Surgery General
Jun 05, 2012
A CT scanner (Aquilion Prime CT system, Toshiba) capable of generating 160 unique slices per rotation has been approved by the FDA. The system was designed for facilities that perform a variety of adv...
Jun 05, 2012
The FDA has granted 510(k) marketing clearance for a sheathed bipolar sealer (Aquamantys SBS 5.0, Medtronic) for use in spinal surgeries. The device provides hemostatic sealing capabilities for both i...
Jun 05, 2012
Preliminary data in a report from the CDC indicate that births in the United States dropped 3% between 2009 and 2010 to about 4 million. According to the report, available at www.cdc.gov/nchs, the c...
Jun 05, 2012
Metal-on-metal total hip replacement appears to be associated with high failure rates, according to a large British analysis. Among metal-on-metal replacements, failure occurred earlier with large hea...
Jun 05, 2012
A levonorgestrel-releasing intrauterine system appears to be effective and well accepted by patients in the long-term treatment of those with moderate-to- severe endometriosis-related pain following c...
May 30, 2012
When patients are facing a cancer diagnosis, they often need help understanding their treatment options as well as the risks and benefits of each choice. Treatment decisions can become fraught with em...
May 30, 2012
Admission for sepsis through the ED, when compared with direct admission to the hospital, appears to be associated with lower early and overall inpatient mortality. Results from a large national sampl...
May 23, 2012
If you wonder why hospitals are under fire for outrageous and often baffling accounting practices, look no further than a brief paper published last month in Archives of Internal Medicine. Hospital...
May 22, 2012
About 80,000 lower-extremity amputations (LEAs) are performed each year on patients with diabetes in the United States. Statistical analyses have shown that the annual incidence of LEA in older patien...
May 22, 2012
Coronary artery disease (CAD) appears to be significantly associated with a 35% increased risk for a prostate cancer diagnosis, according to findings from an American study. CAD was also associated wi...
May 22, 2012
According to CDC research conducted between 2000 and 2010, the percentage of adults whose healthcare providers recommended exercise or physical activity increased from 21.0% to 30.3% in men and from 2...
May 22, 2012
Among Medicare recipients, PCI is one of the most commonly performed cardiac procedures in the United States, with more than 1 million procedures being performed each year. Research has shown that the...
May 15, 2012
Of the 13,000 Americans diagnosed with laryngeal cancer in 2010, 3,660 were projected to die from the disease. Traditionally, early-stage disease has been treated using radiation therapy (RT) or surgi...
May 08, 2012
The advent of antibiotic therapy has led to dramatic reductions in mortality and morbidity due to bacterial infections and sepsis. The overuse of antibiotics to treat infections, however, may expose p...
May 08, 2012
New research was recently presented at ACC.12, the annual scientific meeting of the American College of Cardiology, from March 24-27 in Chicago. The features below highlight just some of the studies t...
May 08, 2012
Valve-in-valve transcatheter aortic valve implantation (viv-TAVI) in patients with degenerated, surgically implanted bioprosthetic heart valves appears to achieve high technical success rates, accordi...
May 08, 2012
A Canadian study has found that vascular and bleeding complications following percutaneous aortic valve replacement (PAVR) appear to be markedly reduced with careful patient selection, advanced interv...
May 08, 2012
The FDA has approved a surgical ablation system (Synergy, AtriCure) for the treatment of atrial fibrillation (AF). It is indicated for use in patients with persistent and long-standing persistent AF d...
May 08, 2012
Results of a large national study of older patients undergoing PCI suggests that those aged 85 or older appear most likely to decline use of drug-eluting stents (DES). However, the investigation showe...
May 01, 2012
When PCI is used to treat multivessel coronary artery disease (CAD), single-vessel or multivessel interventions can be performed in one or more stages. About half of all patients with CAD have blockag...