The January issue of the journal Anesthesiology examines the issue of burnout among anesthesiologists. Two studies provide significant burnout statistics among these highly trained medical specialists...
Certain personality traits are linked to higher quality-of-life scores in breast cancer patients who undergo breast reconstruction after mastectomy, reports a study in the January issue of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery®, the official medical journal of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS).
What makes us look older? Wrinkles and sagging result not just from changes in the skin, but also from aging-related changes in the underlying facial bones, according to a report in the January issue of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery®, the official medical journal of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS).
A lung transplant can mean a new chance at life. But many who receive one develop a debilitating, fatal condition that causes scar tissue to build up in the lungs and chokes off the ability to breathe. University of Michigan researchers hope a new diagnostic tool they developed to predict bronchiolitis obliterans syndrome (BOS) will allow doctors to intervene earlier and, ultimately, to provide life-saving treatments.
An editorial in the New England Journal of Medicine argues that sleep-deprived physicians should not be permitted to proceed with an elective surgery without a patient’s informed, written consent.
The brain under general anesthesia isn't "asleep" as surgery patients are often told -- it is placed into a state that is a reversible coma, according to three neuroscientists who have published an extensive review of general anesthesia, sleep and coma, in the Dec. 30 issue of The New England Journal of Medicine. This insight and others reported in their review article could eventually lead to new approaches to general anesthesia and improved diagnosis and treatment for sleep abnormalities and emergence from coma.
Children who live in areas with fewer pediatricians are more likely to suffer life-threatening ruptures of the appendix than those in areas with more pediatricians, even when accounting for other factors such as the number of hospitals, imaging technology, insurance coverage and the number of surgeons in an area, according to a study from the Johns Hopkins Children's Center.
A study published in the January 2011 issue of Anesthesiology is one of the first to show that low preoperative cerebral oxygen saturation (ScO2) could be an important physiological risk marker for adverse outcome in cardiac surgery patients.
A new study from France, published in the January 2011 issue of Anesthesiology, is the first to analyze the impact of preoperative chronic statin therapy on postoperative adverse events in surgical patients. Findings from the study suggest that statin therapy is associated with reduced postoperative mortality.
David H. Adams, MD, Marie-Josée and Henry R. Kravis Professor and Chairman of the Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery, Samin K. Sharma, MD, the Zena and Michael A. Weiner Professor and Director of the Cardiac Catheterization Laboratory, and Annapoorna S. Kini, MD, Associate Professor and Associate Director of the Cardiac Catheterization Laboratory at The Mount Sinai Medical Center, have performed the first implantation of the Medtronic CoreValve® Transcatheter Aortic Valve Prosthesis in the United States.
Contaminating bacteria are very commonly found on the hands of anesthesia providers, with high rates of transmission to the surgical field during operations, reports a study in the January issue of Anesthesia & Analgesia, official journal of the International Anesthesia Research Society (IARS).
Botulinum neurotoxin type A (BoNT/A)—better known as Botox—reduces responses to an inflammation-related pain stimulus when injected into the spinal canal in mice, reports a study in the January issue of Anesthesia & Analgesia, official journal of the International Anesthesia Research Society (IARS).
Black people with early stage liver cancer were more likely than white patients to die from their disease, according to a new study from the University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center.
Surgeons at the University of Illinois Medical Center at Chicago are the first to offer robotic kidney transplantation to morbidly obese patients and report fewer complications among this high risk population.
The Penn Transplant Institute, the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery and the Division of Plastic Surgery at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania (HUP) have collaborated to form the Penn Hand Transplant Program.
Research results published in the December 2010 issue of the Journal of Vascular Surgery from Marc. L. Schemerhorn, MD reveals that stenting shows a higher risk of stroke and death vs. cartoid endarterectomy.
UT Southwestern Medical Center researchers have now developed a clinical risk prediction rule using factors such as sex, race and health history to assess the danger the surgery poses, while a modified version will help patients make a more fully informed choice about whether to have the procedure.
Laurie Harms, Los Angeles, feared she’d never hold her infant daughter, Sky, again. A devastating and extremely rare bone-eroding disease – Gorham-Stout syndrome – had left the 31-year-old crumpled in a hospital bed – her neck broken, arms limp and useless, and voice muted by tubes. Thanks to a young neurosurgeon who performed a "last resort" spinal fusion surgery at Cedars-Sinai she will be able to cuddle Baby Sky this holiday season.
The Department of Thoracic Surgery at Geisinger Medical Center (GMC) recently performed its first transcervical thymectomy, joining other major academic medical centers nationwide that perform the minimally invasive surgical procedure.
Surgery to remove tumors under the brain known as acoustic neuromas produces favorable outcomes in the "vast majority" of patients, according to one of the largest studies of its kind.
Anesthesiologists are playing a leading role in research into the molecular factors affecting inflammation, pain, and healing of surgical incisions, as illustrated by papers published in the December issue of Anesthesia & Analgesia, official journal of the International Anesthesia Research Society (IARS).
Around the holidays, even the friendliest game of flag football can lead to injury. According to sports medicine doctors at Hospital for Special Surgery, older and newly active recreational athletes are particularly at risk for shoulder injuries.
