0 Comments In the same way fate seems to keep knocking on Carolyn’s door, she felt the benefits of her determination first-hand. After the crash, Carolyn was taken to Vancouver General Hospital (VGH), the first major institution to roll out Ondine’s technology. Like all patients undergoing surgery, she was zapped clean by Ondine’s laser.
Ondine Biomedical Inc. is a proud supporter of the mission and goals of the PanAmerican Photodynamic Therapy Association. Launched last month, the Association’s purpose is to galvanize the basic science and expertise of photodynamic therapy in the Americas. This will help encourage the study and practice of PDT in the treatment of animal and human diseases.
Many of you may not know that photodynamic therapy has been around for centuries. In fact, the earliest recorded treatment using a photosensitizing agent and a light source occurred in ancient Egypt over 3,000 years ago. Vegetable and plant substances were used as photosensitizers and sunlight was used as the light source. Patients suffering from skin diseases such as vitiligo had the photosensitizers topically applied to the damaged area, and the resulting photochemical reaction restored their tissue to a healthier state. In some cases, it even helped repigment their skin to its normal color.
Connah Broom is a very luck young man. Diagnosed at the age of four with stage 4 neuroblastoma, Connah was given six months to live. Eleven tumours had developed on his neck, stomach, legs, and areas near his heart. Seven months of chemotherapy failed to improve his condition and surgery was no longer an option as the tumours were located too close to vital organs. That was when Connah’s family learned that he had only a few more months to live. According to Debbie Broom, Connah’s mother, “A doctor told us to take Connah home and enjoy our remaining time with him.”
The family then turned to photodynamic therapy (PDT), a treatment proven to be effective in killing cancer. Connah’s treatment consisted of taking a pill containing a photosensitizing agent and then activating this agent with light. A powerful reaction was then initiated, which killed the cancerous cells while preserving the surrounding healthy tissue. Amazingly, after ten months of PDT treatment, ten of Connah’s eleven tumours have now disappeared. “This is the one miracle in my entire career,” said Connah’s GP, Dr. Eamon Jessop, “He’s doing incredible well, it’s staggering.” To hear Connah’s story, please watch the video below:
Update: Carolyn would like to thank everyone for their well wishes. She is currently at home recovering from knee surgery and we expect her to make a full recovery soon. Please send donations to the family of the pilot, Luc Fortin, to support his 16-month old daughter – inmemoryofluc@shaw.ca
Miracles really do happen. On Thursday October 27th, Carolyn Cross (our CEO, Chairman, and dear friend) survived a deadly plane crash. On a chartered flight headed to Kelowna, Carolyn knew something wasn’t right when the pilot told passengers there was an oil leak and they were returning to the airport. “I looked at his hands and they were shaking, trembling,” Carolyn said in an interview from her hospital bed, “At that moment I knew we were going to die.” Carolyn then calmly took out her phone and began typing out farewell messages to her three young kids, “Something that they would remember me by, that I could have peace that I had said my goodbyes.”
Seconds later, Carolyn’s plane crashed on a busy road about 900 meters short of the runway. “We crashed and I immediately looked outside because I was at a door window and it was full of flames outside. So I couldn’t go out. It smelled full of gasoline….I went to get up and I could not walk. It was as if I had no legs, as if they were blown off. And I thought of my children, and God and the universe gave me the energy and I got up to the door. I said I don’t know what I am going to do now because I can’t get out of the plane, my legs, I can’t get out of the plane.”
Over the past decade, there has been much written about the rise of antibiotic resistant pathogens and the growing numbers of serious healthcare-associated infections. Some statistics have put the total cost of healthcare-associated infections at around $35-$45 billion dollars1. Infections associated with MRSA have been estimated to cost about $3-$4 billion2 and ventilator-associated pneumonia costs another $3 billion3. The truth is that we really do not know the extent of the problem or the associated costs, and this in itself is a problem. Whatever the number, we can all agree that the costs of healthcare-associated infections are an enormous drain on the economy, and this is prior to factoring in any of the socio-economic multiplier effects of HAIs due to death, loss of employment, impact on families/companies etc.
Why doesn’t photodynamic therapy (PDT) cause any noticeable damage to human tissue? After all, the reaction causes damage to the bacterial membrane, and human cells have membranes as well.
