Research Updates
AHC Blood Cell & DNA Collection Project (1998)
One of the items that was given the highest priority at last year’s AHC Symposium was the creation of a blood cell bank that would allow for future genetic research to take place. To do this, it will be necessary to collect blood samples from affected AHC children, both parents and possibly certain other family members. Once collected, these samples will be stored along with the corresponding data at the Eccles Institute of Human Genetics. (more…)
Recommendations for the Future
There should be an international database of AHC patients, and that database should be available to any researcher who wants to study this disorder. At present, there are several small databases belonging to various investigators and probable overlap, so that an individual patient may be included in more than one database. A subcommittee was set up to discuss and design the most suitable types of data to be included in the database. (more…)
Some Research Findings in AHC
(The following is an excerpt from Dr. Chugani’s summary of the workshop held in Seattle in May, 1997. The complete summary was printed in Issue 4 of the IFAHC newsletter. ) (more…)
Pet Scans – Dr. Harry Chugani
Dr. Chugani’s Research To date 19 PET studies have been performed. These include 13 FDG PET, 5 Flumazenil PET and 1 AMT PET. The studies using PET scans have not produced an understanding of the basic pathophysiology of AHC, however, something important has been learned. They have learned that with increasing age and number of attacks, these children show areas of damage on their scans, indicating a progressive process. (more…)
