18/12/2020 - Press release
The journal Neurology has just published the most complete and exhaustive study to date on the survival rate and sequelae of patients who suffer a ruptured brain aneurysm, a disease known as subarachnoid haemorrhage. The work was carried out by doctors at Hospital del Mar (from the Neurology, Neurosurgery, Intensive Medicine, Interventional Neuroradiology, Radiology and Anaesthesia and Resuscitation services) and researchers from the Hospital del Mar Medical Research Institute (IMIM). The results show that the strategy implemented in Catalonia to cover emergency care for this condition produces results comparable to those of the most advanced centres in the world. The data analysed corresponds to 311 patients with aneurysmal subarachnoid haemorrhage treated at Hospital del Mar over the last 12 years. The short-term mortality rate is between 8.7% (one week after treatment, during the hospitalisation period), and 18.4% (after three months). One year after the vascular event, this figure reaches 22.9% and, five years later, 29%. Only 7% of the patients who survived after five years presented disabling sequelae. According to several studies, deaths from this pathology around the world are between 11% and 27.5% in hospital and over 30% after three months.
Més informació "Only 7% of patients treated for a brain aneurysm suffer long-term sequelae"
17/11/2020 - Press release
Nutritional parameters such as body mass index and tests including albumin and total protein levels quantified prior to lung cancer surgery in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) predict their 10 year survival, regardless of tumour-related factors and/or chest surgery. This is reflected in the work of researchers from the CIBER of Respiratory Diseases (CIBERES) and doctors and researchers from the Hospital del Mar Pneumology Service and the Hospital del Mar Medical Research Institute research group on muscle wasting and cachexia in chronic respiratory diseases and lung cancer (IMIM-Hospital del Mar), published in the journal of the Spanish Society of Pneumology and Thoracic Surgery (SEPAR) Archivos de Bronconeumología. The researchers studied the nutritional status of lung cancer and COPD patients who required surgery and the relationship of this with post-operative survival. To do this, they analysed the nutritional status of 125 patients from Hospital del Mar, 87 of whom had COPD and lung cancer and 38 of whom had cancer but no COPD, before they underwent chest surgery. The patients were monitored for 10 years in order to study their differential survival rates according to the presence or absence of COPD.
03/11/2020 - Covid-19
Some of the principal treatments for osteoporosis, denosumab, zoledronate and calcium, could have a protective effect against COVID-19 in patients who take them, specifically a 30 to 40% reduction in the rate of infection, according to the results of a joint study by Hospital del Mar, the Hospital del Mar Medical Research Institute (IMIM), Pompeu Fabra University and the Pere Virgili Health Park. The study, the first of its kind in the world, has just been published the journal Aging. The last author of the study, Dr. Jordi Monfort, head of Rheumatology at Hospital del Mar and coordinator of the Cell Research on Inflammation and Cartilage research group at Hospital del Mar-IMIM, explains that "there are indications to allow hypothesizing that certain drugs used to treat rheumatic diseases could interfere positively in the natural history of COVID-19, either by decreasing its incidence or by decreasing its progression to more serious cases". The study analysed data from more than 2,000 patients with osteoporosis, osteoarthritis and fibromyalgia and their relationship with COVID-19 infection who are being followed up at Hospital del Mar and in the Mar Health Park healthcare sphere of influence.
15/10/2020 - Press release
They believe that the treatment currently used in many cases, based solely on short-acting bronchodilators like the well-known Ventolin, may increase the risk of severe asthma attacks. This is revealed by a study published in the journal Archivos de Bronconeumología. They advocate the use of inhaled corticoids, which is also the treatment recommended by the international Global Initiative for Asthma (GINA). Asthma is increasingly prevalent and affects 5-10% of the general population. Unfortunately, the decline in associated mortality has slowed in recent years. In the current context, characterised by the COVID-19 epidemic, there is no evidence that suffering asthma implies a more severe form of COVID-19.
24/07/2020 - Press release
One simple call to go over colonoscopy preparation instructions 48 hours before an appointment increases test success by 11.5%. This has been demonstrated in a multi-centre study led by doctors and nurses from the Digestive Tract Service at Hospital del Mar and researchers from the Clinical and Translational Research Group on Colorectal Neoplasia at the Hospital del Mar Medical Research Institute (IMIM). The work, published in the journal Endoscopy, analysed data from 657 patients from 11 Spanish hospitals. This is the first multi-centre study to analyse how an educational approach can improve colon preparation in people at high risk of not achieving this.
