Surgery News and Research

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Bariatric surgery should not be denied solely based on age or Medicare status

Complications after bariatric surgery appear similar between patients younger and older than age 60 and also between Medicare recipients and non-recipients, according to a study in the June issue of Archives of Surgery.

19 Jun 2007

Clot-buster treatment works in frostbite patients

Researchers in the United States have found that when people with frostbite were treated with a clot-busting drug commonly used to treat stroke patients, fewer amputations resulted.

19 Jun 2007

New Yorkers exposed to hepatitis C during surgery

Health authorities in New York are warning 4,500 people that they may have been exposed to hepatitis C.

18 Jun 2007

Hormone therapy can extend life in ovarian cancer patients

The study, published in Clinical Cancer Research, has proved for the first time that the targeted use of an anti-oestrogen drug could prolong the life of some patients by up to three years, and delay the use of chemotherapy in others.

17 Jun 2007

Preventing and treating common foot conditions

Add foot problems to the long list of conditions that being overweight can cause or exacerbate, says Foot Care Basics: Preventing and treating common foot conditions , a newly updated report from Harvard Medical School.

17 Jun 2007

Gastric bypass surgery gets people 'drunk' faster

An Oprah Winfrey-inspired study done by researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine has found that patients who undergo gastric bypass surgery to lose weight will get drunk faster and take longer to get sober.

17 Jun 2007

Study on hand osteoarthritis

In just two years, patients with hand osteoarthritis (OA) experienced a significant increase in pain and functional limitations, according to new data presented at EULAR 2007, the Annual European Congress of Rheumatology in Barcelona, Spain. Statistically significant radiological progression was also detected in 20% of subjects.

17 Jun 2007

Women well-informed about breast cancer although lack knowledge about current treatments

According to a new GfK Roper Public Affairs survey sponsored by CancerCare, a national nonprofit cancer support organization, while the majority (76 percent) of women surveyed said they know at least a fair amount about breast cancer, many remain unaware of the important recent progress made in treatment.

16 Jun 2007

Newer breast cancer drug may protect heart

By uncovering how one breast cancer drug protects the heart and another does not, Duke University Medical Center researchers believe they may have opened up a new way to screen drugs for possible heart-related side effects and to develop new drugs.

16 Jun 2007

Sonographically-guided alcohol injections for Morton's neuroma highly successful

Sonographically-guided alcohol injections has a high success rate and is well tolerated by patients with Morton?s neuroma, a common cause of foot pain, according to a recent study conducted by researchers at the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital and Kingston Hospital NHS Trust in Middlesex, United Kingdom.

16 Jun 2007

Simple test predicts a person's risk for developing dementia within six years with 87 percent accuracy

The test, developed in the study by the researchers, is a 14-point index combining medical history, cognitive testing, and physical examination. It requires no special equipment and can be given in a clinical setting such as a doctor's office or at a patient's bedside.

16 Jun 2007

Study shows pre-op red blood cell levels affect post-op outcomes

Men over 65 with even slightly abnormal red blood cell counts either too low or too high are at greater risk of post-operative death or car-diac events following a major non-cardiac surgery, according to a new study by researchers at the Providence Veterans Affairs Medical Center and The Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University.

15 Jun 2007

Newspaper articles on organ transplantation mostly positive

A content analysis of newspaper stories about organ and tissue donation, conducted by researchers at the University at Buffalo, found an almost 4:1 ratio of positive-to-negative articles on the subject.

14 Jun 2007

Injected neural stem cells reduce Parkinson's symptoms in primates

Primates with severe Parkinson's disease were able to walk, move, and eat better, and had diminished tremors after being injected with human neural stem cells, a research team from Yale, Harvard, the University of Colorado, and the Burnham Institute report in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

14 Jun 2007

Primary ciliary dyskinesia linked to heterotaxy

The same genetic defect that causes a rare respiratory disease may also lead to some types of congenital heart disease, according to a study from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine.

14 Jun 2007

Priority review granted for oral formulation of HYCAMTIN (topotecan)

GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) has announced that its new drug application (NDA) for ORAL HYCAMTIN (topotecan) capsules, a treatment for relapsed small cell lung cancer (SCLC), has been granted Priority Review by the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

14 Jun 2007

Dual-imaging technique improves functional abilities of patients who undergo brain surgery

Brain specialists associated with the Neuroscience Institute at the University of Cincinnati (UC) and University Hospital say the ability to incorporate in real time two high-tech imaging tools into the operating room can improve the functional abilities of patients who undergo brain surgery.

14 Jun 2007

Blood pressure drop during bypass surgery linked to increased risk of cognitive decline

Patients whose mean arterial blood pressure drops during bypass surgery may be at risk for early difficulties in thinking, learning and memory, according to an article posted online today that will appear in the August 2007 print issue of Archives of Neurology, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.

14 Jun 2007

State snapshots highlights gains and lags in health care quality

AHRQ's State Snapshots Web tool was launched in 2005. It is an application that helps state health leaders, researchers, consumers, and others understand the status of health care quality in individual states, including each state's strengths and weaknesses.

14 Jun 2007

Outcome of surgery on the elderly could be affected by red blood cell count

Researchers in the United States have found that older patients about to undergo major surgery, who have either a high or low red blood cell count, are more at risk for heart attacks or even death following the operation.

13 Jun 2007