Here are what the editors at HealthDay consider to be the most important developments in Surgery for March 2012. This roundup includes the latest research news from journal articles, as well as the FDA approvals and regulatory changes that are the most likely to affect clinical practice.
Liver Cancer Patients Less Likely to Die on Transplant List
FRIDAY, March 30 (HealthDay News) -- Liver transplantation candidates with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) have significantly lower 90-day odds of waitlist removal due to clinical deterioration or death compared to non-HCC candidates with similar Model for End-Stage Liver Disease (MELD) scores, according to a study published in the April issue of Liver Transplantation.
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Lasers Remove Inches From Fat Trouble Spots
FRIDAY, March 30 (HealthDay News) -- Low-level laser therapy (LLLT) is effective for body slimming, according to a study published in the March issue of Lasers in Surgery and Medicine.
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Polymorphism in Opioid Gene Affects Breast Cancer Survival
THURSDAY, March 29 (HealthDay News) -- Genotype at the A118G polymorphism of the µ-opioid receptor gene is associated with breast cancer-specific mortality, according to a study published in the April issue of Anesthesiology.
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Chemo-Linked Factors May Impact Weight in Breast Cancer
THURSDAY, March 29 (HealthDay News) -- Adjuvant chemotherapy for early-stage breast cancer can induce weight gain and a variety of metabolic changes that may be associated with a poor prognosis for some patients, according to research published in the April issue of Obesity Reviews.
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Change in Health Insurance Status Linked to ER Use
WEDNESDAY, March 28 (HealthDay News) -- Recent changes in health insurance status are linked to greater emergency department use by newly insured and newly uninsured adults, according to a study published online March 26 in the Archives of Internal Medicine.
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Conditioning Regimen Beneficial for Kidney Recipients
WEDNESDAY, March 28 (HealthDay News) -- Following a conditioning regimen of lymphoid irradiation (TLI) and antithymocyte globulin (ATG), the majority of HLA-matched kidney and hematopoietic cell transplant recipients can be withdrawn from immunosuppressive drugs, according to a small study published online March 8 in the American Journal of Transplantation.
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New Guidelines Issued for Red Blood Cell Transfusions
MONDAY, March 26 (HealthDay News) -- A restrictive red blood cell transfusion strategy should be employed for hemodynamically stable adults and children, according to a clinical practice guideline issued by the AABB (formerly the American Association of Blood Banks) and published online March 26 in the Annals of Internal Medicine.
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New Device Approved for Lingering GERD
FRIDAY, March 23 (HealthDay News) -- The LINX Reflux Management System has been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to treat people with gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) who continue to have chronic symptoms, despite taking maximum medication and making recommended lifestyle changes.
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Living Donor Age Has Little Impact on Kidney Survival
FRIDAY, March 23 (HealthDay News) -- Living donor age has minimal impact on the survival of a donated kidney, except for those recipients aged 18 to 39 years, according to research published online March 22 in the Clinical Journal of the American Society of Nephrology.
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Health Care Team Members Key for Antimicrobial Stewardship
THURSDAY, March 22 (HealthDay News) -- Antimicrobial stewardship programs (ASPs) that use health care epidemiologists (HEs) and infection preventionists (IPs) have a crucial role to play in the effort to combat health care-associated infections (HAIs), including those caused by multidrug-resistant organisms (MDROs), according to the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology and the Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America position paper published in the March issue of the American Journal of Infection Control.
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Total Extraperitoneal Hernia Repair Tops Lichtenstein Repair
WEDNESDAY, March 21 (HealthDay News) -- Over the long-term, the minimally-invasive total extraperitoneal (TEP) inguinal hernioplasty procedure is associated with less chronic pain and less impairment of inguinal sensation compared with the open surgical Lichtenstein repair procedure, according to research published in the March issue of the Archives of Surgery.
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Stem Cells Improve Kidney Transplant Outcomes
WEDNESDAY, March 21 (HealthDay News) -- Patients with end-stage renal disease receiving living-related kidney transplants with autologous mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) instead of antibody induction therapy have improved outcomes, according to a study published in the March 21 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.
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Anesthesia During Endoscopy, Colonoscopy on the Rise
TUESDAY, March 20 (HealthDay News) -- Use of gastroenterology anesthesia services increased considerably from 2003 to 2009 among both Medicare and commercially-insured patients, according to a study published in the March 21 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.
