HEALTHSpace-age medicine for earthly practicesResearchers tackling the health concerns of space travelers are finding solutions for such problems as osteoporosis and sleep deprivation.By Susan J. Landers, amednews staff. Feb. 14, 2005. Washington -- If Earthbound physicians think that they have problems getting patients in for routine care, pity the plight of National Aeronautics and Space Administration doctors. Their patients are often out of this world. As the space agency dreams about future manned flights to Mars that will need at least a one-year round-trip flight, plus time for exploration, concerns about astronauts' health are getting a heightened level of attention. For instance, space's near weightlessness weakens bones and muscles. Astronauts face intense bombardment with heavy ion radiation, which kills red blood cells. And disruption in circadian rhythms can deprive them of adequate rest. Research to address these and other conditions is emerging from the Houston-based National Space Biomedical Research Institute, founded by NASA in 1997. The institute is guided by a consortium of 12 primarily medical colleges that coordinates the work of 250 investigators from 75 institutions to "meet real, pressing, high-priority needs," said NSBRI Director Jeffrey Sutton, MD, PhD. Although space travel vastly intensifies medical problems, people on Earth face many of the same difficulties. Osteoporosis afflicts millions, and shift workers and many others grapple with sleep disorders. Thus, the fruits of NSBRI's efforts could find their way into physicians' practices on Earth before long. In the quest to address bone loss caused by extended periods of microgravity, Yi-Xian Qin, PhD, associate professor of biomedical engineering at Stony Brook University in New York, has developed an ultrasound system that goes beyond assessing bone density to look at bone quality. [...]Full text of American Medical News content is available to AMA members and paid subscribers.
Copyright 2005 American Medical Association. All rights reserved.
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