Jul 26, 2012

Published studies have shown that the prevalence of congestive heart failure (CHF) increases as people age, rising from 2% to 3% in the total population to 10% to 20% after patients reach age 75. When...

Jul 23, 2012

A paper reporting the results of a survey of women surgeons on the topic of pregnancy appears in Archives of Surgery online ahead of print. Responses were received from 1,937 female surgeons — 49...

Jul 18, 2012

Venous thromboembolism (VTE), which encompasses deep vein thrombosis (DVT) and pulmonary embolism (PE), is one of the most common reasons for readmission following primary hip or knee replacement surg...

Jul 18, 2012

A report from the CDC has found that the age-adjusted risk of dying decreased 60% from 1935 to 2010. The report, available at www.cdc.gov/nchs, reviewed changes in causes of death, risk of dying, the ...

Jul 16, 2012

"Collateral damage: the effect of patient complications on the surgeon's psyche" was a brief but interesting paper that probably went unnoticed by many. Using the results of a survey completed by only...

Jul 11, 2012

Over the last decade, significant advances and innovations have rapidly evolved in the use of PCI for patients with coronary artery disease (CAD). The American College of Cardiology (ACC)/American Hea...

Jul 05, 2012

A North Carolina study team has found that the rates of depression at 3 and 12 months after hospitalization appear to be similar in stroke and transient ischemic attack (TIA) patients. Among the findi...

Jul 05, 2012

Single-incision laparoscopic colectomy (SILC), when performed by highly skilled surgeons, appears to be safe and feasible in highly selected patients. A review of 23 studies found an overall mortality...

Jul 05, 2012

A high-performance anesthesia delivery system (Arkon, OSI Systems) has received 510(k) marketing clearance from the FDA. The system provides anesthesiologists with reliable tools for monitoring patien...

Jul 05, 2012

The risk of venous thromboembolism (VTE) appears to be higher as BMI increases and when surgery is required, according to an investigation of more than a million middle-aged women. Women with a BMI of...

Jun 26, 2012

A University of Cincinnati study suggests that ECG imaging should be used more often to screen for underlying cardiac abnormalities when evaluating pediatric patients who present with syncope. Of more...

Jun 26, 2012

The FDA has approved a self-expanding peripheral stent system (EverFlex, ev3) for use in re-opening stenotic regions in the superficial femoral and proximal popliteal arteries. The stent system is des...

Jun 26, 2012

When compared with antiepileptic drug (AED) therapy alone, using respective surgery plus AED therapy appears to result in a lower probability of seizures after 2 years follow-up in patients with newly...

Jun 26, 2012

An evaluation of reliability adjustment—a novel technique designed to quantify and remove statistical “noise” from quality rankings—suggests that the approach appears to reduce variation and a...

Jun 26, 2012

In the United States, use of anesthesia during gastrointestinal endoscopies and colonoscopies appears to have increased substantially from 2003 to 2009, according to a retrospective analysis of claims...

Jun 26, 2012

Researchers in Tennessee have found that early appendectomy for children with perforated appendicitis appears to be associated with significantly lower hospital charges and costs when compared with in...

Jun 19, 2012

Although the adoption of radial coronary angiography and radial PCI in the United States lags behind that of other countries, particularly those in Europe and Asia, transradial coronary intervention h...

Jun 15, 2012

Here is an extreme “system error” type of response to an event that seems to have been a human error. According to CBS News: “Mowing at all national parks has been suspended indefinitely beca...

Jun 12, 2012

Medications are effective in about 70% of patients with essential tremor and work well for most with Parkinson’s disease (PD). Many patients with essential tremor, however, are unable to complete ac...

Jun 12, 2012

The American Medical Association has launched an online training module to help clinicians counsel patients on healthy eating through use of ChooseMyPlate.gov, which explains the MyPlate icon that rec...