This was a topic that really grabbed my attention when I first learned about photodynamic therapy. How is it possible that with the creation of highly reactive molecules are we only limiting cellular destruction to bacterial cells? Although there may be a few different answers to this question, the primary solution is that we are not. Don’t be afraid and swear off photodynamic therapy right away, here me out first. Photodynamic therapy is primarily used as a treatment option for cancers. This treatment is used on cancerous tumours formed in esophageal cancer, lung cancer, skin cancer, as well as many different types. The photosensitizer is accumulated in the tumour either by direct injection or utilizing mutations of the cancerous cells that concentrate the photosensitizer inside the cell. After light is applied, the tumour cells are damaged, but the healthy cells are not greatly harmed. Why? One trait of a cancerous growth is the mutation of certain DNA repair enzymes. (Have a look at this Wikipedia article to give you a small background on DNA repair enzymes) These repair enzymes are responsible for fixing oxidative damage problems caused by free radicals. Scientific researchers, knowing this small fact about most cancerous tumour cells, use PDT and reactive oxygen species to their advantage. A healthy human cell can take some free radical “abuse”, but a tumour cell can only take so much until the cell dies. This fact, coupled with selective photosensitizer accumulation within tumour cells, makes PDT an excellent treatment option in some forms of cancer.
The public sphere has been pumped full of information about how unnecessary use of antibiotics contributes to the development of resistant bacterial strains. Just take a look at this news article suggesting that more than 25 million pounds of antibiotics are given to livestock every year. However, what is less often explained is how this works at the molecular level. How does bacteria develop antibiotic resistance?
The World Health Organization has called antibiotic resistance one of the greatest global health concerns to date.
Before answering that question it is important to understand how bacterial cells work. Bacterial cells look and work differently than say a cell from our body. They have a genetic code (within DNA) but some of that code floats freely within the cell in circular structures called plasmids. One of the particularities of bacterial cells is their ability to pass plasmids amongst each other (plasmid transfer), allowing them to share traits on an extremely rapid scale. Furthermore, one bacterium can divide into two cells without the need for sexual reproduction between two parent cells.
Like us, bacteria survive on chemical based processes, which allow them to grow and replicate. Protein molecules are essential to these processes. They allow for three things:
Ventilator-associated pneumonia is one of the most common and deadliest forms of healthcare-associated infections. In the U.S alone, more than one million patients in healthcare facilities require mechanical ventilation every year. Up to 1 in 4 of these patients are reported to develop ventilator-associated pneumonia and up to half of them will die.1
Antimicrobial photodynamic therapy (aPDT), commonly known as Photodisinfection, is a non-invasive technique that used to study the reduction of biofilm in the lumen of an endotracheal tube. When patients undergo mechanical ventilation, an endotracheal tube is inserted into their throat to assist with breathing. This tube has long been recognized as a major factor in a patient’s risk for developing biofilm infections. For patients that require mechanical ventilation, such as those in ICUs, the biofilm can dislodge from the endotracheal tube and enter the lungs directly, often resulting in difficult-to-treat pneumonia.
The use of Photodisinfection to disinfect the birth canal is a novel approach that can bypass the stigma associated with HIV treatment and any reliance on patient compliance.
Ondine is pleased to congratulate Dr. Bryon Bhagwandin of Vitalwave™ on the publication of his abstract at the International AIDS Society (IAS) Conference. This is an important accomplishment as it highlights the need to develop new approaches in preventing mother-to-child HIV transmission.
A higher vaginal HIV viral load has been independently associated with a higher risk of transmission. Dr. Bhagwandin’s study evaluated the use of antimicrobial Photodynamic Therapy (aPDT), also known as Photodisinfection, as a means to reduce the vaginal viral load of pregnant women infected with HIV/AIDS. In 2008, more than 1.4 million pregnant women were living with this disease. An additional 430,000 children had been infected through mother-to-child transmission.
Ondine would like to congratulate Dr. Cale Street for being profiled on national TV via CEO Clips. In this video, Dr. Street touches upon the seriousness of antibiotic resistant superbugs and Ondine’s solution to this growing problem. MRSAidTM is a novel, non-antibiotic system designed to reduce the incidence of healthcare-associated infections (HAIs). In the US alone, more than 99,000 people die every year as a result of HAIs.
MRSAidTM is currently being used at Vancouver General Hospital on patients undergoing select surgeries in order to reduce their risk of developing post surgical site infections. Since MRSAidTM does not generate bacterial resistance, this is a critical milestone in the fight against HAIs and antibiotic resistant superbugs. Click here to watch another video of MRSAidTM and Dr. Cale Street being featured on Canadian national news.
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