News by Subject Medicine & Health

Currently, a practical, precise, minimally invasive way to measure cardiac output or heart function in children undergoing surgery does not exist. New research published in the Online First edition of Anesthesiology, the peer-reviewed medical journal of the American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA), illustrates how a novel minimally invasive method using catheter-based ultrasound to measure heart function performed with similar precision to a traditional highly invasive device.

A one-off operation that targets the nerves connected to the kidney has been found to maintain reduced blood pressure in hypertension patients for at least six months, according to the results of a clinical trial led in the UK by Queen Mary University of London and Barts Health NHS Trust, and supported by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR).

Researchers at Rice University and the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston develop a technique to grow custom-fit bone implants to repair jawbone injuries from a patient's own rib.

A Cleveland Clinic-led research team has found that using an absorbable, antibiotic-eluting envelope when implanting cardiac devices like pacemakers and defibrillators can cut the rate of major infections by 40 percent.

Catheter ablation, a common cardiovascular procedure, appears no more effective than drug therapies in preventing strokes, deaths, and other complications in patients with atrial fibrillation. However, patients who get the procedure experience much greater symptom relief and long-term improvements in the quality of life, including fewer recurrences of the condition and fewer hospitalizations, than those who get only drugs.

The maternal mortality rate following a caesarean section (C-section) in Africa may be 50 times higher than that of high-income countries, according to an observational study of more than 3,500 mothers from 22 African countries, published in The Lancet Global Health journal.

A video-assisted thoracoscopic lung resection is a minimally invasive surgical procedure to remove part of a lung in patients with known or suspected lung cancer. This study used Veterans Affairs data for about 11,000 veterans who had lung resections from 2002 to 2015 to examine adoption of the procedure. There were 7,095 open lung resections and 3,909 video-assisted thorascopic resections.

Recent study formalizes the treatment strategy for this diagnosis, offering clear guidelines for plastic and oncologic surgeons.

Today researchers at Boston Children's Hospital announce encouraging Phase I results from a first-of-its-kind study - repairing ACL tears by helping the ligament regrow itself. The results will be presented at the Arthroscopy Association of North America (AANA)/American Orthopaedic Society for Sports Medicine (AOSSM) 2019 Specialty Day on March 16.