Surgery News and Research

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Aspirin shown to be beneficial before heart surgery

Surgeons who have been advising their patients to avoid taking aspirin in the days before surgery because they feared it could cause bleeding, will be reassured by the results of a new study.

30 Aug 2005

Good old fashioned soap and water the answer for "superbug"

Superbugs are bacteria that have mutated to become resistant to common antibiotics which are no longer any use against them.

30 Aug 2005

Dental problems caused by radiation, chemotherapy should be treated before a child undergoes immunosuppression as part of bone marrow transplantation therapy

Many children who undergo bone marrow transplantation (BMT) as part of cancer treatment already have dental abnormalities that leave them vulnerable to potentially life-threatening bacterial infections, according to investigators at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. A report on this study appears in the prepublication online edition of Bone Marrow Transplantation.

29 Aug 2005

Plastic surgery patients come from all walks of life

In the first-ever research of its kind, a study conducted by the American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS) details the people considering plastic surgery and their motivations, debunking many stereotypes.

29 Aug 2005

Ellen MacKenzie to lead health policy and management department

Ellen J. MacKenzie, PhD, a leading expert in the study of injury prevention and trauma services research, has been selected to chair the Department of Health Policy and Management at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. MacKenzie, a professor in the Department and director of the Bloomberg School's Center for Injury Research and Policy , will begin her new duties on September 1, 2005.

29 Aug 2005

Minimally invasive prostate removal aided by a robot has possible benefits, high cost

Although minimally invasive prostate removal aided by a robot can lead to less blood loss, shorter hospital stays and fewer complications, there is no evidence that the procedure improves cure rates, according to a new technology assessment.

29 Aug 2005

Ways to avoid hazards of heart bypass under study

The heart-lung bypass machine that stills the heart while surgeons bypass an adult’s clogged arteries or repair a baby’s malformed heart can also trigger a potentially deadly inflammatory response.

28 Aug 2005

Elevated blood lactate levels may indicate poor prognosis in liver failure

A new study on fulminant hepatic failure (FHF), a sudden and severe shutdown of the liver, examined ways of determining early on whether patients would benefit from a transplant as opposed to responding to other medical treatment. The results showed that elevated blood lactate levels indicate a poor prognosis and thus the need for a transplant.

28 Aug 2005

Inflammation plays an important role in post-operative stroke

Duke University Medical Center researchers have discovered that patients who have two specific gene variants are more than three times as likely to suffer a stroke after heart surgery.

26 Aug 2005

No show patients cost the health service millions each year

According to a new survey, missed appointments costs the National Health Service in the UK £21m.

25 Aug 2005

Drug Cytotec as good as surgery at expelling tissue following failed pregnancy

According to test results just released, the drug Cytotec is almost as effective as surgery for removing tissue that can remain in the uterus after a failed pregnancy.

25 Aug 2005

Stem cells with heart bypass surgery trial to begin

The University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC) has been granted approval by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to conduct a clinical trial to determine the safety and feasibility of injecting a patient's own bone marrow-derived stem cells directly into the heart during conventional heart bypass surgery.

25 Aug 2005

Coronary angioplasty increases risk of developing Alzheimer's disease

Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM) researchers have discovered that patients who have either coronary artery bypass graft surgery or coronary angioplasty are at an increased risk of developing Alzheimer's disease.

25 Aug 2005

Experimental immunusuppressant drug preserves transplanted kidneys

An international team of transplant physicians has shown that the investigational drug belatacept (LEA29Y) preserves transplanted kidney function as effectively as cyclosporine, the drug most commonly used to prevent the immune system from rejecting transplanted organs.

24 Aug 2005