News
Cancer Care Facilities Receive National Achievement Award From American College Of Surgeons' Commission On Cancer
April 19, 2013 4:56 pm | CommentsThe Commission on Cancer (CoC) of the American College of Surgeons (ACS) has granted its 2012 Outstanding Achievement Award to a select group of 79 accredited cancer programs throughout the United States. Award criteria were based on qualitative and quantitative surveys conducted last year.
Progress In Antibiotic Development 'Alarmingly Elusive'
April 19, 2013 11:49 am | CommentsDespite the desperate need for new antibiotics to combat increasingly deadly resistant bacteria, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved only one new systemic antibiotic since the Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA) launched its 10 x '20 Initiative in 2010 — and that drug was approved two and a half years ago.
Outpatients, Hospital Patients Face Different Issues With Antibiotic Resistance
April 19, 2013 9:07 am | CommentsA new study concludes that problems with antibiotic resistance faced by outpatients may be as bad as those in hospitalized patients, and that more studies of outpatients are needed – both to protect their health and to avoid inappropriate or unnecessary drug use.
Boston Bombing: Finding Evidence In The ER
April 19, 2013 9:00 am | CommentsIn the aftermath of Monday's marathon bombing, emergency physicians here are tasked not only with saving lives but also saving evidence. The challenges posed by that dual charge are daunting, but not impossible said Louis Alarcon, MD, of University of Pittsburgh Medical Center.
Report: Lawsuit Over Lap-Band Surgery Ads Is Settled
April 19, 2013 8:54 am | by Associated Press | CommentsA company that promoted Lap-Band weight-loss surgery has agreed to pay $1.3 million to settle a false-advertising lawsuit, with some of the money going to billboards warning the public about the risks of weight-loss surgery, a newspaper reported Thursday. From 2009 to 2011, five patients died.
Unique Extracellular Matrix Used In Patient Successfully Treated For Flesh Eating Bacteria
April 17, 2013 12:25 pm | CommentsA patient diagnosed with necrotizing fasciitis was successfully treated and discharged after ACell MatriStem was used in an effort to save her leg from amputation. Doctors intervened surgically to remove a great deal of tissue in an attempt to stop the bacteria from spreading.
American Laser Society Names New President
April 17, 2013 12:07 pm | CommentsThe American Society for Laser Medicine & Surgery, Inc. (ASLMS) has named Jeffrey S. Dover, M.D., F.R.C.P.C. president. Dr. Dover took office at Laser 2013, the ASLMS annual scientific conference held in Boston, Massachusetts, and will serve for one year.
Patients Who Have STEMI Heart Attacks While Hospitalized More Likely To Die
April 17, 2013 11:49 am | CommentsIf you suffer a heart attack while walking down the street and are taken to the hospital quickly, your chances of survival are very good. But if you have a heart attack while already in the hospital for something else, you are 10 times more likely to die. That surprising finding comes from a study by University of North Carolina School of Medicine researchers.
Study: Number Of Patients At Risk For Unnecessary Thyroid Surgery Is Likely On The Rise
April 17, 2013 11:31 am | CommentsA new study shows that the number of patients with thyroid nodules who undergo surgery – increasingly to remove all, rather than part, of their thyroid – has risen by 31 percent over five years. The new data were presented yesterday at the annual meeting of the American Association of Endocrine Surgeons, held in Chicago, Ill.
Physician Entrepreneurs Are Key Contributors To New Medical Devices
April 17, 2013 10:28 am | CommentsStartup companies founded by physician entrepreneurs are an important source of patents used in developing innovative new medical devices. Device manufacturers gain more from the patents of physician-founded firms than from those of non-physician-founded firms in their subsequent invention and innovation efforts.
Prophylactic Sodium Bicarbonate Infusion And Acute Kidney Injury After Open Heart Surgery
April 17, 2013 10:25 am | CommentsContrary to the positive findings of a previous pilot study, administration of a sodium bicarbonate-based infusion to induce urinary alkalinization during and after surgery does not reduce the incidence of acute kidney injury (AKI) and may even cause harm in patients undergoing open heart surgery.
Doctor: Marathon Victims Had Metal In Wounds
April 16, 2013 11:49 am | CommentsMassachusetts General Hospital's chief of trauma surgery says doctors removed "a variety of sharp objects," including pellets and nails, from the wounds of victims of the Boston Marathon explosions. Dr. George Velmahos said Tuesday that in his opinion the metal fragments came from the bomb and not from the environment.
Energy Efficiency Could Increase Infection Risks In Hospital Wards
April 16, 2013 11:47 am | CommentsThe chance of infection in some hospital wards varies dramatically according to whether the nurses leave the windows open. A University of Leeds-led team studied airflow in a "Nightingale" ward—a classic hospital ward design that traditionally accommodates two rows of up to 30 beds—by using tracer gases to simulate how airborne infections spread.
Preop Ketamine May Lower Pain in Fibromyalgia
April 16, 2013 10:50 am | by Ed Susman | CommentsIn fibromyalgia patients undergoing knee or hip replacement surgery, low-dose, intraoperative ketamine appeared to reduce the need for post-surgical opioid therapy, researchers said. Ketamine is a dissociative anesthetic and has been used in human and veterinary medicine since 1963.
Researchers Devise X-ray Approach To Track Surgical Devices And Minimize Radiation Exposure
April 16, 2013 10:41 am | CommentsResearchers from North Carolina State University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC) have developed a new tool to help surgeons use X-rays to track devices used in “minimally invasive” surgical procedures while also limiting the patient’s exposure to radiation from the X-rays.
