Surgery News and Research

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Some NSAIDs may be better suited to treating cancer

Until recently, nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) like aspirin and celecoxib (sold as Celebrex), were being hailed as promising cancer prevention drugs.

18 May 2007

Venous thromboembolis accounts for 10% of all hospital deaths

Up to 25,000 people may die needlessly each year due to the failure to prevent blood clots known as venous thromboembolisms (VTE) in UK hospitals, say experts in this week's BMJ.

18 May 2007

Some children who are born deaf recover from their deafness

There are two causes of congenital deafness among children. One is the lack of hair cells, receptors in the inner ear that convert sounds into pulse signals that activate the auditory nerve.

17 May 2007

New gallbladder removal procedure

In a first-of-its-kind procedure, a surgeon at Drexel University College of Medicine in Philadelphia successfully removed a woman's gallbladder through a single incision in the patient's belly button.

17 May 2007

New guidelines for blood conservation during cardiac procedures

A team of medical experts led by a Virginia Commonwealth University anesthesiologist and a thoracic surgeon from the University of Kentucky has established a set of clinical guidelines to help physicians decrease the need for blood transfusions in high-risk patients during cardiac operations.

17 May 2007

Surgeons rebuild war veteran's nose using his own body parts

It took only seconds for the Humvee to flip over and crash on a highway near Camp Bucca in southern Iraq in August 2005.

17 May 2007

Minimally invasive treatment of chronic mesenteric ischemia

Using catheter techniques perfected in the arteries of the heart, interventional cardiologists are successfully treating chronic mesenteric ischemia, a condition akin to intestinal angina.

17 May 2007

Screening men over 65 for abdominal aortic aneurysms could save lives

Between 5% and 10% of men aged 65 to 79 have abdominal aortic aneurysms, but don’t know it.

16 May 2007

Cedars-Sinai helps Doug Fieger battle brain tumors

When singer/songwriter/guitarist Doug Fieger, lead singer of The Knack, found out last year that he had two brain tumors, he was concerned that either the tumors or the side effects of surgery would leave him unable to pursue his livelihood.

16 May 2007

Mount Sinai uses breakthrough treatment for spinal cancer

The Mount Sinai Medical Center is the only hospital in New York City using the Novalis Shaped Beam Surgery System on spinal cancer.

16 May 2007

Gene p53 thought to assist chemotherapy may help cancer thrive

A gene thought to be essential in helping chemotherapy kill cancer cells, may actually help them thrive.

16 May 2007

FDA approves Evicel Fibrin surgical sealant

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved Evicel Fibrin Sealant, a liquid product that when applied topically helps control oozing from small blood vessels during surgical procedures.

16 May 2007

Cells that cause Ewing's sarcoma identified

Inserm researchers at the Institut Curie have identified the cells that cause Ewing’s sarcoma.

16 May 2007

Nerves controlling muscles are best repaired with similar nerves

When repairing severed or damaged motor nerves with a donor nerve graft, surgeons have traditionally used a sensory nerve from another area of the patient's body.

16 May 2007

Natural antibodies and tissue injury

Lack of blood flow to the intestines during surgery, to the heart during a heart attack or to the brain during a stroke can cause damage to the organ involved.

15 May 2007

Role of PCI and coronary artery bypass grafting for the treatment of patients with left main coronary artery disease

Coronary artery bypass surgery has been the preferred treatment for patients with a blockage in the left main coronary artery, the conduit that supplies blood to about two-thirds of the heart.

15 May 2007

Bare metal stents provide a safer choice

While drug-eluting stents are effective in keeping open diseased heart arteries, they should not be used for patients who need to have non-cardiac surgery a short time after an interventional heart procedure.

15 May 2007

Epidemiology of obesity, pathophysiology, associated disease and management

Due to the gastrointestinal tract's role in body weight regulation, gastroenterologists should work closely with other medical disciplines to oversee and coordinate the care of obese individuals, according to an American Gastroenterological Association (AGA) Institute Obesity Task Force Report.

15 May 2007

Daily Aspirin reduces colon cancer risk by 74 percent

Researchers in Britain say an aspirin a day taken over a 10 year period can reduce the risk of colon cancer by as much as 74 percent.

14 May 2007

Catheter-based aortic valve replacement is set to take off

Twenty years ago, few interventional cardiologists could have imagined that during their professional careers it would be possible to replace a diseased aortic valve using catheter-based techniques, rather than open-chest surgery.

11 May 2007