Articles
Valve Clip Works In Real World
August 29, 2012 7:55 am | by Chris Kaiser | CommentsThe percutaneously inserted MitraClip was associated with significant improvements in symptoms and functions at 1 year in patients with severe mitral regurgitation, a registry study found. In 79 percent of the 567 patients in whom the MitraClip was used, mitral regurgitation cleared completely or was reduced to mild at 1 year and the vast majority of patients (94 percent) stayed out of the surgical suite, reported Wolfgang Schillinger, MD, of the University Medical Center Göttingen, and colleagues.
Reflections On Retirement
August 29, 2012 7:48 am | CommentsAs I contemplate retirement from clinical practice as a general surgeon, something I've been doing for over 41 years including residency, I've been having some unsettling thoughts. Like many physicians, I've tried to stay somewhat emotionally detached from my patients. You must maintain some distance in order to be able to make tough decisions and to keep on doing surgery for so long.
An Endoscopic Handling And Reprocessing Solution
August 27, 2012 11:47 am | Deroyal | Comments1. How was the idea for this product developed? What needs were you looking to meet with this product? The development of the ProShield took place in several stages, each stage recognizing and addressing a need in the handling, storage, transportation and reprocessing of flexible endoscopes.
NY Hospital Installs Hand-Washing Cam
August 27, 2012 11:30 am | CommentsDoctors and nurses in the ICU at Long Island’s North Shore University Hospital are being watched by 39 video cameras in an effort to increase compliance with hand washing. According to a report, hand-washing compliance is up from less than 10 percent to 90 percent since the program started.
Why Severe Heart Attacks Are Becoming Less Deadly
August 27, 2012 7:22 am | by Dr. Tiffany Chao | CommentsAugust 27, 2012 Severe heart attacks may not be as deadly as they used to be, according to new research. A new French study demonstrated that in patients who are hospitalized for severe heart attacks – technically known as ST-elevation myocardial infarctions – the chances of dying within 30 days dropped from 13.
Inducing Anesthesia On YouTube: How Many Ways Is This Wrong?
August 27, 2012 7:15 am | by Karen S. Sibert, M.D. | CommentsReally, sir. What were you thinking? I’m talking to you—the anesthesia provider (I hate to think that you might be an anesthesiologist) who allowed himself to be videotaped while a patient injected his own induction dose of propofol. Most people know something about propofol even if they aren’t in the anesthesia business–that’s the medication that Dr.
Barriers
August 24, 2012 8:00 am | CommentsBruce Campbell, MD, Medical College of Wisconsin Otolaryngologist Years ago, I sat in clinic with a new patient, her family, and a Hmong translator. I studied the biopsy report from another doctor’s office. This would be difficult. I asked about her symptoms. The mass had been there for a while, I learned.
Bariatric Tx Seems To Stymie Type 2 Diabetes
August 23, 2012 12:34 pm | by Charles Bankhead | CommentsObese patients who underwent bariatric surgery had an 83 percent lower incidence of type 2 diabetes compared with a control group that did not have weight-loss surgery, data from a large Swedish study showed. Almost four times as many patients in the control group developed type 2 diabetes during 15 years of follow-up.
Work Hour Reform Is A Moral Imperative
August 23, 2012 12:26 pm | by Vinay Prasad, M.D. | CommentsWhile new doctors in Europe “enjoy” 50 to 60 hour work weeks, doctors in the US work up to 80 hours a week, and sometimes beyond that. But the situation is changing. One year has passed since new limits on the number of hours doctors can work in their first job. For first year physicians, shifts are limited to 16 hours, and in other years, the limit is 28 hours.
A Cure For Sweating
August 22, 2012 1:29 pm | Commentsvideo platform video management video solutions video player One woman battled excessive sweating in secret until she found an unusual medical treatment.
CT Scan For Heart Risk Splits Doctors
August 22, 2012 1:07 pm | Commentsvideo platform video management video solutions video player For hundreds of thousands of Americans, the first sign of heart disease is when their heart stops. It's a situation that has cardiologists constantly searching for better ways to detect heart problems sooner.
Two Surgeries Equal For Esophageal Ca
August 22, 2012 6:10 am | by Charles Bankhead | CommentsMinimally invasive esophagectomy matched open surgery for survival in patients with esophageal cancer and led to examination of significantly more lymph nodes, authors of a meta-analysis concluded. Survival among patients treated with either of the techniques was similar at intervals ranging from 30 days to 5 years, although nonsignificant differences favored the minimally invasive approach, as reported in the August issue of Archives of Surgery.
Aggressive Billing Practices
August 22, 2012 6:02 am | CommentsThere’s a big Internet dustup about a California plastic surgeon who is being sued by the state to stop her aggressive billing practices. The state medical board is investigating her for possible illegal balance billing and may remove her medical license. The LA Times ran a story documenting the plight of a patient who cut off the tip of a finger.
Stroke Risk May Be Higher With CABG
August 21, 2012 6:33 am | by Todd Neale | Ashvaa Medical Systems | CommentsReopening blocked coronary arteries with CABG instead of percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) is associated with a greater risk of stroke up to about 1 year after the procedure, a meta-analysis showed. In pooled results of randomized trials, the 30-day rate of stroke was 1.2 percent after CABG and 0.
