than useful medical care.
The three most common childhood cancers are leukemia (34%), brain tumors (23%), and lymphomas (12%).^[107] Rates of childhood cancer have increased between 0.6% per year between 1975 to 2002 in the United States^[108] and by 1.1% per year between 1978 and 1997 in Europe.^[107]

History

Hippocrates (ca. 460 BC – ca. 370 BC) described several kinds of cancers, referring to them with the Greek word carcinos (crab or crayfish), among others.^[109] This name comes from the appearance of the cut surface of a solid malignant tumour, with "the veins stretched on all sides as the animal the crab has its feet, whence it derives its name".^[110] Since it was against Greek tradition to open the body, Hippocrates only described and made drawings of outwardly visible tumors on the skin, nose, and breasts. Treatment was based on the humor theory of four bodily fluids (black and yellow bile, blood, and phlegm). According to the patient's humor, treatment consisted of diet, blood-letting, and/or laxatives. Through the centuries it was discovered that cancer could occur anywhere in the body, but humor-theory based treatment remained popular until the 19th century with the discovery of cells.

Engraving with two views of a Dutch woman who had a tumor removed from her neck in 1689.

Celsus (ca. 25 BC - 50 AD) translated carcinos into the Latin cancer, also meaning crab. Galen (2nd century AD) called benign tumours oncos, Greek for swelling, reserving Hippocrates' carcinos for malignant tumours. He later added the suffix -oma, Greek for swelling, giving the name carcinoma.
The oldest known description and surgical treatment of cancer was discovered in Egypt and dates back to approximately 1600 BC. The Papyrus describes 8 cases of ulcers of the breast that were treated by cauterization, with a tool called "the fire drill." The writing says about the disease, "There is no treatment."^[111]
In the 16th and 17th centuries, it became more acceptable for doctors to dissect bodies to discover the cause of death. The German professor Wilhelm Fabry believed that breast cancer was caused by a milk clot in a mammary duct. The Dutch professor Francois de la Boe Sylvius, a follower of Descartes, believed that all disease was the outcome of chemical processes, and that acidic lymph fluid was the cause of cancer. His contemporary Nicolaes Tulp believed that cancer was a poison that slowly spreads, and concluded that it was contagious.^[112]
The first cause of cancer was identified by British surgeon Percivall Pott, who discovered in 1775 that cancer of the scrotum was a common disease among chimney sweeps. The work of other individual physicians led to various insights, but when physicians started working together they could make firmer conclusions.
With the widespread use of the microscope in the 18th century, it was discovered that the 'cancer poison' spread from the primary tumor through the lymph nodes to other sites ("metastasis"). This view of the disease was first formulated by the English surgeon Campbell De Morgan between 1871 and 1874.^[113] The use of surgery to treat cancer had poor results due to problems with hygiene. The renowned Scottish surgeon Alexander Monro saw only 2 breast tumor patients out of 60 surviving surgery for two years. In the 19th century, asepsis improved surgical hygiene and as the survival statistics went up, surgical removal of the tumor became the primary treatment for cancer. With the exception of William Coley who in the late 19th century felt that the rate of cure after surgery had been higher before asepsis (and who injected bacteria into tumors with mixed results), cancer treatment became dependent on the individual art of the surgeon at removing a tumor. During the same period, the idea that the body was made up of various tissues, that in turn were made up of millions of cells, laid rest the humor-theories about chemical imbalances in the body. The age of cellular pathology was born.
The genetic basis of cancer was recognised in 1902 by the German zoologist Theodor Boveri, professor of zoology at Munich and later in Würzburg.^[114] He discovered a method to generate cells with multiple copies of the centrosome, a structure he discovered and named. He postulated that chromosomes were distinct and transmitted different inheritance factors. He suggested that mutations of the chromosomes could generate a cell with unlimited growth potential which could be passed onto its descendants. He proposed the existence of cell cycle check points, tumour suppressor genes and oncogenes. He speculated that cancers might be caused or promoted by radiation, physical or chemical insults or by pathogenic microorganisms.