A two-day conference at the University of Chicago Medical Center is designed to offer surgeons a peek at the profession's future. It focuses on new molecular and mechanical solutions to three age-old problems: preventing the breakdown of anastomoses, improving tissue healing after surgery and developing new tools to test and sharpen surgical skills.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), hip replacements are among the most common surgical procedures in the United States; and with osteoarthritis and obesity on the rise, demand for the procedure is expected to grow.
A robotic arm device developed to assist orthopedic surgeons with performing partial knee replacement surgery for early to mid-stage osteoarthritis is now available at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia University Medical Center. The technology was approved by the FDA in 2005, and to date nearly 5,000 cases have been performed in the U.S.
In the December issue of Mayo Clinic Proceedings, an interdisciplinary team of Mayo Clinic physicians reviewed the most current data available, especially the results of two recent, widely anticipated randomized studies, and provided a new analysis of the two major interventions for carotid occlusive disease.
Loyola University Hospital's mortality rate from heart-bypass surgery is 74 percent lower than the mortality rate at peer hospitals, according to Thomson Reuters Cardiovascular Benchmarks Report.
UCLA researchers have pinpointed the culprit behind chronic rejection of heart, lung and kidney transplants. Published in the Nov. 23 edition of Science Signaling, their findings suggest new therapeutic approaches for preventing transplant rejection and sabotaging cancer growth.
Frontoethmoidal meningoencephalocele is a type of facial malformation that is rarely seen in developed countries, but is quite common in many Southeast Asian countries. A compelling article in the Journal of Neurosurgery: Pediatrics details the experiences of a cross-cultural surgical team who performed humanitarian work from 2004-2009 repairing the faces and spirits of Cambodian children.
HealthGrades, the nation’s leading independent ratings organization, today made available to organ transplant patients a list of those hospitals with the best track record for survival and chances of receiving a donor organ. HealthGrades annual evaluation of the nation’s top-performing hospitals in organ transplantation includes clinical quality data, based on patient outcomes, for each of the 210 adult acute care hospitals that perform transplants.
Franklin Hospital is ranked the best on Long Island for joint replacement outcomes and also is tops in Nassau County for its overall success in orthopedics and joint replacement, according to the latest national study by HealthGrades.
Strokes, seizures and other neurological complications related to heart surgery account for "considerable morbidity and mortality," Loyola University Health System neurologists report.
A small Mayo Clinic study has found that morbidly obese heart failure patients who undergo bariatric surgery gain long-lasting and meaningful improvements in disease symptoms and quality of life. The results were presented today at the American Heart Association’s Scientific Sessions 2010 in Chicago.
Leading healthcare publisher Lippincott Williams & Wilkins (LWW) today announced the publication of Greenfield’s Surgery: Scientific Principles & Practice, Fifth Edition, a completely updated general surgery reference that provides a thorough review of disease processes, epidemiology, diagnosis, new surgical recommendations, and new clinical findings. LWW is part of Wolters Kluwer Health, a leading provider of information and business intelligence for students, professionals, and pharmacy.
A new stent device now under study potentially could increase the percentage of patients with abdominal aortic aneurysms who could be treated with a catheter instead of a scalpel.
New techniques now being used at UCLA allow doctors to more precisely target certain areas of the heart to stop ventricular arrhythmias — serious abnormal rhythms in the heart's lower chambers — in high-risk patients.
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute today announced the new Center for Modeling, Simulation, and Imaging in Medicine (CeMSIM) within the School of Engineering. A true interdisciplinary endeavor, CeMSIM seeks to develop advanced modeling, simulation, and imaging technology for health care, and transition those technologies to clinical practice—from the lab bench to the hospital bedside.
On November 9, 2010, the Department of Surgery at UC San Diego Health System will launch a timely lecture series called “Women in Surgery.” Compared to other professions, surgery remains a largely male-dominated field.
Today, The Endocrine Society released a new clinical practice guideline for the nutritional and endocrine management of adults after bariatric surgery, including those with diabetes mellitus. The guideline features a series of evidence-based clinical recommendations developed by an expert task force. The guideline is published in the November 2010 issue of the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism (JCEM), a publication of The Endocrine Society.
Potentially harmful levels of methemoglobin—which can build up in patients receiving certain anesthetics—are detectable using a new, noninvasive monitoring technique called pulse CO-oximetry, reports a study in the November issue of Anesthesia & Analgesia, official journal of the International Anesthesia Research Society (IARS).
In some heart patients, coronary arteries become so clogged that they are difficult or impossible to reopen with conventional balloon angioplasties.
A new technique reopens tough blockages by going through the "back door."
Scientists at the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center, University of Helsinki and Stanford University have developed a technique to keep normal and cancerous prostate tissue removed during surgery alive and functioning normally in the laboratory for up to a week.
An alternative anesthetic technique can be employed when conventional nasal intubation methods do not work.. The method involves a gum elastic bougie (GEB) device, which is useful for difficult airway management but seldom has been used for nasotracheal intubation.
Although implant dentistry has become widely accepted to restore esthetics and function of teeth, it is not without risks. One serious complication that can occur is alteration of sensation due to nerve injury. Some reports place this occurrence as high as 13%. For dental practitioners, thorough understanding of anatomy, surgical procedures, and implant systems along with proper planning of treatment are essential to reduce this complication.
For a fetus diagnosed prenatally with the severe heart defect hypoplastic left heart syndrome, surgery affords an excellent chance of early survival in two thirds of cases. A comprehensive prenatal evaluation is essential.