News

Physicians at the University of Rochester Medical Center (URMC) Strong Epilepsy Center were involved in the recent approval of a new treatment for epilepsy. The implantable medical device - called the Responsive Neurostimulator System (RNS) - monitors brain activity and can detect and counteract seizures.

URMC was one of only 28 sites in the country to conduct clinical trials of RNS, which was developed by the California-based company Neuropace. The research showed that the device decreases the number of monthly seizures by nearly 38 percent. URMC neurologists Michel Berg, M.D. and James Fessler, M.D., and neurosurgeon Web Pilcher, M.D., Ph.D. were involved in the study.

This is the first FDA-approved brain implant for epilepsy that responds to the brain's activity, said Berg, an associate professor of Neurology. For patients who are unable to control their seizures with medications or are not eligible for resective surgery, this device could provide an important treatment option.

Copper appears to be one of the main environmental factors that trigger the onset and enhance the progression of Alzheimer's disease by preventing the clearance and accelerating the accumulation of toxic proteins in the brain. That is the conclusion of a study appearing today in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

It is clear that, over time, copper's cumulative effect is to impair the systems by which amyloid beta is removed from the brain, said Rashid Deane, Ph.D., a research professor in the University of Rochester Medical Center Department of Neurosurgery, member of the Center for Translational Neuromedicine, and the lead author of the study. This impairment is one of the key factors that cause the protein to accumulate in the brain and form the plaques that are the hallmark of Alzheimer's disease.

Chair of Neurology, Robert Holloway, Jr., M.D., M.P.H. and Chair of Neurosurgery, Webster H. Pilcher, M.D., Ph.D.

When US News & World Report's 2014 Best Hospitals guidebook hits newsstands today, a record number of six University of Rochester Medical Center specialties will be ranked among the very best in the nation. That's the highest number of URMC programs ever to earn a seat in the magazine's list of the nation's top 50 in a single year, since US News began ranking hospitals in 1989.

The URMC adult specialties nationally ranked included Neurology and Neurosurgery as the 29^th best. URMC's success in the U.S. News rankings reflects the hard work that our faculty and staff have invested to continuously improve quality, patient safety and satisfaction. It also reflects URMC's growing reputation for first-rate care, said URMC CEO Bradford C. Berk, M.D., Ph.D.