Appendix News and Research

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A new anatomical teaching aid

Medical students will be helped to understand what it is like to go under the knife thanks to a world-first project that brings together art and science.

4 Feb 2008

Two phase II clinical trials commence for NeuroDiscovery

NeuroDiscovery Ltd, an Australian neurology-focused research and development company, has announced that two Phase II clinical trials of NSL-101 have commenced.

27 Nov 2007

People with schizophrenia are more likely to suffer from ruptured appendix

People with mental illness suffer more than just psychological problems. People with schizophrenia are more likely to suffer from ruptured appendix than others, according to research published in the online open access journal, BMC Public Health.

16 Nov 2007

Possible biomarker for colon cancer in people under 50

An abnormality of chromosomes long associated with diseases of aging has, for the first time, been linked to colon cancer in people 50 years old and younger, an age group usually considered young for this disease.

28 Oct 2007

Possible biomarker for colon cancer in people 50 and under

28 Oct 2007

Pregnant women at risk for unnecessary operations due to misdiagnosis of appendicitis

New research published in the October issue of the Journal of the American College of Surgeons suggests that pregnant women suspected of having appendicitis are often misdiagnosed and undergo unnecessary appendectomies (removal of the appendix) that can result in early delivery or loss of the fetus.

24 Oct 2007

Beneficial bacteria in the appendix aid digestion after infection

Long denigrated as vestigial or useless, the appendix now appears to have a reason to be – as a “safe house” for the beneficial bacteria living in the human gut.

9 Oct 2007

What does the appendix do? finally an answer!

Researchers at Duke University Medical Center say that the function of the frequently discarded appendix, an organ often credited with little importance and often dismissed as having no significant function, does it seems have a role to play after all.

8 Oct 2007

Insurance status, not race, linked to complications in patients with acute appendicitis

In what is being described as an "unexpected finding," new research suggests no correlation between a patient's race and complications with acute appendicitis.

12 Sep 2007

Key signs of appendicitis

A 5-year-old with abdominal pain, nausea and fever may have appendicitis or any of a number of other problems.

3 Aug 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

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

Hormone the culprit between obesity and colon cancer

A team of scientists from the University of California, San Diego say they believe a chemical produced by fat cells encourages colon cancers to grow faster; they say this may explain why severely overweight people appear to be at far greater risk of the disease.

8 Apr 2007

Lung neutrophils produce histamine in significant quantities

In a surprise finding, scientists have discovered that histamine, the inflammatory compound released during allergic reactions that causes runny nose, watery eyes, and wheezing, can be produced in large amounts in the lung by neutrophils, the white blood cells that are the major component of pus.

14 Jan 2007

Rare abdominal cancer diagnosis being looked at in a different manner

Their experience treating a rare type of abdominal cancer has helped physicians at Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center make a new discovery that may change the way it is diagnosed.

24 Apr 2006

Magnetic resonance imaging can help rule out acute appendicitis in pregnancy

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) can help rule out acute appendicitis in pregnancy when ultrasound findings are inconclusive, according to a study in the March issue of Radiology.

28 Feb 2006

8 million children born every year with serious birth defects

According to a new report, every year an estimated 8 million children are born with a serious birth defect of genetic or partially genetic origin.

31 Jan 2006

Three cases of mad cow disease in UK from donated blood

Health officials in the UK are warning blood donors that three patients developed the human form of mad cow disease after receiving blood from a possible one hundred people, some of whom are suspected of carrying the deadly agent.

21 Jul 2005

Single dose of antibiotics may be just as effective as multiple doses in preventing infections after an appendectomy

The review found that antibiotic injections do work no matter how diseased the appendix was or whether it was diseased at all. This is significant, because some surgeons contend that antibiotics should be used only when the appendix is at a more advanced stage of disease.

20 Jul 2005

CT screening lowers negative appendectomy rate from 20% to 3% at urban hospital

Five years ago, the negative appendectomy rate at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) in Boston was 20%, but since the advent of CT screening, it has dropped to 3%, say MGH researchers. The negative appendectomy rate measures how often patients with symptoms of appendicitis have their appendix removed and then are diagnosed as not having acute appendicitis.

8 Jun 2005