1938 poster identifying surgery, x-rays and radium as the proper treatments for cancer.

When Marie Curie and Pierre Curie discovered radiation at the end of the 19th century, they stumbled upon the first effective non-surgical cancer treatment. With radiation also came the first signs of multi-disciplinary approaches to cancer treatment. The surgeon was no longer operating in isolation, but worked together with hospital radiologists to help patients. The complications in communication this brought, along with the necessity of the patient's treatment in a hospital facility rather than at home, also created a parallel process of compiling patient data into hospital files, which in turn led to the first statistical patient studies.
A founding paper of cancer epidemiology was the work of Janet Lane-Claypon, who published a comparative study in 1926 of 500 breast cancer cases and 500 control patients of the same background and lifestyle for the British Ministry of Health. Her ground-breaking work on cancer epidemiology was carried on by Richard Doll and Austin Bradford Hill, who published "Lung Cancer and Other Causes of Death In Relation to Smoking. A Second Report on the Mortality of British Doctors" followed in 1956 (otherwise known as the British doctors study). Richard Doll left the London Medical Research Center (MRC), to start the Oxford unit for Cancer epidemiology in 1968. With the use of computers, the unit was the first to compile large amounts of cancer data. Modern epidemiological methods are closely linked to current^[when?] concepts of disease and public health policy. Over the past 50 years, great efforts have been spent on gathering data across medical practise, hospital, provincial, state, and even country boundaries to study the interdependence of environmental and cultural factors on cancer incidence.
Cancer patient treatment and studies were restricted to individual physicians' practices until World War II, when medical research centers discovered that there were large international differences in disease incidence. This insight drove national public health bodies to make it possible to compile health data across practises and hospitals, a process that many countries do today. The Japanese medical community observed that the bone marrow of victims of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki was completely destroyed. They concluded that diseased bone marrow could also be destroyed with radiation, and this led to the discovery of bone marrow transplants for leukemia. Since World War II, trends in cancer treatment are to improve on a micro-level the existing treatment methods, standardize them, and globalize them to find cures through epidemiology and international partnerships.

Society and culture

While many diseases (such as heart failure) may have a worse prognosis than most cases of cancer, it is the subject of widespread fear and taboos. Euphemisms, once "a long illness", and now informally as "the big C", provide distance and soothe superstitions.^[115] This deep belief that cancer is necessarily a difficult and usually deadly disease is reflected in the systems chosen by society to compile cancer statistics: the most common form of cancer—non-melanoma skin cancers, accounting for about one-third of all cancer cases worldwide, but very few deaths^[116][117]—are excluded from cancer statistics specifically because they are easily treated and almost always cured, often in a single, short, outpatient procedure.^[118]
Cancer is regarded as a disease that must be "fought" to end the "civil insurrection"; a War on Cancer has been declared. Military metaphors are particularly common in descriptions of cancer's human effects, and they emphasize both the parlous state of the affected individual's health and the need for the individual to take immediate, decisive actions himself, rather than to delay, to ignore, or to rely entirely on others caring for him. The military metaphors also help rationalize radical, destructive treatments.^[119][120]
In the 1970s, a relatively popular alternative cancer treatment was a specialized form of talk therapy, based on the idea that cancer was caused by a bad attitude.^[88] People with a "cancer personality"—depressed, repressed, self-loathing, and afraid to express their emotions—were believed to have manifested cancer through subconscious desire. Some psychotherapists said that treatment to change the patient's outlook on life would cure the cancer.^[88] Among other effects, this belief allows society to blame the victim for having caused the cancer (by "wanting" it) or having prevented its cure (by not becoming a sufficiently happy, fearless, and loving person).^[121] It also increases patients' anxiety, as they incorrectly believe that natural emotions of sadness, anger or fear shorten their lives.^[121] The idea was excoriated by the notoriously outspoken Susan Sontag, who published Illness as Metaphor while recovering from treatment for breast cancer in 1978.^[88] Although the original idea is now generally regarded as nonsense, the idea partly persists in a reduced form with a widespread, but incorrect, belief that deliberately cultivating a habit of positive thinking will increase survival.^[121] This notion is particularly strong in breast cancer culture.^[121]

