Surgery News and Research

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After epilepsy surgery, quality of life related more to seizures than memory

Epilepsy surgery can eliminate seizures for 60 to 85 percent of people with temporal lobe epilepsy who do not respond well to medications.

5 Jun 2007

How and why weight-reducing surgery sometimes cures diabetes

95% of morbidly obese people – those with a Body Mass Index of over 40 – have Type 2 diabetes, sometimes known as maturity-onset diabetes.

5 Jun 2007

Vorinostat shows anti-cancer activity in recurrent gliomas

North Central Cancer Treatment Group (NCCTG) researchers, based at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., report that a novel application of the drug vorinostat shows activity in patients with recurrent glioblastoma multiforme.

5 Jun 2007

Circulating tumor cells predict how prostate cancer patients do with chemotherapy

The number of tumor cells circulating in the bloodstream of patients with metastatic, hormone-resistant, prostate cancer can predict how they will do with chemotherapy, according to results of an international trial.

5 Jun 2007

Treatment for early prostate cancer associated with type of specialist seen

A new study analyzing men with localized prostate cancer shows that the specialty of the physician they see can influence the type of therapy they ultimately receive.

5 Jun 2007

78 percent of living right liver donors experienced post-operative complications

More than 78 percent of living right liver donors experienced post-operative complications, according to a new study that uses a replicable complication classification system. Most of the complications were minor, though some were more serious.

5 Jun 2007

PET plus CT - best test for ovarian cancer

An advanced molecular imaging technique influenced the management of women with ovarian cancer, detected more sites of disease and identified women whose disease was likely to progress, according to an Australian study released during the 54th Annual Meeting of SNM, the world's largest society for molecular imaging and nuclear medicine professionals.

5 Jun 2007

PET/CT best for monitoring Crohn's disease

The molecular imaging power of PET/CT is invaluable in noninvasively monitoring Crohn's disease,a chronic inflammatory disease of the gastrointestinal tract that mainly affects young people, according to a study released by Belgian scientists at the 54th Annual Meeting of SNM.

5 Jun 2007

Obese patients are at higher risk for pancreatic surgery perioperative complications

Obesity may contribute to a greater likelihood of post-operative complications for patients having pancreatic surgery, a surgeon at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital has found.

5 Jun 2007

Axitinib shows promise in treatment of advanced thyroid cancer

The investigational drug axitinib produced tumor regression or stable disease in almost three-out-of-four patients with advanced thyroid cancer, a research team reported at the annual meeting of the American Society for Clinical Oncology in Chicago.

5 Jun 2007

MRI detects cancers missed by mammography in breast cancer patients

A unique examination of one treatment center's use of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in new breast cancer patients has found MRI to be superior to mammography in finding additional tumors in a breast in which cancer has already been diagnosed, and in detecting new tumors in a patient's supposedly healthy breast.

5 Jun 2007

Results of phase II studies of pazopanib

GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) has announced results from ongoing Phase II studies of pazopanib in advanced or metastatic renal cell carcinoma (RCC) and ovarian cancer.

5 Jun 2007

Gene therapy delivery of nerve growth factors reverses erectile dysfunction in mice

Rats with erectile dysfunction, or ED, that were injected with a gene therapy vector containing either of two nerve growth factors were able to regain normal function after four weeks, according to a study conducted by University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine researchers.

5 Jun 2007

Flaxseed halts prostate tumor growth

Flaxseed, an edible seed that is rich in omega 3-fatty acids and fiber-related compounds known as lignans, is effective in halting prostate tumor growth, according to a study led by Duke University Medical Center researchers.

5 Jun 2007

Percutaneous ethanol injection helps manage bone metastasis in thyroid cancer patients

Percutaneous ethanol injection (PEI), an injection of ethanol (alcohol) through the skin directly into a bone tumor to kill cancer cells, may be a valuable ancillary treatment for thyroid cancer patients whose cancer has spread to the bone.

5 Jun 2007

Diet may influence survival after treatment for stage III colon cancer

Patients with stage III colon cancer who have undergone surgery and chemotherapy with the goal of cure may have a higher risk of relapsing and dying early if they follow a predominantly Western diet of red meat, fatty foods, refined grains, and desserts, according to research led by investigators at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston.

5 Jun 2007

Benefits of Herceptin are lasting

An updated analysis of two large randomized clinical trials has found that breast cancer patients who received the monoclonal antibody trastuzumab (Herceptin) along with chemotherapy are living longer and with less risk of recurrent disease, compared to patients treated with chemotherapy alone.

5 Jun 2007