News
New Catheter-Based Ventilation Device Begins Trials
January 19, 2010 5:00 am | CommentsVentilators, though staples of modern critical care, can have drawbacks for both patient safety and comfort. The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette is reporting that a considerably less intrusive system from a company called ALung Technologies is about to begin clinical trials in India and Europe. The Hemolung is designed to perform respiratory gas exchange via a catheter inserted into the femoral or jugular vein.
FDA Toughens Stance On Tanning Beds
January 19, 2010 4:45 am | CommentsLauran Neergaard, AP Just as millions head to tanning beds to prepare for spring break, the Food and Drug Administration will be debating how to toughen warnings regarding cancer risks. Yes, sunburns are particularly dangerous, but there's increasing scientific consensus that there's no such thing as a safe tan, either.
Conjoined Twins Readying For Separation
January 19, 2010 4:29 am | CommentsEmma and Taylor Bailey, from the San Tan Valley area near Phoenix, were born connected at the chest, sharing a liver and a seven-chambered heart. Most hearts have four chambers. Their parents, Mandy and Tor Bailey, weren't expecting them to ever leave the hospital. Emma and Taylor exceeded expectations but now have heart failure, and their parents know the girls must be surgically separated to survive in the long term.
Bariatric Surgery Outcomes Improve
January 19, 2010 4:12 am | CommentsFollowing a rule expanding coverage of weight-loss surgery under Medicare, bariatric procedures in the Medicare population were centralized to a smaller number of certified centers, were more likely to be minimally invasive, and were associated with improved outcomes, stated a report in the January issue of Archives of Surgery .
Fish Oil Helps Shorten ICU Stays
January 19, 2010 3:56 am | CommentsA randomised controlled trial of fish oil given intravenously to patients in intensive care has found that it improves gas exchange, reduces inflammatory chemicals and results in a shorter length of hospital stay. Researchers writing in BioMed Central's open access journal Critical Care investigated the effects of including fish oil in the normal nutrient solution for patients with sepsis, finding a significant series of benefits.
Illegal Drug Injection Site To Stay Open
January 18, 2010 7:20 am | CommentsReuters The Canadian government must allow Vancouver's Insite facility, North America's only sanctioned drug-injection site, to remain open, a provincial appeals court ruled on Friday. The facility allows addicts to use their own illegal drugs under supervised conditions, and is the focus of a battle between the federal government, which wants to close it, and local health officials, who say it saves lives.
Medical Companies Send $15.5M To Haiti
January 18, 2010 7:13 am | CommentsDrug and medical product makers and other health care companies are pledging to donate at least $15.5 million in cash and products to help victims of the earthquake in Haiti. Besides donating cash to various relief groups, pharmaceutical companies and medical product makers were preparing or have sent products to treat injured people, as well as medicines for patients who had lost their supply.
Surgeon Ruled Incompetent After Removing Wrong Kidney
January 18, 2010 7:02 am | CommentsA urologist has been indefinitely barred from inpatient surgery for removing the wrong kidney of one patient and taking a biopsy from another patient's pancreas instead of a kidney. Dr. Erol Uke has signed the disciplinary ruling from the Minnesota Board of Medical Practice, agreeing that his actions justify the board's discipline.
New Alternative For Pancreatic Biopsy
January 18, 2010 6:57 am | CommentsIt is reasonable to obtain a histological diagnosis before treating patients who have pancreatic masses and are unsuitable or unwilling to undergo surgery. As the pancreas is a deep-seated organ surrounded by other vital structures, it is a challenge for the physician to obtain an adequate specimen for histological examination.
Artificial Muscles Restore Facial Movement
January 18, 2010 6:51 am | CommentsSurgeons from UC Davis Medical Center have demonstrated that artificial muscles can restore the ability of patients with facial paralysis to blink, a development that could benefit the thousands of people each year who no longer are able to close their eyelids due to combat-related injuries, stroke, nerve injury or facial surgery.
Texted Donations For Haiti Pass $5 Million
January 15, 2010 5:22 am | CommentsBarbara Ortutay, AP U.S. cell phone users have contributed more than $5 million in $10 increments to the Red Cross for Haiti disaster relief, by far the largest outpouring of support via mobile devices in history. The response to the devastating earthquake produced the highest amount of mobile donations that we have ever seen, said Jenifer Snyder, executive director of mGive Foundation, the nonprofit group that is working with the Red Cross and wireless carriers to channel the donations.
Study Casts Doubt On Surgical Recovery Technique
January 15, 2010 5:09 am | CommentsNew research casts doubt on increasingly popular blood-based injections reportedly used by Tiger Woods and other athletes to speed recovery after orthopedic surgery. In a small study at a hospital in The Netherlands, the treatment worked no better than salt water injections in patients with Achilles tendon injuries.
Obesity Rate Still High, But Steady
January 15, 2010 5:00 am | CommentsLindsey Tanner, AP The nation's obesity rate appears to have stalled, but the latest numbers still show that more than two-thirds of adults and almost one-third of kids are overweight, with no sign of improvement. According to government data from the years 2007-08 published this week, the obesity rate has held steady for about five years.
Armed With A New Windpipe
January 15, 2010 4:46 am | CommentsMaria Cheng, AP For more than a quarter of a century, Linda De Croock lived with constant pain from a car accident that smashed her windpipe. Today, she has a new one after surgeons implanted the windpipe from a dead man into her arm, where it grew new tissue before being transplanted into her throat.
Law Will Require Hospitals To List "Avoidable Mistakes" On Web
January 15, 2010 4:30 am | CommentsA new law is taking effect that will require New Hampshire hospitals to report avoidable mistakes to the public. It’s something the family of Carol Scaison, a 57-year-old mother from Danville, NH who spent the last days of her life as a paraplegic and blind, belief is over due. The family's attorney alleges her condition resulted from a mistake at a local hospital.