Research

Main article: Cancer research

Cancer research is the intense scientific effort to understand disease processes and discover possible therapies.
Research about cancer causes focusses on the following issues:

• Agents (e.g. viruses) and events (e.g. mutations) which cause or facilitate genetic changes in cells destined to become cancer.
• The precise nature of the genetic damage, and the genes which are affected by it.
• The consequences of those genetic changes on the biology of the cell, both in generating the defining properties of a cancer cell, and in facilitating additional genetic events which lead to further progression of the cancer.

The improved understanding of molecular biology and cellular biology due to cancer research has led to a number of new, effective treatments for cancer since President Nixon declared "War on Cancer" in 1971. Since 1971 the United States has invested over $200 billion on cancer research; that total includes money invested by public and private sectors and foundations.^[122] Despite this substantial investment, the country has seen a five percent decrease in the cancer death rate (adjusting for size and age of the population) between 1950 and 2005.^[123]
Leading cancer research organizations and projects include the American Association for Cancer Research, the American Cancer Society (ACS), the American Society of Clinical Oncology, the European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer, Cancer Research UK, ECCO - the European Cancer Organisation, the National Cancer Institute, the National Comprehensive Cancer Network, and The Cancer Genome Atlas project at the NCI.

History of medicine

Main article: Timeline of medicine and medical technology

Prehistoric medicine incorporated plants (herbalism), animal parts and minerals. In many cases these materials were used ritually as magical substances by priests, shamans, or medicine men. Well-known spiritual systems include animism (the notion of inanimate objects having spirits), spiritualism (an appeal to gods or communion with ancestor spirits); shamanism (the vesting of an individual with mystic powers); and divination (magically obtaining the truth). The field of medical anthropology examines the ways in which culture and society are organized around or impacted by issues of health, health care and related issues.

Statuette of ancient Egyptian physician Imhotep, the first physician from antiquity known by name.

An ancient Greek patient gets medical treatment: this aryballos (circa 480-470 BCE, now in Paris's Louvre Museum) probably contained healing oil

Early records on medicine have been discovered from ancient Egyptian medicine, Babylonian medicine, Ayurvedic medicine (in the Indian subcontinent), classical Chinese medicine (predecessor to the modern traditional Chinese Medicine), and ancient Greek medicine and Roman medicine. The Egyptian Imhotep (3rd millennium BC) is the first physician in history known by name. Earliest records of dedicated hospitals come from Mihintale in Sri Lanka where evidence of dedicated medicinal treatment facilities for patients are found.^[4][5] The Indian surgeon Sushruta described numerous surgical operations, including the earliest forms of plastic surgery.^{[6][dubious – discuss][7]}

The Greek physician Hippocrates (ca. 460 BCE – ca. 370 BCE), considered the father of Western medicine.^[8][9]

