Surgery in Biological News

Plastic and reconstructive surgery -- in brief

Can The US Really Cut Health Care Spending? A new study suggests that while health care is one of the strongest sectors of the ailing US economy, achieving a substantial, sustainable reduction is US health care spending is not probable. The author, who completed health care policy literature a...

Innovative surgery by MSU veterinarian provides new lease on life to dogs

EAST LANSING, Mich. Only six months after undergoing a unique and innovative surgery at Michigan State University, Jake part dog and now part machine spends his time working out on an underwater treadmill, traversing obstacle courses and prancing around pain free. Jake, an 11-year-old yellow...

Jefferson Department of Surgery announces new pancreas tumor registry

PHILADELPHIA Charles J. Yeo, M.D., Samuel D. Gross Professor and Chair, Department of Surgery at Jefferson Medical College of Thomas Jefferson University, announces the establishment of the new Jefferson Pancreas Tumor Registry (JPTR). "The purpose of the registry is to further study whether p...

Robotic surgery lowers risk of a rare but serious complication of gastric bypass

The use of a robot to assist with the most commonly performed weight-loss surgery appears to significantly lower a patient's risk of developing a rare but serious complication, according to a study published in the most recent edition of the Journal of Robotic Surgery. Minimally-invasive surg...

Weight-loss surgery can cut cancer risk

This release is available in French . Montreal, 19 June 2008 Successful bariatric surgery allows morbidly obese patients to lose up to 70 percent of their excess weight and to maintain weight loss. The latest study by Dr. Nicolas Christou of the McGill University Health Centre (MUHC) and M...

New surgery improves head and neck cancer treatment

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - A new surgical procedure for head and neck cancer at the University of Alabama at Birmingham offers improved accuracy for surgeons and reduced post-operative pain for patients. The new procedure uses robotic surgery, and results have shown it lessens the scarring, breathing p...

Craniosynostosis minimally invasive surgery holds more promise than old procedure

COLUMBIA, Mo. Craniosynostosis, the premature fusion of the skull, is estimated to affect one out of every 2,000 babies. For the past several years, physicians have used two procedures to correct the problems. One procedure was to make an incision from ear to ear, strip back the scalp of the infa...

BMI criteria for obesity surgery should be lowered, UT Southwestern researcher suggests

DALLAS Dec. 18, 2007 UT Southwestern Medical Center researchers have found that the existing body mass index criteria for obesity surgery often excludes a group of obese patients at risk of cardiovascular disease. The study, appearing in the December issue of the journal Surgery for Obesity...

Minimally invasive heart surgery research wins NIH award

Efforts to make open-heart surgery a minimally invasive procedure have earned a five-year, $5 million National Institutes of Health Bioengineering Research Partnership award. Professor Pierre Dupont of Boston Universitys College of Engineering, cardiac surgeon Pedro del Nido, M.D., at Childrens Ho...

Olympus advances technology for laparo-endoscopic single-site surgery

CENTER VALLEY, Pa., April 22, 2009 Olympus America Inc. formally introduced its advanced technology platform that now allows surgeons to perform minimally invasive single-site surgery through the umbilicus (belly button), which may result in less abdominal trauma, less post-operative pain, less i...

Research examines factors in delaying or declining total knee replacement surgery

A study led by Dr. Ann F. Jacobson, associate professor in Kent States College of Nursing, unveils the reasons why people may initially choose to postpone but ultimately undergo total knee replacement surgery and emphasizes the need for better patient education before and after the procedure. ...

Pennsylvania Hospital recognized for excellence in bariatric surgery

PHILADELPHIA Pennsylvania Hospital announced today that it has been named an American Society for Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery (ASMBS) Bariatric Surgery Center of Excellence. The ASMBS Center of Excellence designation recognizes surgical programs with a demonstrated track record of favorable ...

Listen-up ladies: Don't postpone knee-replacement surgery

Is getting new knees on your list of New Year's resolutions? Research at the University of Delaware indicates that women wait longer to pursue knee-replacement surgery than men do. By postponing surgery until they can no longer stand the pain, these women may also risk putting their mobility...

