Feature Channels: Surgery

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Robotic surgery has become a mainstream tool for removing an ever-increasing variety of head and neck tumors. Now, a team of head and neck surgeons from Mayo Clinic has found robotic surgery can treat cancer in the narrow, hard-to-reach area beyond the tongue at the top of the voice box. Some patients were able to avoid further treatment with chemotherapy or radiation, and most could resume normal eating and speaking.

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Available for expert commentary on the latest research findings presented at the 2011 American Transplant Congress (ATC) in Philadelphia, April 30 to May 4, is Dr. Sandip Kapur, chief of transplant surgery and director of kidney and pancreas transplant programs at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center, and a leading authority on transplantation.

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Injecting a tissue spacer in the prostate-rectal inter-space is an effective way to reduce the rectal dose for prostate cancer patients receiving radiation therapy, according to research presented April 30, 2011, at the Cancer Imaging and Radiation Therapy Symposium in Atlanta. This symposium is sponsored by the American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) and Radiological Society of North America (RSNA).

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Getting vaccinated against the flu lowers kidney transplant recipients’ risk of organ loss and death, according to a study appearing in an upcoming issue of the Clinical Journal of the American Society Nephrology (CJASN). The results suggest that concerns about the safety of the influenza vaccine in transplant recipients are unwarranted.

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A study by Henry Ford Hospital shows a direct association between cotton swab use and ruptured eardrum. The study also shows that in most cases the rupture heals on its own and surgery is only necessary for the most severe cases.

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Roughly one out of every 24 patients undergoing surgery acquires a surgical site infection. With 40 million operations performed in the U.S. each year, between 800,000 and 2 million individuals contract these infections annually. An innovative new pilot project being launched by Sherry Lansing, a regent of the University of California, and her husband, Academy Award–winning film director William Friedkin, provides hope for the future in helping hospitals address such infections.

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Loyola University Medical Center is believed to be the first organization in the country, and perhaps the world, in which five employees have each donated kidneys to complete strangers with no strings attached.

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Postoperative cognitive dysfunction (POCD) refers to a "mild but possibly long-lasting cognitive fogginess" occurring after surgery and anesthesia. The May issue of Anesthesia & Analgesia, official journal of the International Anesthesia Research Society (IARS), presents a special-focus section on POCD in older adults—including the possible causes and preoperative evaluation of POCD risk.

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A recent study has demonstrated that doctors may soon have a tool for identifying orthopedic prostheses that are becoming loose after total joint replacement surgery, the most common reason joint replacements fail.

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Patients who received kidney transplants through the UCLA Kidney and Pancreas Transplant Program had the highest three-year transplant survival rate among patients who underwent the procedure at U.S. centers that perform 80 or more transplants a year.

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When doctors own or lease MRI equipment, their patients are more likely to receive scans for low back pain.

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Patients on peritoneal dialysis (PD) typically have a higher early survival rate than patients on hemodialysis (HD). New data suggest that this difference may be explained by a higher risk of early deaths among patients undergoing HD with central venous catheters, according to a study appearing in an upcoming issue of the Journal of the American Society of Nephrology (JASN).

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Six-and-a-half weeks after receiving the first hand transplant in the western United States, Emily Fennell is becoming so accustomed to her new right hand that she barely remembers when she didn't have one.

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The recent U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval of a brain aneurysm device has opened the door for neurosurgeons at Jefferson Hospital for Neuroscience (JHN) to offer advanced treatment to patients suffering from large or giant aneurysms who otherwise have limited, effective options.

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Most patients with scoliosis (curved spine) developing after age ten don't need routine magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scanning before spine-straightening surgery, suggests a study in the April 14 issue of Spine. The journal is published by Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, a part of Wolters Kluwer Health.

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Neurosurgeons at the Krembil Neuroscience Centre, Toronto Western Hospital, have for the first time, initiated the restoration of lost brain tissue through brain bypass surgery in patients where blood flow to the brain is impaired by cerebrovascular disease. The study, which involved 29 patients, was published online in the journal Stroke.

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A study has found that binge drinking could change the body's immune system response to orthopaedic injury. This could complicate the care of binge-drinking trauma patients.