27/05/2020 - General information
The Spanish Transplant Society has awarded the SET 2020 grant to intensify the research activity of Dr. María José Pérez Sáez, a consultant in the Nephrology Service and a researcher at the Hospital del Mar Medical Research Institute (IMIM). It is the only grant of this type that the organisation will award this year. The 30,000 euro grant will enable Dr. Pérez Sáez to work on one of the research projects currently underway in the department and IMIM, looking at fragility in the kidney transplant waiting list. The study of fragility in candidates for kidney transplants was launched by the Hospital del Mar's Nephrology Service in 2016, and currently has data from more than 500 patients. After an initial observational phase, in which the data collected will be analysed prospectively, two more phases have been designed: to biochemically characterise the fragile patient's phenotype, for which a biobank of samples has been set up; and a final intervention phase, with a pre-habilitation clinical trial in these patients while they are awaiting a transplant.
Més informació "Grant from the Spanish Transplant Society for a study by the Nephrology Service"
21/01/2020 - Press release
Cytomegalovirus infection is a highly prevalent pathology among patients who have undergone a kidney transplant. Studies carried out at the Hospital del Mar and the Hospital del Mar Medical Research Institute indicate that it affects up to 30% of patients in the 6-month period following the operation. That is why finding elements that can act as infection risk markers for this virus is so important. A team of doctors from the hospital and researchers from the IMIM have demonstrated the role that one type of immune system cell, NK (Natural Killer) cells expressing a specific receptor (NKG2C), plays in predicting the risk of developing infection, complementing the existing conventional marker based on T-cell analysis.
29/10/2019 - Institutional news
The high levels of environmental noise we are subjected to in large cities can increase both the severity and consequences of an ischaemic stroke. More precisely, researchers from the Hospital del Mar Medical Research Institute (IMIM) and doctors from Hospital del Mar, together with researchers from the Barcelona Institute for Global Health (ISGlobal), CIBER in Epidemiology and Public Health (CIBERESP), and Brown University, in the United States, put the increased risk at 30% for people living in noisier areas. In contrast, living close to green areas brings down this risk by up to 25%. This is the first time that these factors have been analysed in relation to stroke severity. The study has been published in the journal Environmental Research.
Més informació "Living in a noisy area increases the risk of suffering a more serious stroke"
28/06/2019 - Press release
The ageing of NK lymphocytes circulating in the blood of patients with HER2-positive breast cancer is a marker that can predict the success or failure of monoclonal antibody therapies, which act on a specific factor in tumour cells. This is the conclusion of a study led by researchers from the Hospital del Mar Medical Research Institute (IMIM) and the Pompeu Fabra University, and doctors from the Hospital del Mar, published in the journal Cancer Immunology Research. The study also involved staff from the Medical Oncology Service at Hospital Clínic in Valencia, the Pathological Anatomy Services at Hospital del Mar, Fundación Jiménez Díaz in Madrid, and the Immunogenetics Service at Puerta de Hierro University Institute, also in Madrid. It involved analysing blood samples from 66 patients, immunogenetic and functional studies of the NK lymphocytes of these patients, as well as analysing tumour biopsies. The ageing of these cells was measured by quantifying the NK lymphocytes in the blood that express the CD57 molecule. The results show that patients with high blood counts at the time of diagnosis are more likely to be resistant to chemotherapy and anti-HER2 antibody treatment.
Més informació "Possible marker of treatment resistance in HER2 breast cancer identified"
04/04/2019 - Press release
Doctors and researchers at Hospital del Mar and the Hospital del Mar Medical Research Institute (IMIM) have shown, for the first time, that osteoporosis and bone fractures in HIV sufferers is caused by the body's response to the presence of the virus, in the form of inflammatory processes, and not only the antiretroviral treatment, as was previously believed. The study, published in the Journal of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy, used a bone-quality measuring technique designed in the United States in collaboration with staff from Hospital del Mar, together with a protocol developed by the same people, which shows that the risk of fractures is related to the inflammation caused by the chronic infection. This represents a change in how this problem is conceived, as well as how it is approached. The study involved staff from the Infectious Diseases and Internal Medicine services at Hospital del Mar, as well as members of the IMIM's Musculoskeletal Research Group. Dr. Todd T. Brown, from Johns Hopkins University, in the United States, also participated.
Més informació "Paradigm shift in how bone fractures are avoided in HIV patients"
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