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Surgery
Cutting-edge surgical robotics system for Free State
The launch of a first-of-its kind surgical robotics system at a Free State hospital has catapulted the province – and the country – into...
FDA passes lab-grown blood vessel despite major concerns
Concern has been expressed by the Food & Drug Administration’s own scientists after the agency’s decision to approve an artificial vessel to restore blood...
Gynaecologist not at fault for perforation, judge says
A Cape Town woman has been ordered to pay part of the legal costs of a case – which the judge dismissed – in...
High wastage of anaesthetic drugs in SA theatre – Bara study
Reducing anaesthetic drug wastage in hospitals is crucial for improving operating room efficiency and controlling costs, particularly in developing countries where resources are limited,...
British paediatric surgeon suspended for ‘below standard’ ops
An orthopaedic surgeon who specialises in treating children has been suspended from a hospital in Cambridge, England, after nine surgeries were found to fall...
Canada’s first tooth-in-eye surgeries could restore blind man’s vision
Brent Chapman was 13-years-old when he took two ibuprofen tablets during a basketball tournament and had a severe allergic reaction known as Stevens-Johnson syndrome....
Teenager’s 16kg ‘parasitic’ twin removed in rare surgery
Doctors in India have successfully carried out a rare and life-changing surgery to remove a 17-year-old boy’s “parasitic” twin.
Parasitic twins occur when one foetus stops developing but remains...
One in five – and more women – get infections after heart surgery
One in five older adults will develop an infection up to six months after heart surgery – and women, in particular, have a 60%...
Mitral clip implant first for Charlotte Maxeke Hospital
Charlotte Maxeke Johannesburg Academic Hospital has become the first government health facility in Gauteng to perform the MitraClip implant, a procedure designed to treat...
Family sues after patient’s face catches fire in surgery
The wife of a US man whose alcohol-swabbed face caught alight during surgery has filed a $900 000 lawsuit against the hospital.
John Michael Murdoch,...
Rare case of stubborn tonsils twice removed
In an unusual case, an American woman has just had her tonsils removed – 40 years after they were first taken out when she...
Surgery backlogs balloon as billions slashed from budget
Surgical backlogs continue to rise countrywide, as reduced budgets and staffing shortages eat away at public healthcare capacity, and institutions and medical professionals feel...
Bariatric surgery benefits confirmed in 10-year follow-up study
Ten years after undergoing bariatric surgery as teens, more than half of study participants demonstrated not only sustained weight loss, but also resolution of...
Elective ops too soon after heart attack risky for seniors – US study
After a heart attack, ageing adults face double or triple the risk of life-threatening complications – like a debilitating stroke or another heart attack...
Brain tumours removed through eyebrows
In what is believed to be a world first, a surgeon in Scotland has developed a procedure to remove apple-sized brain tumours through patients’...
Virtual hearts a game-changer for cardiac surgery
Twice a week, scores of people gather at Boston Children’s Hospital in the US to plan the most difficult cardiac surgeries. They analyse three-dimensional,...
Operating team describes spleen surgery gone horribly wrong
A US Health Department has issued an emergency licence suspension for an osteopath who removed a patient’s liver instead of his spleen, contributing to...
British surgeon uses penknife to open patient’s chest
A surgeon at a crisis-hit NHS Trust used a Swiss Army knife to open the chest of a patient in an emergency because he...
UK hospital reviews cases of 700 children treated by orthopaedic surgeon
London’s well-known Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH) is overseeing an urgent review of the cases of more than 700 patients after concerns were raised...
Antibiotics vs surgery for appendicitis
Appendicitis is nearly always treated with surgical removal of the appendix, making it the most common cause of emergency surgery in children, but growing...
Thousands of transgender US teens had double mastectomies
A Manhattan Institute report has revealed that “gender-affirming” mastectomies for patients under 18 are more common than thought, and that at least 50 of the...
Routine hernia op leads to seven more surgeries for pastor
A Johannesburg pastor has launched an official complaint saying she endured an agonising series of complications after a routine hernia repair at a government...
Pre-surgery iron vs blood transfusions for anaemic patients – US study
Researchers have suggested – after a rigorous medical records study covering tens of thousands of patients – that some patients with pre-operative anaemia have...
Paediatric group flags baby tongue-tie op ‘epidemic’
The American Academy of Paediatrics (AAP) has sounded the alarm about what they believe is an over-diagnosis of tongue-tie – a condition in infants...
Children’s Cardiac Foundation of Africa saves its 100th life
The Children’s Cardiac Foundation of Africa (TCCFA), which since 2019 has been offering lifesaving procedures to South African and African children suffering from congenital...
Cancer patient third US person to have larynx transplant
American Marty Kedian, who had been without a voice for years and unable to swallow and breathe normally after dozens of surgeries for a...
Prosthesis driven by nervous system improves gait – US study
Using a new surgical intervention and neuroprosthetic interface, researchers were able to restore a natural walking gait in people with amputations below the knee,...
Cutting edge robotic surgery at Cape Town hospitals
Surgical robots have been used to perform more than 600 surgeries at two Cape Town public hospitals, beacons of excellence offering a glimmer of...
First US kidney transplant on awake patient
Transplant surgeons at Northwestern Medicine in Illinois have performed what is thought to be the first awake kidney transplant in the US, with patient...
Time to rethink how we treat obesity
Although the tide of therapies targeting glucagon-like peptide receptor agonists (GLP-1 RA) – like semaglutide, and di- and triagonists, like tirzepatide and retatrutide –...
American Academy: Updated guidelines for Carpal Tunnel Syndrome
The American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (AAOS), has issued the first update in eight years to the Clinical Practice Guideline(CPG) for Management of Carpal Tunnel Syndrome...
Florida passes law allowing C-sections out of hospitals
American doctors have warned of safely risks after a law recently passed in Florida that will allow some Caesarean sections to take place outside...
Women doctors’ patients ‘less likely to die’ – US study
Patients treated by women doctors have less chance of dying or being readmitted to hospital, possibly because male and female physicians practise medicine differently,...
Higher risk for second breast cancer in some women – US cohort study
A recent study suggests that younger breast cancer survivors with a germline pathogenic variant or those with an initial diagnosis of in situ vs...
Non-payment closes theatres in Gauteng hospital
A frustrated supplier, fed-up with delayed payment from Leratong Hospital in Mogale City, Johannesburg, for replacement of an air conditioning system, has “soft-locked” a...
Post-surgery complications higher for African children
After a recent study revealed abysmal outcomes after anaesthesia and surgery for African children with complication rates up to four-fold higher and mortality rates...
Impact of second victim syndrome on surgeons
Nearly 50% of healthcare providers face second victim syndrome (SVS) – the trauma after a medical complication or error – at least once, and...
Patients’ skin bacteria tied to post-surgery infections – US study
Surgical infections might be caused by bacteria that already live on your skin, rather than via external contamination, suggests a study of more than...
Gauteng claims surgery backlog cleared
Gauteng Health says it has cleared its massive backlog of 37 000 operations, including of stoma reversals – completing 100 of these procedures in...
Stricter screening call after deaths and TB from contaminated bone grafts
The US Centres for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC) says there is an urgent need to improve donor screening and product testing, after contaminated...