Pennsylvania Hospital surgeon receives grant to develop molecular cardiac surgery

Charles Bridges, MD, ScD, Associate Professor of Surgery at the University of Pennsylvania Medical Center and Chief of Cardiothoracic Surgery, Pennsylvania Hospital, has been awarded a $3 million grant from the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute for his work in molecular cardiac surgery: a u...

Surgeons with video game skill appear to perform better in simulated surgery skills course

In a study involving 12 surgeons and 21 surgical residents, video game skill was correlated with laparoscopic surgery skill as assessed during a simulated surgery skills course, according to a report in the February issue of Archives of Surgery, one of the JAMA/Archives journals. James C. Rosser ...

Magnetic system could be key to surgery without scars

Physicians at UT Southwestern Medical Center and engineers at UT Arlington have collaborated to invent a groundbreaking system that could be key to delivering on the promise of surgery without scars. The new technique, which is still in the developmental stage, allows for magnetically maneuvering...

New fMRI technology making brain tumor surgery safer

Brain specialists at The Neuroscience Institute at University Hospital and the University of Cincinnati have taken a significant step forward in their quest to treat difficult tumors while preserving areas of the brain that are responsible for speech and movement. The Cincinnati specialists are am...

Performing surgery on a beating heart may be safer

According to a review of the latest clinical trials, coronary artery bypass surgery performed on a beating heart, without the aid of a heart-lung machine, is a safe option that leads to fewer negative side effects for bypass patients. This review is featured in Journal of Cardiac Surgery. “Previ...

Radiation after surgery doubles survival time for some lung cancer patients

Patients with lung cancer that has spread to mediastinal lymph nodes ?located between the chest, breastbone and spine ?who receive radiation after surgery and chemotherapy live twice as long as patients who do not receive radiation after surgery, according to a study presented at the plenary sessio...

Successful lung cancer surgery not enough to break nicotine dependence in many smokers

A new study has found that close to half of 154 smokers who had surgery to remove early stage lung cancer picked up a cigarette again within 12 months of their potentially curative operation, and more than one-third were smoking at the one year mark. Sixty percent of patients who started smoking a...

Jefferson scientists find high glucose before surgery raises risk of dangerous complications

Patients who have high blood sugar before undergoing surgery run an increased risk of developing blood clots, deep vein thrombosis and even pulmonary embolism after surgery. Boris Mraovic, M.D., assistant professor of anesthesiology in the Artificial Pancreas Center at Jefferson Medical College o...

New biologic treatment for tennis elbow may replace surgery for chronic sufferers

A person suffering from tennis elbow may not have to look any further than his or her own body for the most effective treatment, according to a study published in the November issue of The American Journal of Sports Medicine. Specially-prepared platelets taken from the patient which are then re-i...

U of MN uses robotic surgery techniques in cardiac cell therapy research

Researchers at the University of Minnesota were successful in using robotic surgery to deliver stem cell treatment to damaged heart tissue in pigs. Using minimally invasive robotic surgery equipment, researchers injected the stem cells into the damaged hearts. The cells were "labeled" with iron ...

Robot assisted surgery more accurate than conventional surgery

A new study from Imperial College London shows that robot assisted knee surgery is significantly more accurate than conventional surgery. The team of surgeons tested whether Acrobot, a robotic assistant, could improve surgical outcomes for patients undergoing partial knee replacement. Acrobot wor...

Unique equine cataract surgery offered on routine basis

The University of Liverpool is offering a new form of equine cataract removal surgery on a routine basis, which could save the sight of thousands of horses. Professor Derek Knottenbelt from the University's Division of Equine Studies and Professor David Wong from the Ophthalmology Research Unit...

Penn Surgeons Use Completely Robotic Surgery to Successfully Treat Prostate Cancer

Prostate cancer is the second leading cause of death among American men. It is estimated that one in six males will develop the disease during his lifetime. However, promising new treatment options have been developed to help combat this threatening disease. One of the most innovat...

Scalpel-free surgery could reduce risk of HIV and hepatitis exposure for health care workers

While the incidence of disease from HIV and hepatitis is increasing in the United States, little is known about their prevalence in patients undergoing surgery. Now, researchers have shown that nearly 40 percent of surgeries at The Johns Hopkins Hospital occur in patients who tested positive for a ...

