Despite advancements in treatment and prevention, patients with established atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD) still have particularly high risk of having another heart attack, stroke, or other cardiovascular event. Drawing on data from tens of thousands of patients from two independent sources, investigators from Mass General Brigham developed and validated new tools for quantifying this “residual risk” in patients with prior myocardial infarction, stroke, coronary artery disease, peripheral arterial disease, transient ischemic attack, or arterial revascularization. The novel scoring tools substantially improved risk discrimination compared with the guidelines-recommended model. Their findings are published in The Journal of the American College of Cardiology.

While current multiple sclerosis treatments can reduce inflammation, no therapies yet exist to protect neurons or restore the damaged myelin sheath. Researchers have now taken a major step forward in the development of such a therapy. They have identified two compounds that could remyelinate damaged axons.

A multi-institutional study from the Accelerating GBM Therapies Through Serial Biopsies TeamLab, led by investigators from the Mass General Brigham Cancer Institute, found that serially testing tumor samples can help detect when a cancer treatment is activating the immune system in recurrent glioblastoma (GBM), even when traditional imaging measures cannot. Their results are published in Science Translational Medicine.  

Reddit’s popularity as a tool for self-managing inflammatory bowel disease highlights opportunities for improvements in clinical care, according to a paper from Michigan Medicine researchers.