The Greek physician Hippocrates, the "father of medicine",^[9][10] laid the foundation for a rational approach to medicine. Hippocrates introduced the Hippocratic Oath for physicians, which is still relevant and in use today, and was the first to categorize illnesses as acute, chronic, endemic and epidemic, and use terms such as, "exacerbation, relapse, resolution, crisis, paroxysm, peak, and convalescence".^[11][12]
The Greek physician Galen was also one of the greatest surgeons of the ancient world and performed many audacious operations, including brain and eye surgeries. After the fall of the Western Roman Empire and the onset of the Early Middle Ages, the Greek tradition of medicine went into decline in Western Europe, although it continued uninterrupted in the Eastern Roman (Byzantine) Empire.
After 750 CE, the Muslim Arab world had the works of Hippocrates, Galen and Sushruta translated into Arabic, and Islamic physicians engaged in some significant medical research. Notable Islamic medical pioneers include the polymath, Avicenna, who, along with Imhotep and Hippocrates, has also been called the "father of medicine".^[13][14] He wrote The Canon of Medicine, considered one of the most famous books in the history of medicine.^[15] Others include Abulcasis,^[16] Avenzoar,^[17] Ibn al-Nafis,^[18] and Averroes.^[19] Rhazes^[20] was one of first to question the Greek theory of humorism, which nevertheless remained influential in both medieval Western and medieval Islamic medicine.^[21] The Islamic Bimaristan hospitals were an early example of public hospitals.^[22][23]
However, the fourteenth and fifteenth century Black Death was just as devastating to the Middle East as to Europe, and it has even been argued that Western Europe was generally more effective in recovering from the pandemic than the Middle East.^[24] In the early modern period, important early figures in medicine and anatomy emerged in Europe, including Gabriele Falloppio and William Harvey.
The major shift in medical thinking was the gradual rejection, especially during the Black Death in the 14th and 15th centuries, of what may be called the 'traditional authority' approach to science and medicine. This was the notion that because some prominent person in the past said something must be so, then that was the way it was, and anything one observed to the contrary was an anomaly (which was paralleled by a similar shift in European society in general - see Copernicus's rejection of Ptolemy's theories on astronomy). Physicians like Vesalius improved upon or disproved some of the theories from the past.
Andreas Vesalius was an author of one of the most influential books on human anatomy, De humani corporis fabrica.^[25] French surgeon Ambroise Paré is considered as one of the fathers of surgery. Bacteria and microorganisms were first observed with a microscope by Antonie van Leeuwenhoek in 1676, initiating the scientific field microbiology.^[26] Partly based on the works by the Italian surgeon and anatomist Matteo Realdo Colombo the English physician William Harvey described the circulatory system.^[27] Herman Boerhaave is sometimes referred to as a "father of physiology" due to his exemplary teaching in Leiden and textbook 'Institutiones medicae' (1708). It is said that the 17th century French physician Pierre Fauchard started dentistry science as we know it today, and he has been named "the father of modern dentistry".^[28]
Modern scientific biomedical research (where results are testable and reproducible) began to replace early Western traditions based on herbalism, the Greek "four humours" and other such pre-modern notions. The modern era really began with Edward Jenner's discovery of the smallpox vaccine at the end of the 18th century (inspired by the method of inoculation earlier practiced in Asia), Robert Koch's discoveries around 1880 of the transmission of disease by bacteria, and then the discovery of antibiotics around 1900.
The post-18th century modernity period brought more groundbreaking researchers from Europe. From Germany and Austria, doctors Rudolf Virchow, Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen, Karl Landsteiner and Otto Loewi made notable contributions. In the United Kingdom, Alexander Fleming, Joseph Lister, Francis Crick and Florence Nightingale are considered important. Spanish doctor Santiago Ramón y Cajal is considered the father of modern neuroscience.
From New Zealand and Australia came Maurice Wilkins, Howard Florey, and Frank Macfarlane Burnet.
In the United States, William Williams Keen, William Coley, James D. Watson, Italy (Salvador Luria), Switzerland (Alexandre Yersin), Japan (Kitasato Shibasaburō), and France (Jean-Martin Charcot, Claude Bernard, Paul Broca and others did significant work). Russian Nikolai Korotkov also did significant work, as did Sir William Osler and Harvey Cushing.
As science and technology developed, medicine became more reliant upon medications. Throughout history and in Europe right until the late 18th century, not only animal and plant products were used as medicine, but also human body parts and fluids.^[29] Pharmacology developed from herbalism and many drugs are still derived from plants (atropine, ephedrine, warfarin, aspirin, digoxin, vinca alkaloids, taxol, hyoscine, etc.). Vaccines were discovered by Edward Jenner and Louis Pasteur.
The first antibiotic was arsphenamine / Salvarsan discovered by Paul Ehrlich in 1908 after he observed that bacteria took up toxic dyes that human cells did not. The first major class of antibiotics was the sulfa drugs, derived by French chemists originally from azo dyes.
Pharmacology has become increasingly sophisticated; modern biotechnology allows drugs targeted towards specific physiological processes to be developed, sometimes designed for compatibility with the body to reduce side-effects. Genomics and knowledge of human genetics is having some influence on medicine, as the causative genes of most monogenic genetic disorders have now been identified, and the development of techniques in molecular biology and genetics are influencing medical technology, practice and decision-making.
Evidence-based medicine is a contemporary movement to establish the most effective algorithms of practice (ways of doing things) through the use of systematic reviews and meta-analysis. The movement is facilitated by modern global information science, which allows as much of the available evidence as possible to be collected and analyzed according to standard protocols that are then disseminated to healthcare providers. The Cochrane Collaboration leads this movement. A 2001 review of 160 Cochrane systematic reviews revealed that, according to two readers, 21.3% of the reviews concluded insufficient evidence, 20% concluded evidence of no effect, and 22.5% concluded positive effect.[3