Rare surgery performed to remove pancreas, prevent diabetes

In a 12-hour, dual-stage surgery known to be performed at only two other centers in the U.S., doctors at the University of Alabama at Birmingham on Tuesday returned a patient's own insulin-producing cells to him after surgically removing his pancreas to eliminate constant, severe pain from chronic ...

Dual-imaging technique useful before -- and during -- brain surgery

Brain specialists associated with the Neuroscience Institute at the University of Cincinnati (UC) and University Hospital say the ability to incorporate—in real time—two high-tech imaging tools into the operating room can improve the functional abilities of patients who undergo brain surgery. N...

NIH stimulus funding supports Emory biomedical scientists

...n the heart and brain and inflammation in response to stress. Pediatric heart development: Children's hearts respond differently to medications and surgery than adults' hearts, and more information is needed to guide pediatric heart specialists. This project looks at physiological properties of human hear...

First human gets new antibody aimed at hepatitis C virus

...o attack HCV prior to end-stage liver failure are not routinely used during surgery due to the patients' weakened condition and because of the strong medicatio...he new antibody could, theoretically, be given immediately after transplant surgery to continue neutralizing any remaining virus. It is also possible, resea...

Women often opt to surgically remove their breasts, ovaries to reduce cancer risk

...r breast or ovarian cancer are choosing to undergo surgery as a precautionary measure to decrease their cance...colleagues assessed the increase in risk-reduction surgery among women with breast cancer and evaluated the i...n who were BRCA1 gene carriers 52 percent had the surgery compared with 28 percent of the women who were BRC...

Nanoparticle-delivered 'suicide' genes slowed ovarian tumor growth

... Although early stage ovarian cancer can be treated with a combination of surgery followed by chemotherapy, there are currently no effective treatments for advanced ovarian cancer that has recurred after surgery and primary chemotherapy. Therefore, the majority of treated early stage ca...

A crystal ball for brain cancer?

...fit; only 8 to 15 percent of patients survive without tumor growth six months after treatment. The UCLA team studied 82 patients who had undergone surgery and radiation therapy to remove glioblastoma. Half of the patients received infusions of Avastin every two weeks. All underwent monthly brain scans ...

Scientists link immune system's natural killer cells to infant liver disease

...cts about one in every 15,000 babies. The current frontline treatment is surgery to remove and replace obstructed bile ducts with sections of the child's in... aid digestion, and instead backs up into and damages the liver. Corrective surgery is successful 65 to 85 percent of the time and is not considered a cure, al...

Journal of Vascular and Interventional Radiology increases impact, international reach

...rs at prestigious organizations throughout the United States and internationally," added the interventional radiologist and professor of radiology and surgery at Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago, Ill. "I applaud the efforts of our editorial board members who identify those manuscripts worthy of publ...

Avoiding hysterectomy: Major interventional radiology E-collection info available

...r fibroids each year; it is the second most common surgery among women. However, most women are candidates fo...eatments, hopefully the trend to offer traditional surgery first will be reversed. It's important for patient...ntional radiologist and professor of radiology and surgery at Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago, Ill....

Probiotics help gastric-bypass patients lose weight more quickly, Stanford study shows

... dietary supplement after Roux-en-Y gastric bypass surgery can help obese patients to more quickly lose weigh...the July issue of the Journal of Gastrointestinal surgery , John Morton, MD, associate professor of surgery at the medical school, showed that patients who ta...

Pitt team finds molecule that regulates heart size by using zebrafish screening model

...plications for improving wound healing as well, Dr. Tsang said. For example, FGF2 has been used in treatment of chronic skin ulcers and following burn surgery in Japan. Thus, BCI alone or in combination with FGF2 might accelerate the healing process and improve wound repair. ...

Engineering innovative solutions for 21st century medicine

...h osteoarthritis. For example, we will create the next generation of hip and knee replacement implants that will last longer and require less invasive surgery to fit. Tissue engineering will also contribute hugely in this area, using patients' own cells to grow new cartilage for osteoarthritic knees. A bette...