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A device developed by UT Southwestern Medical Center surgeons offers precise repair of pelvic fractures with minimal postsurgical scarring, pain and infection risk and is available for broad adoption by the nation’s 200 level I trauma centers.

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A new high-flow brain bypass procedure developed by a Saint Louis University surgeon is highlighted on the cover of Neurosurgery.

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Taking a statin before having major elective surgery reduces potentially serious kidney complications, according to a study appearing in an upcoming issue of the Journal of the American Society Nephrology (JASN).

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Kidney transplant recipients who develop antibodies in response to receiving new organs can develop accelerated arteriosclerosis, or narrowing of the arteries that supply blood to the kidney, according to a study appearing in an upcoming issue of the Journal of the American Society Nephrology (JASN). The results indicate that arteriosclerosis resulting from such donor-specific antibodies may play an important role in organ rejection following transplantation.

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For the first time, scientists at Toronto General Hospital, University Health Network have shown in a clinical trial that the Toronto XVIVO System can safely and effectively treat, re-assess and improve the function of high-risk donor lungs so that they can be successfully transplanted into patients. The use of this technique could significantly expand the donor organ pool and improve outcomes after transplantation.

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Tragically, infants experience severe or fatal head trauma as a result of intentional abuse. Shaken baby syndrome, now commonly referred to as non-accidental head trauma, is a serious form of abuse inflicted upon a child. While there have been other studies analyzing the relationship between economic hardship and child abuse, including head trauma, this research focuses specifically on severe head trauma trends in infants.

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Of the 4,030 new cases of brain tumors diagnosed in 2010, an estimated 2,880 were in children younger than 15. As many as 15 percent of these pediatric brain tumors occur in the brainstem. Eighty percent of brainstem gliomas (BSG’s) are diffuse intrinsic pontine gliomas (DIPGs), an almost always fatal tumor with no effective treatment. Researchers studied the biology of pediatric brainstem glioma in an effort to advance treatment of this leading cause of brain tumor death in children.

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EANS-4th WORLD ICH Congress 2011 to convene key specialists on May 2-5 in NewcastleGateshead.

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Low back and leg pain secondary to degeneration of the lumbar spine (spondylolisthesis) is occurring with increasing frequency, concurrent with the rising population of people age 65 and older living in the US. As a result, there has been a marked increase in the rate of spinal fusion operations and corresponding healthcare costs over the past two decades. Researchers at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, Tenn. set out to assess the cost-effectiveness of TLIF, a single lumbar fusion surgical technique commonly used to stabilize the vertebrae of the spine and disc between the vertebrae.

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Anterior cervical discectomy and fusion (ACDF) has been the mainstay surgical treatment for cervical disc degeneration for many years. A study performed by researchers at Boulder Neurosurgical Associates and the University of Colorado at Boulder suggests that more optimistic patient expectation and mental health are significant factors that lead to improved clinical outcomes and higher patient satisfaction scores following cervical spine surgery.

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On December 5, 1960, 4-month-old Theo Dahl, the only son of best-selling author Roald Dahl and actress Patricia Neal, suffered a shattered skull in a horrific traffic accident involving his pram in New York City. What began as a personal tragedy for the family would soon evolve into an elaborate crusade by Roald Dahl to expound upon pre-existing valve technology for hydrocephalus with the goal of developing a shunt that would not obstruct.

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Meningiomas are the most common benign intracranial tumors, and in individuals ages 35 and older, the most common type of brain tumor diagnosed. Researchers at the University of Virginia, Charlottesville, analyzed factors predictive of outcomes and recurrence in patients with posterior fossa meningiomas treated with stereotactic radiosurgery.

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Thousands of Americans suffer from episodes of acute or persistent neck and arm pain every year as a result of underlying cervical disc disease. Anterior cervical discectomy and fusion (ACDF) has been the mainstay treatment for many years. This is the largest combined analysis of class 1 data to date comparing the efficacy of artificial disc surgery (arthroplasty) to the ACDF procedure.

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An arteriovenous malformation (AVM) is a tangle of abnormal and poorly formed blood vessels (arteries and veins), with an innate propensity to bleed. Researchers at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine assessed the risks and efficacy of repeat stereotactic radiosurgery in patients with AVMs.

