A new Mayo Clinic study has found that relieving bowel obstructions with a minimally invasive procedure to place a self-expanding metal stent in the intestine is a safe and effective therapy for colon and rectal cancer patients.
More than 20 years ago, doctors at Mattel Children’s Hospital UCLA performed a successful bone marrow transplant on a baby girl who was born without a thymus gland and was suffering from severe immune deficiency. It marked the first time a bone marrow transplant, rather than a thymic transplant, had been used to treat the genetic condition known as DiGeorge Syndrome (DGS).
Children diagnosed with sleep-disordered breathing appear to sleep better and have improved behavior following removal of their tonsils and adenoids, according to a report in the October issue of Archives of Otolaryngology–Head & Neck Surgery, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.
Using acupuncture before and during surgery significantly reduces the level of pain and the amount of potent painkillers needed by patients after the surgery is over, according to Duke University Medical Center anesthesiologists who combined data from 15 small randomized acupuncture clinical trials.
New studies highlight the risks and significant health care costs of GI injury and bleeding from the use of NSAIDs. According to a survey conducted at Eastern Virginia Medical School, 22 percent of respondents did not think NSAIDs were important to mention to their doctor, revealing a common misperception about these over-the-counter remedies.
Small intestinal bacterial overgrowth can emerge after gastric bypass surgery, which can impact the absorption of vitamins, minerals and micronutrients, such as calcium and zinc, causing potentially serious complications.
Many people may not realize that symptoms such as chronic cough or chest pain can be caused by acid reflux into the esophagus, because they do not experience classic heartburn symptoms or acid regurgitation.
Patients have on average a 71 percent lower chance of dying at the nation’s top-rated hospitals compared with the lowest-rated hospitals across 18 procedures and conditions analyzed in the tenth annual HealthGrades Hospital Quality in America Study, issued today by HealthGrades, the healthcare ratings company. The study, which documents a wide variation in the quality of care between the highest-performing hospitals and all others, also found that if all hospitals performed at the level of hospitals rated with five stars by HealthGrades, 266,604 Medicare lives could potentially have been saved over the three years studied.
The use of a nicotine patch – successfully used to help many smokers decrease their dependency on nicotine – was shown to reduce pain in men after prostate removal surgery in a new anesthesiology study.
A new study by Rhode Island Hospital and Brown University researchers reported that 18 percent of 500 candidates for bariatric surgery did not receive the initial psychiatry clearance for the surgery. The study is the first to examine the reliability of decisions to clear candidates for surgery, and the largest to determine the percentage of candidates who are not cleared, and detail the reasons for exclusion.