Surgery News and Research

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Microvascular stamp stimulates, directs blood vessel growth on wound surface

Researchers have developed a bandage that stimulates and directs blood vessel growth on the surface of a wound. The bandage, called a "microvascular stamp," contains living cells that deliver growth factors to damaged tissues in a defined pattern. After a week, the pattern of the stamp "is written in blood vessels," the researchers report.

16 Dec 2011

MHI cardiologists perform first clinical procedure in Canada using MitraClip system

The interventional cardiology team at the Montreal Heart Institute (MHI) recently conducted the first clinical procedure in Canada using the MitraClip system, which is designed to treat patients suffering from mitral valve failure, a very common heart defect that affects an estimated 1 out 5 people to various extents starting at the age of 55.

16 Dec 2011

Patients need less blood after surgery than is widely thought

Patients need less blood after surgery than is widely thought. A new study comparing two plans for giving blood transfusions following surgery showed no ill effects from postponing transfusion until patients develop signs of anemia or their hemoglobin concentration falls below 8 g/dL.

16 Dec 2011

TJC approves UCSD's DSC Certification for Ventricular Assist Device

The Joint Commission (TJC) has approved UC San Diego Health System's Disease-Specific Care (DSC) Certification for Ventricular Assist Device.

16 Dec 2011

FUJIFILM to acquire SonoSite

FUJIFILM Holdings Corporation, a diversified technology company that operates in healthcare, highly functional materials, and document solutions, announced today that it has entered into a definitive agreement with SonoSite, Inc., a pioneer and leader in bedside and point-of-care ultrasound technology, pursuant to which Fujifilm will acquire SonoSite for approximately $995 million.

15 Dec 2011

Study evaluates use of leukocyte and platelet-rich fibrin biomaterial in heart patients

Cardiac patients that take anticoagulant medications and need a tooth extraction face an increased risk of bleeding that must be addressed by the treating clinician. Therefore, a protocol for heart patients is needed that will avoid significant bleeding after dental extractions without suspending anticoagulant therapy.

15 Dec 2011

SU2C, MRA announce new Dream Team dedicated to melanoma research

Stand Up To Cancer (SU2C), the Melanoma Research Alliance (MRA) and SU2C's scientific partner, the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR), today announced a new Dream Team dedicated to melanoma research. Jeffrey M. Trent, Ph.D., and Patricia M. LoRusso, D.O., will lead the Dream Team project entitled "Personalized Medicine for Patients with BRAF Wild-Type (BRAFwt) Cancer."

15 Dec 2011

More than half of older patients with anemia do not need transfusions after hip surgery

More than half of the older, anemic patients in a New England Journal of Medicine study did not need blood transfusions as they recovered from hip surgery, according to new research co-authored by University of Maryland School of Medicine scientists.

15 Dec 2011

OA patients benefit from walking skills training following total hip arthroplasty

Researchers in Norway report that patients who receive walking skills training following total hip arthroplasty for osteoarthritis show improved physical function. The physical therapy program displayed a positive effect on walking distance and stair climbing which continued 12 months following hip replacement surgery.

15 Dec 2011

JHN to initiate new Phase I immunotherapy trial in glioblastoma

Physicians at the Jefferson Hospital for Neuroscience (JHN), the region's only dedicated hospital for neuroscience, are tackling a particularly aggressive brain cancer that even surgery, chemotherapy and radiation often fail to treat with a promising new immunotherapy to attack a patient's tumor with their own cancer cells.

15 Dec 2011

New knee replacement model increases likelihood of early revision surgery

Orthopaedic surgeons face a steep learning curve to get used to new prostheses, and the instruments and methods that go with them, before new total knee replacement procedures are as safe and effective as conventional methods. Patients who undergo the first 15 operations using a new device in a hospital are 48 percent more likely to need early revision surgery, than patients undergoing an operation to fit a prosthesis previously used in the hospital.

15 Dec 2011

First Total Artificial Heart implant performed at NewYork-Presbyterian/Columbia

Surgeons at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia University Medical Center performed the first Total Artificial Heart implant in the New York City area to replace a patient's dying heart.

15 Dec 2011

Isis announces addition of three new drug development candidates

Isis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. announced today that it has added three new drugs to its development pipeline, ISIS-APOARx, ISIS-DGAT2Rx and ISIS-FVIIRx.

15 Dec 2011

Ganitumab shows promise in early-phase trials for metastatic pancreatic cancer

Over 17,000 patients will have been diagnosed with locally-advanced pancreatic cancer in the United States in 2011. Surgery is not a treatment option for these patients whose tumor has grown beyond the pancreas to surrounding vital structures.

15 Dec 2011

FDA warnings to gastric banding centers

The Food and Drugs Administration (FDA) has come out with warning letters to eight California healthcare organizations and one marketing firm for failing to provide adequate risk information in their advertisements for an implanted gastric band.

14 Dec 2011

Angioplasties can be safely performed at centers that do not have on-site surgical capability

Contrary to current guidelines, Mayo Clinic researchers have found that elective or primary (in patients who have had heart attacks) angioplasties performed at centers without on-site cardiac surgery capabilities pose no increased risk for patient death or emergency bypass surgery.

14 Dec 2011

Research on pancreatic cancer diagnostic test wins QED award

Hwyda Arafat, M.D., Ph.D., Associate Professor of Surgery at Thomas Jefferson University and co-director of the Jefferson Pancreatic, Biliary and Related Cancers Center, and Mon-Li Chu, Ph.D., Professor and Vice Chair of the Department of Dermatology and Cutaneous Biology, were awarded $200,000 from the University City Science Center's QED Proof of Concept Program for their breakthrough work on a diagnostic test for pancreatic cancer.

14 Dec 2011

Hydrogel regenerates healthy, scar-free tissue on skin damaged by severe burns

Johns Hopkins researchers have developed a jelly-like material and wound treatment method that, in early experiments on skin damaged by severe burns, appeared to regenerate healthy, scar-free tissue.

14 Dec 2011

Nearly half of children with epilepsy experience adverse events due to invasive EEG

Some type of adverse event occurs in nearly half of children with severe epilepsy undergoing invasive electroencephalography (EEG) recordings, reports a study in the December issue of Operative Neurosurgery, a quarterly supplement to Neurosurgery, official journal of the Congress of Neurological Surgeons. The journal is published by Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, a part of Wolters Kluwer Health.

14 Dec 2011

Researchers create vaccine that reduces tumors in mice

Researchers at Mayo Clinic in Arizona and the University of Georgia (UGA) have developed a vaccine that dramatically reduces tumors in a mouse model that mimics 90 percent of human breast and pancreatic cancer cases - including those that are resistant to common treatments.

14 Dec 2011