Default What Is the Medical Device Industry?

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What Is the Medical Device Industry?

The medical device industry supplies equipment and machines to the health care and medical industries. Some purposes for the machines and equipment include patient care, surgery, diagnosis and therapy. The medical device industry manufactures and distributes supplies that range from tongue depressors to X-ray machines. Generally, there are four primary players in the medical device industry: manufacturers, distributors, users and consumers.

The manufacturers are the companies that actually create and build the medical devices. Generally, a medical device company specializes in one type of machine. This is especially true for the more expensive units. Other medical device manufacturers specialize in categories, so they may manufacturer all heart-related medical devices. For smaller medical items, such as cotton swabs and tongue depressors, one manufacturer may supply a variety of items.

The manufacturers in the medical device industry build the machines, but tend to depend on distributors or sales people to sell the devices to the users. Some distributors may be medical device stores or pharmacies, where the retail store buys directly from the manufacturer. This tends to be for walking canes, walkers, hospital beds and other items that a consumer may buy directly from a store or pharmacy.

X-ray machines and high-end equipment that hospitals and doctors use are typically sold through a sales representative or distributor. These professionals have accounts that they visit on a regular basis to present the equipment or medical device that they are selling. The representative demonstrates the use of the equipment and tries to sell it to the hospital or doctor’s office.

After the hospital or doctor’s office purchases the equipment, the representative may even train the staff on how to use it. The users in the medical device industry tend to be medical and health care professionals. These are the customers in the industry that have their hands on the machine and are using the machines and equipment to perform their job duties, typically on a daily basis.

The final category in the medical device industry is the consumer. In the healthcare industry, these are the patients that need the machines for diagnosis, surgery, therapy or some other form of patient care. The users of the medical devices must have patients in order to put the equipment and machinery to good use.

Some experts even divide the medical device industry into two regions: European and United States. This is because there are some medical devices that become available in one region, but are not yet available in another. Primarily, this is due to the standards and guidelines that are set by the bodies in each region that govern the manufacturing and distribution of medical devices and equipment

Symptoms of Mesothelioma

Symptoms of Mesothelioma

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About 15% of Mesothelioma cases are found in the early stages, before the cancer has spread to nearby lymph nodes or elsewhere. The 5 year survival rate for people with mesothelioma is 50% if there is no evidence of cancer in lymph nodes at the time of surgery. Unfortunately, in most cases, the spread of cancer has already occurred even if not detected by current medical tests. When all mesothelioma stages are considered together, the 5 year survival rate is only about 14%. Many early mesothelioma are diagnosed incidentally - they are found as a result of tests that are done for an unrelated medical condition. Although mesothelioma does not cause any symptoms until it has spread too far to be cured, symptoms do occur in some patients with early mesothelioma . Prompt attention to symptoms, leading to early diagnosis and treatment can result in a cure for some patients. For others, prompt attention to symptoms can improve the likelihood that treatment can extend their life and relieve many of their symptoms.
Common signs and symptoms of mesothelioma include:

• A cough that does not go away
• Chest pain, often aggravated by deep breathing
• Hoarseness
• Weight loss and loss of appetite
• Bloody or rust-colored sputum (spit or phlegm)
• Shortness of breath
• Fever without a known reason
• Recurring infections such as bronchitis and pneumonia
• New onset of wheezing
• When mesothelioma spreads to distant organs, it may cause:
• Bone pain
• Neurologic changes (such as weakness or numbness of a limb, dizziness)
• Jaundice (yellow coloring of the skin and eyes)
• Masses near the surface of the body, due to cancer spreading to the skin or to lymph nodes (collection of immune system cells) in the neck or above the collarbone.

A. Pleural mesothelioma Symptoms
Some of the symptoms of pleural mesothelioma (mesothelioma cancer of the lung lining) include:
pain in the lower back or the side of the chestshortness of breatha persistent coughdifficulty swallowing foodfever and sweatingfatigueweight loss.
These symptoms are also common to many minor ailments and, therefore, may not cause a doctor to suspect mesothelioma.
Pleural Effusion-fluid in the Lungs
One of the most common and specific symptoms of pleural mesothelioma is the accumulation of fluid between the lungs and chest cavity. This generally causes shortness of breath, and requires a doctor to drain the fluid, called fine-needle aspiration, to make breathing easier and relieve chest pain. This symptom is more unique to mesothelioma, making it more likely that you may have the disease.
B. Peritoneal mesothelioma Symptoms
Symptoms of peritoneal mesothelioma (abdominal mesothelioma - mesothelioma of the lining of the stomach) include:
stomach pain nausea and vomiting weight loss.Like pleural mesothelioma, these symptoms are also common to many minor ailments and, therefore, may not cause a doctor to suspect mesothelioma

Carpal Tunnel Syndrome

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Overview, Causes, & Risk Factors

Carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) is a condition in which the median nerve in the wrist is compressed. This causes numbness and pain in the fingers and hand.
What is going on in the body?

A ligament and the bones at the base of the palm of the hand, just beyond the wrist, form the carpal tunnel. Through this tunnel passes the median nerve and tendons going to the fingers and thumb. The median nerve conducts sensation from the palm side of the thumb and fingers, except for the little finger. It also carries impulses to small muscles in the hand, particularly at the palm side of the base of the thumb. If the pressure in the carpal tunnel increases enough, the median nerve is compressed.
What are the causes and risks of the condition?

CTS can be caused by anything that increases pressure on the nerve in the carpal tunnel. CTS has been associated with repetitive stress injury. This type of injury occurs when a part of the body is used repeatedly or overused. People who use computers or vibrating tools are at particular risk. Factory workers on assembly lines, or those who do repeated actions involving the wrist, may develop CTS.

Other factors can also increase a person's risk for carpal tunnel syndrome. Examples include the following: chronic renal failure, a form of kidney failure
a cyst on the tendon
diabetes
gout, a form of arthritis
hemodialysis, a procedure for filtering blood of people with kidney failure
hypothyroidism, or low levels of thyroid hormone
obesity
oral contraceptives
pregnancy
rheumatoid arthritis
trauma, or injury, to the wrist
tuberculosis
Carpal tunnel syndrome is more common in women than in men. It is most common in middle-aged individuals.

Symptoms & Signs

What are the signs and symptoms of the condition?