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Survey Describes Docs' Online Professionalism Violations
TUESDAY, March 20 (HealthDay News) -- Most medical licensing authorities receive and act upon reports of physicians' online professionalism violations, according to a research letter published in the March 21 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.
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Antimicrobial Stewardship Saves Millions of Dollars
TUESDAY, March 20 (HealthDay News) -- Antimicrobial stewardship programs save hospitals millions of dollars, according to a study published in the April issue of Infection Control and Hospital Epidemiology.
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Most California Hospitals Implementing Infection Control
FRIDAY, March 16 (HealthDay News) -- Most California hospitals implement some policies to improve infection control for multidrug-resistant organisms (MDRO), primarily methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), but few policies are associated with lower MDRO rates, according to a study published in the March issue of the American Journal of Infection Control.
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Exercise Training Ups Post-Transplant Functional Recovery
FRIDAY, March 16 (HealthDay News) -- Participation in supervised exercise training for three months following hospital discharge for lung transplantation significantly improves physical functions and cardiovascular morbidity for patients during the first year of recovery, according to a study published online March 5 in the American Journal of Transplantation.
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Poorer Health Literacy Linked to Increased Mortality
FRIDAY, March 16 (HealthDay News) -- A considerable proportion of older adults in England have medium or low health literacy, which is associated with increased mortality, according to a study published online March 15 in BMJ.
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Repair of Patent Foramen Ovale Does Not Reduce Stroke Risk
THURSDAY, March 15 (HealthDay News) -- Closure of a patent foramen ovale does not reduce the risk of recurrent stroke compared with antiplatelet treatment alone in patients who present with a cryptogenic stroke or transient ischemic attack (TIA), according to a study published in the March 15 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.
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Dietary Cadmium May Increase Breast Cancer Risk
THURSDAY, March 15 (HealthDay News) -- In postmenopausal women, high dietary cadmium exposure is associated with an increased risk of developing breast cancer, after adjusting for other potential confounders, according to research published in the March 15 issue of Cancer Research.
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Analgesic Use After Surgery Linked to Long-Term Use
THURSDAY, March 15 (HealthDay News) -- Older patients prescribed opioids or nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) for pain relief after short-stay surgery appear to be at increased risk for becoming long-term analgesic users, according to a study published in the March 12 issue of the Archives of Internal Medicine.
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Personal Mobile Computers Improve Resident Efficiency
WEDNESDAY, March 14 (HealthDay News) -- The use of personal mobile computers (Apple iPads) by internal medicine residents improves efficiency, according to a research letter published in the March 12 issue of the Archives of Internal Medicine.
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Endoscopic Necrosectomy Tied to Better Pancreatitis Outcomes
TUESDAY, March 13 (HealthDay News) -- A less invasive procedure, endoscopic transgastric necrosectomy, reduces the proinflammatory response and significant complications in patients with infected necrotizing pancreatitis, compared with surgical necrosectomy, according to a study published in the March 14 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.
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Higher Spending by Hospitals Improves Outcomes
TUESDAY, March 13 (HealthDay News) -- Hospitals that are part of the universal health care system in Canada that spend more on inpatient care have lower rates of deaths and hospital readmissions, according to a study published in the March 14 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.
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U.S. Mortality Rates Dropped 60 Percent From 1935 to 2010
TUESDAY, March 13 (HealthDay News) -- From 1935 to 2010, the death rate in the United States decreased considerably, although the single-year improvements in mortality were often small, according to a March data brief issued by the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS).
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Aggressive Care Improves QoL in Traumatic Brain Injury
MONDAY, March 12 (HealthDay News) -- Compared with routine care, an aggressive-care approach to the treatment of patients with severe traumatic brain injury (TBI), which follows the Brain Trauma Foundation guidelines, is estimated to improve quality of life and significantly lower associated costs, regardless of patient age, according to research published online March 6 in the Journal of Neurosurgery.
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Flu Vaccine Up Among Medical Staff When They Believe It Works
FRIDAY, March 9 (HealthDay News) -- Hospital health care workers (HCWs) are more likely to receive the seasonal influenza vaccination if they believe it works and are committed to preventing this highly contagious virus, according to research published in the April issue of Occupational & Environmental Medicine.
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Occult Positive Axillary Nodes in Breast CA Don't Worsen Survival
FRIDAY, March 9 (HealthDay News) -- Occult axillary lymph node metastases do not appear to affect overall or recurrence-free survival in patients with early-stage breast cancer, according to research published in the March 15 issue of Cancer.
