Surgery News and Research

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Lap band surgery effective in combating obesity in adolescents

It is the first study to evaluate the lap band in patients under the age of 17, and it revealed that patients on average lost about 50% of their excess weight by one year after surgery.

23 Jan 2007

Combination therapy spares some head and neck patients from surgery

Giving patients with head and neck cancer a combination of chemotherapy and radiation therapy controls the cancer and allows many patients to avoid additional surgery to the neck.

18 Jan 2007

The art of prolongevity

The dream of perpetual life and eternal youth is not new. Notions of how to achieve it are roughly the same today as they were 300 years ago. But technological change has stretched the boundaries somewhat.

14 Jan 2007

DNA methylation and breast cancer

A new study using mastectomy tissue shows that precancerous changes can occur in normal-appearing areas of the breast as distant as two inches from a tumor's edge.

10 Jan 2007

Micro molecules identify pancreatic cancer

A pattern of micro molecules can distinguish pancreatic cancer from normal and benign pancreatic tissue, new research suggests.

10 Jan 2007

Fat-hormone leptin may enhance the growth of colonic cancers

Tests on three human colon cancer cell lines showed that the fat-hormone 'leptin' may enhance the growth of colonic cancers. This finding could show why obese people are at increased risk of colon cancer.

10 Jan 2007

Several specific genetic alterations associated with development of smoking-related cancers

Preliminary research indicates that several specific genetic alterations are associated with the development of smoking-related head and neck skin cancers, according to a report in the January 10 issue of JAMA: The Journal of the American Medical Association.

9 Jan 2007

Hope for pancreatic cancer survivors

A new study shows that pancreatic cancer patients 65 or older who live at least five years after surgery have nearly as good a chance as anyone else to live another five years.

9 Jan 2007

New alarm system protects nerves during surgery

An alarm tone warns the surgeon that the position of his scalpel is dangerously close to the nerve leading to the patient's vocal cords - the beep tone signals excessive pressure on the nerve.

8 Jan 2007

New carbon-fiber-reinforced plastic puncture needle

Sometimes it begins with a slight pulling sensation in the back, while at other times it can put a person completely out of action from one minute to the next: These are the symptoms of a slipped disk. An operation is not always necessary, as there are effective alternatives to surgery.

8 Jan 2007

Scientists discover how body fights to control spread of cancer

Scientists at the University of Liverpool have found how two molecules fight in the blood to control the spread of cancer cells.

8 Jan 2007

CleveMed receives $2.3 million in funding for inpatient diagnosis of sleep disorders in cardiovascular surgery patients

Cleveland Medical Devices has announced that it has been awarded $2.3 M in NIH SBIR Phase II Continuation funding from the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS).

7 Jan 2007

Radiation therapy combo cures prostate cancer long-term

Seventy-four percent of men treated with a combination of radiation seed implants and external beam radiation therapy for prostate cancer are cured of their disease 15 years following their treatment, according to a study released in the International Journal of Radiation Oncology-Biology-Physics, the official journal of ASTRO.

7 Jan 2007

Teen gap in cancer care

McMaster University pediatric cancer specialist Dr. Ronald Barr says the teen gap in cancer care has been overlooked for far too long.

3 Jan 2007

Epidurals affect how successful breastfeeding will be

According to researchers in Australia having an epidural to relieve labour pains may affect how successful breastfeeding will be.

12 Dec 2006

Successful lung cancer surgery not enough to break nicotine dependence in many smokers

A new study has found that close to half of 154 smokers who had surgery to remove early stage lung cancer picked up a cigarette again within 12 months of their potentially curative operation, and more than one-third were smoking at the one year mark. Sixty percent of patients who started smoking again did so within two months of surgery.

12 Dec 2006

Health officials accused over cover up in deaths from vCJD

A cover up on the part of British health authorities meant a man who had been infected with CJD from contaminated blood during a transfusion was not told until he was dying what was really wrong with him.

11 Dec 2006

Drug-coated heart stents to carry a warning

An advisory panel for the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in the U.S. has recommended that the drug-coated stents used in patients with cardiovascular disease should carry a warning.

11 Dec 2006

CJD closes operating theatres in Canada

All surgery at a hospital in Ontario Canada has been halted after it was discovered that a patient undergoing neurosurgery on November 30th may have had the fatal brain-wasting disease Creutzfeldt-Jakob (CJD).

6 Dec 2006

Pfizer stops all Torcetrapib trials

On December 2, 2006, FDA was notified that Pfizer will suspend a large, Phase 3 trial evaluating the investigational cardiovascular therapy torceptrapib/atorvastatin (T/A) due to an increased rate of mortality (death) in patients receiving the combination compared to those receiving atorvastatin alone.

4 Dec 2006