Orthopédie

Cayenne Medical, Inc., a privately held sports medicine company based in Scottsdale, announced the commercial launch of its CrossFix™ System for the repair of meniscal tears at the American Orthopaedic Society for Sports Medicine (AOSSM) annual meeting in Keystone, Colorado last week. The CrossFix™ system offers surgeons the benefits of both open suturing and arthroscopic meniscal repair.

An upcoming G&D paper reveals how two specific matrix metalloproteinase (MMP) proteins contribute to bone metastasis in advanced breast cancer - lending important new insight into the design of clinically useful small molecule inhibitors. The study was led by Dr. Yibin Kang in Princeton University in close collaboration with Dr. Joan Massagué at MSKCC and Dr. Michael Reiss at the Cancer Institute of New Jersey. It will be published online ahead of print at

An osteoporosis drug proven to save lives after hip fractures may do so by strengthening the body's immune system, according to geriatrics researchers at Duke University Medical Center. In 2007, Duke researchers reported a 28 percent reduction in death among patients who received zoledronic acid (Reclast) within 90 days of surgery for a hip fracture. Zoledronic acid is a yearly intravenous injection of bisphosphonate that inhibits the progression of bone loss.

Researchers at Rush University Medical Center are testing a novel regimen of hip-muscle exercises to decrease the load on the knee joints in patients with osteoarthritis. The goal is not only to relieve pain but also, possibly, to halt progression of the disease. "Each time you take a step, a load, or force, is placed on the knee joints.

Roche Diagnostics launches campaign to promote widest panel of assays on an automated serum work area platform As concerns are raised about the expense of treatments for chronic diseases such as osteoporosis and kidney disease and for infectious diseases such as Hepatitis C and HIV, Roche Diagnostics launches a nationwide promotion of its 183-strong panel of high sensitivity assays, designed to provide the best possible test accuracy and efficiency for improved patient care.