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Surrogates Tend to Misinterpret Poor Prognosis Information
FRIDAY, March 9 (HealthDay News) -- Surrogate decision makers for critically ill patients interpret prognostic statements expressing a low risk of death accurately, but interpret statements conveying poor prognosis optimistically, according to a study published in the March 6 issue of the Annals of Internal Medicine.
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Use of Stem Cells, Conditioning Induces Immune Tolerance
THURSDAY, March 8 (HealthDay News) -- A novel approach using a bioengineered mobilized cellular product enriched with hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) and tolerogenic graft facilitating cells (FCs) in combination with nonmyeloablative conditioning is safe and practical for inducing immune tolerance after transplantation, according to a study published in the March 7 issue of Science Translational Medicine.
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Lung Adenocarcinoma Architecture Predicts Survival
THURSDAY, March 8 (HealthDay News) -- A new method of classifying invasive pulmonary adenocarcinomas, based on the predominant architecture developed by the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer (IASLC)/American Thoracic Society (ATS)/European Respiratory Society (ERS), is a stage-independent predictor of survival, according to research published online March 5 in the Journal of Clinical Oncology.
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Buprenorphine Maintenance Therapy Not Recommended
THURSDAY, March 8 (HealthDay News) -- Opioid substitution therapy with buprenorphine is not recommended for opioid-addicted health care professionals (HCPs), according to research published in the March issue of the Mayo Clinic Proceedings.
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Financial Burden of Medical Care Affects One in Three
WEDNESDAY, March 7 (HealthDay News) -- In the first half of 2011, one in three individuals was in a family that experienced the financial burden of medical care in the United States, according to the results of the National Health Interview Survey published March 7 by the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS).
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Bevacizumab Tied to Improved Telangiectasia Cardiac Output
WEDNESDAY, March 7 (HealthDay News) -- Bevacizumab is associated with improved cardiac output and reduced duration and number of nose bleeds in patients with severe hepatic forms of hereditary hemorrhagic telangiectasia (HHT), according to a phase 2 study published in the March 7 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.
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Double Gloving Prevents Exposure to Pathogens in OR
WEDNESDAY, March 7 (HealthDay News) -- Double gloving during surgery reduces the risk for transmission of bloodborne pathogens to medical personnel as well as minimizing the transfer of health care-associated infections to patients, according to a study published in the March issue of the AORN Journal.
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Surgery Helps Reduce Epileptic Seizures When Drugs Fail
TUESDAY, March 6 (HealthDay News) -- Temporal resection surgery reduces the probability of seizures in patients with treatment-resistant epilepsy, compared with continued antiepileptic drug (AED) treatment, according to a study published in the March 7 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.
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PISQ-12 Validated for Patients With Pelvic Organ Prolapse
FRIDAY, March 2 (HealthDay News) -- The Pelvic Organ Prolapse/Urinary Incontinence Sexual Questionnaire (PISQ-12) has been shown to be a valid measure of sexual function in patients who undergo surgical mesh implantation for treatment of pelvic organ prolapse, according to research published online Feb. 21 in The Journal of Sexual Medicine.
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Bariatric Surgery Risks Up in Patients With Kidney Disease
FRIDAY, March 2 (HealthDay News) -- Higher rates of bariatric surgery complications are seen in patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD), with advancing disease stage correlating with increasing complication rates, according to research published online March 1 in the Journal of the American Society of Nephrology.
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Biomarkers Gauge Kidney Injury After Heart Surgery
FRIDAY, March 2 (HealthDay News) -- Measuring biomarkers found in blood and urine after heart surgery can help predict which patients with acute kidney injury (AKI) will experience AKI progression, according to a study published online March 1 in the Journal of the American Society of Nephrology.
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Secondhand Smoke Shortens Transplant Survival in Mice
THURSDAY, March 1 (HealthDay News) -- The immunologic mechanisms behind smoke-related graft rejection have been elucidated, according to a study published in the March issue of the American Journal of Transplantation.
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Incidence, Risk Factors ID'd for Proximal Junctional Kyphosis
THURSDAY, March 1 (HealthDay News) -- Pre-existing and perioperative factors may trigger proximal junctional kyphosis (PJK) in about 22 percent of patients with adult idiopathic scoliosis who undergo long instrumented spinal fusion surgery, according to a study published online Feb. 21 in Spine.
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