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A breast augmentation procedure in which fat from other parts of the body is transferred to the breasts causes can cause false suspicion of breast cancer on follow-up mammograms, according to a study in the April issue of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery®, the official medical journal of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS).

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Immediate breast reconstruction using implants provides a new alternative for many women undergoing mastectomy for breast cancer, suggests a study in the April issue of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery®, the official medical journal of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS).

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Teenagers who undergo spine fusion for scoliosis using the newest surgical techniques can expect to be doing well 10 years after surgery, according to a study published online ahead of print in the journal Spine.

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Less-invasive catheter-based aortic valve replacement has a similar one-year survival as open valve-replacement surgery for patients at high risk for surgery.

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Researchers at McMaster University and Hamilton Health Sciences have found accessing blocked arteries through the forearm compared to groin led to fewer vascular complications and similar success rates for angioplasty.

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Patient’s own stem cells may supercharge cardiac bypass surgery.

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New transcatheter heart valve studies will be presented at the American College of Cardiology meeting in New Orleans on April 3 and 4. The studies compare patient outcomes from minimally invasive catheter procedures with those from open-heart surgery. Two experts from Cedars-Sinai Medical Center are available for interviews: Raj Makkar, MD, and Saibal Kar, MD. The studies compare patient outcomes from minimally invasive catheter procedures with those from open-heart surgery.

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Physicians at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth) have begun enrollment for a pilot study on a promising surgical approach for the management of Type 2 diabetes.

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Electrophysiologists at Rush University Medical Center are using a new robotic system that allows them to treat abnormal heart rhythms with greater precision. Rush is the first academic medical center in Chicago to use the Sensei Robotic Catheter system, a flexible robotic platform that integrates advanced levels of catheter control with 3D visualization.

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In the longest study of its kind, bariatric surgery has been shown to reduce the risk of heart attack and stroke in patients with diabetes. These results and other groundbreaking research were presented at the 2nd World Congress on Interventional Therapies for Type 2 Diabetes, hosted by NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital and Weill Cornell Medical College.

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If Congress reversed its ban on allowing people with HIV to be organ donors after their death, roughly 500 HIV-positive patients with kidney or liver failure each year could get transplants within months, rather than the years they currently wait on the list, new Johns Hopkins research suggests.

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Bariatric surgery is an especially cost-effective therapy for managing Type 2 diabetes in moderately and severely obese patients. These findings and others were presented today at the 2nd World Congress on Interventional Therapies for Type 2 Diabetes, hosted by NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital and Weill Cornell Medical College.

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NYU Langone is the first in the world to utilize a new near-infrared fluorescence imaging guidance system for selective arterial clamping during kidney sparing surgery for patients with kidney cancer and is among small select group of hospitals in the country and the only one in the northeast to have this technology.

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Study compares indirect and direct measurements for both patients and operators.

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The International Diabetes Federation now recommends that surgery be considered as a treatment for obese patients with type 2 diabetes. Dr. Allison Goldfine, head of clinical research at Joslin Diabetes Center, is available for comment.

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Bariatric surgery should be considered earlier in the treatment of eligible patients to help stem the serious complications that can result from diabetes, according to an International Diabetes Federation (IDF) position statement presented by leading experts at the 2nd World Congress on Interventional Therapies for Type 2 Diabetes in New York.

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The U.S. Food and Drug Administration currently recommends regular follow-up magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans for women with silicone breast implants. But a new review shows significant flaws in the evidence supporting this recommendation, reports the March issue of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery®, the official medical journal of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS).

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Lipomodeling—a relatively new approach to breast augmentation in which fat is transferred to the breasts from other parts of the body—doesn't interfere with routine screening mammograms, reports a study in the March issue of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery®, the official medical journal of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS).

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A small group of "high-risk" patients account for a disproportionately high number of surgery-related deaths, complications, and costs. The April issue of Anesthesia & Analgesia, official journal of the International Anesthesia Research Society (IARS), commences a special series on high-risk surgery—focusing on new and emerging strategies for identifying and managing patients at high risk.