Several complications can be seen after pancreatic surgery, most notably bleeding, infections and anastomotic dehiscence. Bowel obstruction can also be seen due to internal hernias or anastomotic strictures. A more unusual etiology for bowel obstruction in this setting is intussusception.
Surgical confusions—for instance, operations involving the wrong site, the wrong patient or the wrong procedure—occur infrequently in eye surgery procedures, according to a report in the November issue of Archives of Ophthalmology, one of the JAMA/Archives journals. Although most surgical confusions cause little or no permanent injury, they may involve serious consequences for the patient, physician and profession, yet could often be prevented.
Asking patients with focal epilepsy (also known as partial seizures, which usually involve focal areas of the body and altered consciousness) how often they have seizures does not appear to provide an accurate count, according to a report in the November issue of Archives of Neurology, one of the JAMA/Archives journals. Reminding patients to record their seizures in a diary may not help, because patients may be unaware of some seizures.
A diet rich in leafy vegetables may minimize the tissue damage caused by heart attacks, according to researchers at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University. Their findings, published in the November 12 Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, suggest that the chemical nitrite, found in many vegetables, could be the secret ingredient in the heart-healthy Mediterranean diet.
A comparison of illness and death rates for 13 vaccine-preventable diseases in the U.S., before and after use of the vaccine, indicates there have been significant decreases in the number of cases, hospitalizations and deaths for each of the diseases examined, according to a study in the November 14 issue of JAMA.
Nursing home residents who received eyeglasses for uncorrected refractive error were found to have improved quality of life and decreased symptoms of depression when compared to those with refractive error who had not received eyeglasses, according to a report in the November issue of Archives of Ophthalmology, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.
Babies born just a few weeks premature are six times more likely to die during their first week of life, than full-term babies, according to an analysis published in the Journal of Pediatrics.
Mayo Clinic reported promising interim results from a Phase II trial of a new combination therapy for patients with recurrent ovarian cancer that is resistant to platinum therapy. Thirty-three percent of study participants achieved either complete or partial tumor regression from the therapy, which combines flavopiridol and cisplatin.
The United Nations-backed Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria approved $1.1 billion of new grants to be handed out over the next two years and agreed to allocate another $130 million to five projects it had already started supporting.
Men who take beta carotene supplements for 15 years or longer may have less cognitive decline, according to a report in the November 12 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.