Surgery
German doctors rebuild Chinese teenager’s face
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A Chinese teenager whose face was scorched beyond recognition as she lay unconscious on a heater has had it rebuilt by German surgeons.
In December 2001, Xiao Liewen collapsed face down on to the heater while showering, burning a hole in her skull. By the time her father found her half an hour later, she was almost dead. Doctors said it was not clear what had caused her to pass out.
Chinese doctors saved the girl’s life, but she was left with no nose and only one eye, as well as open wounds on her face, which would not close properly, putting her at serious risk from infection.
Pakistani woman dies after forceps removed
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A Pakistani woman who had a pair of forceps removed from her abdomen after they were left there in an operation a year ago died from multiple complications on Tuesday, a hospital official said.
Shehzadi Shahidi Sultana, 30, had the forceps removed last month when it was discovered one year after she underwent a caesarean operation at a hospital in Jamshoro town, near the southern city of Hyderabad, to give birth to a baby girl.
As a result of the operation to remove the forceps on February 22nd at the same hospital, she developed an infection in her stomach and later died of heart failure from multiple complications, said medical superintendent Khalid Qureshi.
Study shows survival advantage for men treated with radical prostatectomy
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A new study shows older men with early stage prostate cancer survive longer if they are treated versus not being treated in favor of the “watchful waiting” approach advocated by many physicians for older men with other health problems.
In addition, the study revealed a survival benefit for men treated with radiation therapy making it the first study to demonstrate a survival advantage in an older population.
Boy with rare swallowing disorder has robotic surgery at UIC
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Surgeons at the University of Illinois Medical Center at Chicago performed robotic-assisted surgery on a 12-year-old Chicago boy with a rare swallowing disorder called achalasia. The disorder, in which the sphincter muscle between the esophagus and stomach does not properly relax, affects only about 100 children in the United States each year and is often misdiagnosed.
Nathaniel O’Donnell would often complain about pain in his chest when he ate, according his mother, Weslene O’Donnell, a Chicago police officer. His parents and pediatrician attributed the 150-pound boy’s complaints to heartburn.
Over-the-Counter Facial Stimulators Do Little to Enhance Aging Skin
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Devices sold over the counter to consumers as facial stimulators, claiming to produce results similar to those of a traditional face-lift, provide little, if any improvement to aging skin, according to a new study conducted at the University of Washington Medical Center’s Cosmetic Surgery Center and published in the January/February issue of the Archives of Facial Plastic Surgery.
“We were unable to detect any improvement in signs of facial aging from the use of these devices,” said Dr. Sam Most, assistant professor of facial plastic and reconstructive surgery in the UW School of Medicine. “There are more than 50 of these types of devices being sold over the counter and on the Internet.”
Surgery often avoidable for men with hernias
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Men who experience few or no symptoms from an inguinal hernia do not require immediate surgery; instead, they can be safely followed and treated if symptoms worsen, new research shows.
If this approach catches on with surgeons throughout the US, it could markedly reduce the number of hernia repairs performed.
Vertebroplasty Heals Fractures but May Cause Others
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A new Mayo Clinic study finds that vertebroplasty, a procedure used to treat painful compression fractures in the spinal vertebrae due to osteoporosis, appears to increase the risk for new fractures in adjacent vertebrae. The study also found vertebrae adjacent to fractures treated with vertebroplasty fracture significantly sooner than more distant vertebrae. Findings will be published in the January issue of American Journal of Neuroradiology (http://www.ajnr.org).
“We found there is a relationship between vertebroplasty and the development of new fractures,” says Andrew Trout, first author of the paper describing the study’s findings. “People should be made aware of the fact that despite the positive benefits of vertebroplasty, there is a risk of new fractures with this procedure.”
Duration of anesthesia as an indicator of morbidity and mortality in office-based facial plastic sur
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The length of time patients spend under anesthesia during outpatient facial plastic surgery procedures does not appear to be linked to their risk of injury or death, according to a study in the January issue of Archives of Facial Plastic Surgery.
Several high-profile patient deaths in office-based plastic surgery facilities have led state regulatory agencies and medical boards to develop policies regarding the procedures performed at these locations, according to background information in the article. Some, including those in Pennsylvania and Tennessee, have mandated that any surgeries longer than four hours (240 minutes) be performed in an inpatient facility. However, there is little data on which regulatory bodies can base these types of decisions, the authors write. “Defining the risks and morbidity related to longer procedure duration, specifically in facial plastic surgery, has great significance because of the necessity to treat the aging face as a unit, thus appropriately combining multiple procedures” that will require longer surgeries, they report.
Brits all set to do full-face transplant
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A British team has been given the green light to perform the world’s first full-face transplant.
The transplant may be carried out within months after surgeons at the Royal Free Hospital, in London, were cleared by the ethics committee to evaluate candidates for the operation, and determine physical and psychological suitability.
Minimally Invasive Surgery May Increase Options for Octogenarians
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Like their younger counterparts, some elderly patients who have early stage non-small cell lung cancer can benefit from a minimally invasive surgical procedure to remove part or all of a lung, according to a study conducted by thoracic surgeons at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center and described in The American Surgeon, the journal of the Southeastern Surgical Congress and the Southern California Chapter of the American College of Surgeons.
When non-small cell lung cancers (NSCLC) are detected at an early, localized stage, surgical removal of the affected area often can prevent metastasis to other tissues and organs. But while some patients, including the elderly, might not be good candidates for the physical demands of open chest surgery, this study of 159 patients between ages 80 and 94 suggests that video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery should be considered a viable option.
Nerve stimulation may relieve fecal incontinence
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Sacral nerve stimulation appears to be an effective treatment for fecal incontinence, the leakage of feces from the bowel, and the benefit is apparently not due to a “placebo effect,” according to the results of a study conducted by French researchers.
This is the first study to examine “the effectiveness of sacral nerve stimulation in a significant number of fecally incontinent patients,” lead author Dr. Anne-Marie Leroi, from Hopital Charles Nicolle in Rouen, and colleagues note.
Laparoscopic Surgery Staves Off Severe GERD Symptoms Over Long Haul
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Laparoscopic anti-reflux surgery has proved to be a highly effective and long-lasting treatment for severe gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD).
At least five years after undergoing one of three types of laparoscopic fundoplication, 93% of the 1,340 severe GERD patients said they were highly satisfied with the operation, French investigators wrote in the October issue of Archives of Surgery.
Surgeons lack training in palliative surgical options
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A survey of general surgeons suggests that the amount of education and training they receive in palliative care is limited, according to a study in the September issue of Archives of Surgery, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.
Previous studies have indicated that surgeons receive little training in palliative surgical intervention, the objective of which is to relieve symptoms and improve quality of life rather than cure disease or extend survival, according to background information in the article.
Kidney transplantees face higher melanoma risk
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In some cases, with the right choice of patients, surgical removal of the thyroid gland or part of it can be safely performed using local anesthesia—with advantages over doing the operation under general anesthesia, a new study indicates.
Thyroidectomy, as the procedure is called, may necessary if someone has cancer or other diseases of the thyroid.
Yes, quitting before surgery is a good idea
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Contrary to previous paradoxical findings, quitting smoking in the weeks before chest surgery does not increase the likelihood of suffering complications, according to a new report.
An earlier study found that postoperative lung complications were more common among patients who quit smoking within 4 weeks before surgery. In fact, “recommendations have been made that surgery should be delayed for 8 weeks after smoking cessation,” according to the article in the medical journal Chest.