CTS usually starts gradually, with a vague aching in the wrist, extending into the hand or forearm. Acute onset occurs when the compression of the nerve happens suddenly. This sudden onset is more likely to cause pain. The numbness and tingling is felt in the thumb, index finger, long finger, and half of the ring finger on the palm side. Sharp pains may radiate up through the arm or shoulder.
Often a person will wake up at night with pain or numbness. The individual may shake or massage the wrist in order to "improve the circulation." Similar symptoms can occur during the day, particularly when performing repetitive activities with the wrist bent. Eventually the nerve trouble can result in weakness of the thumb muscles and a tendency to drop things.

Diagnosis & Tests

How is the condition diagnosed?


The diagnosis of carpal tunnel syndrome begins with a medical history and physical exam. The healthcare provider may order additional tests, including: an electromyogram, or EMG, which tests the electrical activity of the muscle
an MRI of the wrist, which may show the compressed nerve
a nerve conduction velocity test, which measures electrical conduction along the median nerve

Prevention & Expectations

What can be done to prevent the condition?

Any underlying cause of CTS should be diagnosed and corrected. For example, medicine can be used to correct hypothyroidism.
Overuse of the wrist and fingers should be avoided. A small recovery time is needed to rest and lubricate the flexor tendons. Variety is the key. Workers whose motions are repetitious and prolonged are at risk. A mixture of activities, such as typing interspersed with filing, may help to rest the affected areas. Finding a new way to use the hand, by using a different tool, may help some individuals. Using the nondominant hand more often might help to relieve stress on the dominant extremity.
Computer workstations should be designed so that the wrists are well supported in a neutral position. Care should be taken to avoid striking the palm side of the wrist on hard surfaces. Special on-the-job equipment and training may be available.
Early identification of symptoms is important. Early symptoms, such as tingling in the fingers, may occur several hours after the aggravating activity has stopped. Making the connection between activities and symptoms is important. This gives the person a chance to correct working conditions. This may help to prevent further or worsening symptoms.
What are the long-term effects of the condition?

If carpal tunnel syndrome isn't treated, the hand may become weaker and number. Permanent numbness and weakness can result.
What are the risks to others?

Carpal tunnel syndrome is not contagious and poses no risk to others.

Treatment & Monitoring

What are the treatments for the condition?

Underlying diseases, such as diabetes, underactive thyroid, and rheumatoid arthritis should be treated. Weight loss or reduced salt intake may be helpful.
Repetitive use of the hand with the wrist bent must be avoided. Frequent changes of activity, with breaks for 5 minutes every hour, can help prevent overuse. Certain exercises can be done to increase flexibility in the wrist and fingers. People with CTS should not sleep on their hands or with wrists bent down. It is very important to sit properly at the computer, with good support for the wrists. Yoga-based exercises may be effective.
For mild cases, the first treatment is to splint the wrist at night and during the day if possible. A splint keeps the wrist from moving but allows for mostly normal hand activity. Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), such as aspirin or ibuprofen, can be used for a short time. If these do not help, a corticosteroid can be injected into the carpal tunnel. This may help permanently or only temporarily.
Surgery, called carpal tunnel repair, is reserved for people with muscle wasting and decreased sensation. This surgery is considered only when the symptoms are no better after several months of treatment.
What are the side effects of the treatments?

NSAIDs can cause stomach upset or allergic reactions. Injecting corticosteroids rarely can accidentally injure the nerve. Surgery can cause bleeding, infection, nerve damage, or allergic reaction to anesthesia.
What happens after treatment for the condition?

After the surgery, the wrist is immobilized for a short time. Exercises help to regain mobility of the wrist and fingers. It is important to practice proper use of the wrist.
How is the condition monitored?

Any new or worsening symptoms should be reported to the healthcare provider.

Attribution

Author:John A.K. Davies, MD
Date Written:
Editor:Crist, Gayle P., MS, BA
Edit Date:04/30/01
Reviewer:Barbara Mallari, RN, BSN, PHN
Date Reviewed:09/04/01