Surgery News and Research

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Exercise is emerging as a new therapeutic weapon to tackle cancer

When individuals with breast or prostate cancer followed a moderate, home-based exercise program using resistance bands and walking, the patients had less fatigue during radiation treatments, greater strength and could walk farther and faster in only four weeks, researchers discovered in a pilot study.

7 Jun 2006

Delayed calf muscle phosphocreatine recovery after exercise identifies peripheral arterial disease

Between 8 and 12 million Americans are affected by peripheral arterial disease, or PAD, where the arteries that bring blood to the legs are blocked by atherosclerotic plaque.

6 Jun 2006

Evidence is strong that green tea lowers the risk for a number of chronic diseases

There is a lower incidence of cardiovascular disease and cancer in Asia where people smoke heavily, which may be accounted for by high consumption of tea, particularly green tea, according to a review article published by a Yale School of Medicine researcher.

6 Jun 2006

New human genotype may be prone to vCJD

A small study in the British Medical Journal suggests a new human genotype may be prone to variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (vCJD).

6 Jun 2006

Hormonal treatments reduce risk of cancer returning

Women diagnosed with breast cancer who carry a certain genetic mutation can have breast-sparing surgery but should consider hormonal treatments to reduce their risk of cancer returning.

6 Jun 2006

Novel research points to promising relief target for chronic pain

By some accounts, chronic pain affects nearly 100 million Americans from such varied causes as arthritis, sciatica, cancer, diabetes. Most forms of pain result from identifiable causes which serve the "good" purpose in warning of a real physical problem that needs attention, or rest.

6 Jun 2006

Gene therapy used to accelerate muscle regeneration

Researchers have successfully used gene therapy to accelerate muscle regeneration in experimental animals with muscle damage.

6 Jun 2006

Patients not receiving follow-up tests after positive screening for colon cancer

Study shows that more than 40 percent of patients who initially had received a positive result on a fecal occult blood test (FOBT) did not receive appropriate diagnostic follow-up tests such as a colonoscopy or barium enema in 2002.

6 Jun 2006

Study shows skin rash in patients treated for liver cancer determines survival

In a study of a new chemotherapy drug for liver cancer, researchers found that the development of a skin rash correlated directly with the patient's response to treatment.

6 Jun 2006

Addition of gemcitabine to standard postoperative treatment increased pancreatic cancer patients' survival by 50 percent

Adding the cancer-fighting drug gemcitabine to standard therapy after surgery significantly improves survival for patients with the most common form of pancreatic cancer, according to a new multicenter study led by a University of Maryland radiation oncologist.

6 Jun 2006

Study finds ways to improve detection of blood clots in the lung

Largest study ever conducted to assess the role of contrast-enhanced multidetector computed tomographic (CT) angiography for diagnosing pulmonary embolism.

5 Jun 2006

Taxotere combined with standard chemotherapy improves survival in advanced head and neck cancers

The addition of docetaxel (Taxotere) to an initial chemotherapy regimen for inoperable head and neck cancers reduced mortality by nearly 30 percent over three years following treatment compared to the standard two-drug combination.

5 Jun 2006

HERA trial continues to demonstrate significant patient benefits from Herceptin

New 23-month follow-up data from HERA, one of the largest breast cancer trials ever carried out, show that Herceptin (trastuzumab) following standard chemotherapy significantly reduced the risk of death by 34% for women with early-stage HER2-positive breast cancer.

5 Jun 2006

Different surgical procedures produce same results in intestinal perforation due to necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC)

Two surgical procedures, one invasive and the other much less so, for premature infants with intestinal perforation due to necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC) produce virtually identical results.

1 Jun 2006

Startling data about infection-induced amputation and diabetes

Persons with diabetes who develop an infection are at a 55-fold greater risk for hospitalization, and an alarming 154-fold greater risk for amputation.

1 Jun 2006

Scientists use "small interfering RNAs" to block the spread of human colorectal cancer cells

Using one of the newest and most powerful tools of biomedical science, University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston (UTMB) researchers have scored a dramatic success in the battle against colorectal cancer.

1 Jun 2006

Better education needed on physical dangers of falling TV sets to children

Adults need to be better educated about television's potential harm - not content or programming, but the physical danger of falling sets, according to a recent UT Southwestern Medical Center study.

1 Jun 2006

Molecular diagnostic test for early-stage breast cancer

Researchers at Montefiore Medical Center are leading a nationwide clinical trial to determine whether a new genetic test can be used to personalize treatment for early-stage breast cancer.

1 Jun 2006

Breast radiation device associated with complications

Doctors in New England have discovered that patients receiving accelerated-partial breast radiation therapy using a balloon brachytherapy system after lumpectomy for breast cancer can develop seroma, the retaining of fluid, in their breast which can require aspiration or make monitoring them by physical exam more difficult.

1 Jun 2006

Clipping or coiling aneurysms - study

A study led by UCSF neurologist S. Claiborne Johnston, MD, has shown that coiling of ruptured brain aneurysms is very effective during long-term follow-up, similar to outcomes with surgical clipping.

31 May 2006