Surgery
Distress may persist after waking during surgery
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Patients who wake up from general anesthesia during surgery and have a clear memory of the event may develop acute distress and emotional reactions, investigators in Sweden report, and in some patients, long-term psychological symptoms may persist.
Dr. Peter Samuelsson and his associates, from County Hospital in Kalmar, interviewed 2,681 consecutive surgical patients between 2001 and 2002 who underwent general anesthesia 1 to 3 days earlier.
Risk of Acute Pancreatitis Low with Statins
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New research reveals that while cholesterol-lowering drugs do increase the risk of painful inflammation of the pancreas, the side effect is relatively rare, according to Sonal Singh, M.D., from Wake Forest University School of Medicine, and colleagues.
“Acute pancreatitis is a fairly common condition and cholesterol-lowering drugs have been implicated in some cases,” said Singh. “Since millions of people around the world take these drugs, our aim was to quantify the risk.”
Patients With Herniated Disk Improved With or Without Surgery
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Patients with lumbar disk herniation who had surgery or nonoperative treatments showed similar levels of improvement in the reduction of pain over a 2-year period, according to a randomized trial in the November 22/29 issue of JAMA. In all cases patients who had surgery did slightly better.
Lumbar diskectomy (surgical removal, in part or whole, of an intervertebral disk) is the most common surgical procedure performed in the United States for patients having back and leg pain. The vast majority of the procedures are elective.
Ex-surgeon generals say US needs sexual literacy
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U.S. efforts to promote abstinence as a cornerstone of sexual education have not lowered levels of sexually transmitted diseases, two former U.S. surgeon generals said on Thursday.
Drs. Joycelyn Elders and David Satcher told a news conference in San Francisco that a broad effort is needed to promote the “sexual literacy” of Americans to counter unacceptable levels of sexually transmitted diseases and unplanned pregnancies, especially among teens and young adults.
Joined at the head, Canadian twins doing well
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Twin girls, joined at the head, are doing well a day after their birth, but Canadian doctors said on Thursday it could be three or four months before they will know if they can be separated.
The British Columbia Women’s Hospital in Vancouver said it was not a foregone conclusion that a separation of the babies, named Krista and Tatiana, will be attempted even if medically possible as the family weighs decisions on their future.
Doctors said they do not know yet how much of their brains the babies share, but they said it was clear from the girls’ physical responses that their bodies interact closely.
Grapefruit-sized stone removed from Israeli woman
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Israeli doctors have removed a grapefruit-sized stone from the bladder of an Israeli woman after she left it untreated for years, possibly breaking world records.
The stone, removed in its entirety, had a diameter of 13 centimeters (5.1 inches) and weighed almost 1 kilograms (2.2 lbs), doctors who treated the 48-year-old woman at the Western Galilee Hospital in northern Israel said.
“When I saw the stone, I was stunned,” patient Moneera Khalil said in a statement released by the hospital.
Should patients undergoing surgery get ASA?
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Canadian surgeons say they would welcome a randomized controlled trial
- A national survey of Canadian surgeons by researchers at McMaster University found little consistency in their use of the blood thinner ASA in patients undergoing non-cardiac surgery.
To resolve the issue, Canadian surgeons say they would welcome a randomized controlled trial, and allow their patients to participate in it, said Dr. Rajesh Hiralal, who led the survey and is presenting its results today in Vancouver at the annual meeting of the Canadian Society of Cardiac Surgeons.
Chinese herbs can cause surgery complications
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Herbs used in some traditional Chinese prescriptions can cause complications if they are taken just before anesthesia and surgery, a Hong Kong study has found. The study, published in the September issue of the medical journal Anesthesiology, found that certain herbs used in traditional Chinese medicine can impair blood clotting or lower blood pressure.
It named licorice, rehmannia, astragalus, atractylodes and eucommia as potentially harmful traditional herbs if taken in prescription form before surgery.
Some reduce potassium in the blood, which could result in serious arrhythmia, or irregular heartbeat, if the person is given anaesthetic drugs at the same time, according to the researchers.
Two methods ease pain equally after knee surgery
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For controlling pain after a certain type of knee surgery, continuous nerve blocks offer no advantage over conventional painkilling injections, a new study has found.
Evidence for the benefits of nerve block for pain control after surgery to reconstruct the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) has been mixed, Dr. G. William Woods of the University of Texas Medical School at Houston and colleagues note in the American Journal of Sports Medicine.
The researchers set out to compare two protocols for post-ACL reconstruction pain control that were currently in use at their hospital. One involved deadening the femoral nerve in the leg with an anesthetic delivered continuously via a catheter, and giving patients oral pain medication, with morphine injections prescribed for breakthrough pain.
Surgical Instruments May Not be Fair Trade
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The NHS may be buying medical equipment unethically and exploiting developing countries, it has been claimed in an article published on bmj.com today.
Unlike the campaigns for fair trade of goods like bananas and coffee, there have been no such campaigns for medical commodities, says Dr Mahmood Bhutta, a specialist registrar in otolaryngology (head and neck surgery) at Guy’s and St Thomas’ Hospital in London.
Dr Bhutta says that while NHS suppliers are encouraged to act in an ethical business manner, they do not and there are currently no checks or assessments made into the origins of surgical instruments used by the NHS.
Celebrities and TV fuel cosmetic surgery rise
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Celebrity obsession and television makeover shows are fuelling a rise in cosmetic surgery in Britain, researchers said on Thursday.
Bigger breasts, wrinkle-free skin and face-lifts are top of people’s wish lists, according to a report by market research firm Mintel.
Nearly 700,000 procedures will be carried out this year, a rise of 40 percent on 2005, driven in part by changing public attitudes towards cosmetic surgery, the report said.
Surviving Chinese twin improves after separation
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The surviving Chinese twin of 11-month-old conjoined girls separated last week is growing stronger but still in intensive care, state media reported Thursday.
Chen Jingni was under the supervision of 20 doctors and nurses and was now able to breath on her own and should soon be drinking sugar water, the China Daily said.
“Helping her digestive system regain function is currently the most important issue,” Wang Yi, an official at the hospital caring for the twins, told the paper.
Chinese twin dies after separation surgery
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An 11-month-old Chinese girl who doctors separated from her conjoined twin sister died on Monday, but her sibling was stable though still critical, state media reported.
Hu Jingxuan was the weaker of the conjoined twins separated by surgeons in Shanghai last week. But Hu failed to overcome the operation and died of organ failure, Xinhua news agency reported.
The girls underwent almost 13 hours of surgery on Thursday under the care of 70 doctors and nurses working in shifts.
Chinese baby stable after doctors remove third arm
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Doctors successfully removed a third arm from a two-month-old Chinese boy on Tuesday and said he should make a full recovery, state media said.
“Thank you to everyone who has shown concern for us,” the baby’s mother was quoted as saying on state television after the three-hour surgery.
Video games can help cut surgical errors
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A new study suggests that people preparing for surgery ask their doctor: “Have you played your video games today?”
Surgeons who warmed up by playing video games like “Super Monkey Ball” for 20 minutes immediately prior to performing surgical drills were faster and made fewer errors than those who did not, said Dr. James “Butch” Rosser, lead investigator on the study slated for release on Wednesday.
The research involved 303 surgeons participating in a medical training course that included video games and was focused on laparoscopic surgical procedures—which use a tiny video camera and long, slender instruments inserted through small incisions. The study was conducted by Beth Israel Medical Center in New York City in conjunction with the National Institute on Media and the Family.
