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Surgery
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...
Rural Limpopo hospital records first robotic knee surgery
In the first surgery of its kind in the mainly rural province of Limpopo, a team led by Professor Steve Matshidze recently performed a...
REBOA fails to reduce mortality, first clinical trial finds
In the first clinical trial on REBOA (Resuscitative endovascular balloon occlusion of the aorta) done in Britain by a team of US scientists, it...
Male surgeons’ patients 25% likelier to die in 90 days – Canadian study
Patients treated by female surgeons have lower rates of adverse postoperative long-term outcomes – including death – than similar patients treated by male surgeons, and...
Need for rethink on spinal surgery training – SA study
A Cape Town study has found that spinal operations – with the largest open medical scheme in SA – was dominated by surgery for...
World-first brain surgery on foetus corrects abnormal blood vessel
For the first time, surgery has corrected an abnormal blood vessel in the brain of a foetus. The baby – who has a rare...
Steady decline in survival of pancreatitis surgery patients – US study
A recent study has found declining survival rates for pancreatic surgery patients, most of whom have opted for the operation as their only hope...
Male surgeon? Women patients have 15% more chance of death or complications
A study in JAMA Surgery shows that women have a 15% greater chance of death or serious injury if a man, rather than a...
Antibiotics effective in 70% of appendix cases with no added risk – Duke study
With numerous recent studies demonstrating that antibiotics work as well as surgery for most uncomplicated appendicitis cases, the non-surgical approach can now be considered...
Simple procedure slashes atrial fibrillation risk following cardiac surgery
A simple surgical technique during cardiac surgery was associated with a 56% reduction in the incidence of atrial fibrillation, which can lead to stroke,...
Bariatric surgery in NAFLD and obesity slashes liver and cardiovascular risk
In non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) and obesity, bariatric surgery cut by 90% the risk of advanced liver disease, liver cancer or related death,...
Surprise finding: Patients isolating before surgery 20% more likely to develop post-op lung problems
A US National Institute for Health Research-funded study found patients who isolate before surgery are 20% more likely to develop postoperative lung complications.
Patients isolating...
Bariatric surgery linked to markedly decreased stroke risk
Obese people who had bariatric surgery to reduce their weight appeared to get an added benefit of a markedly reduced risk of stroke, a...
Bariatric surgery linked to decreased stroke risk – Canadian study
Canadian researchers have found that obese people who had bariatric surgery to reduce their weight appeared to get an added benefit of a markedly...
Royal College Ireland: Surgery best for acute uncomplicated appendicitis
A Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland study conducted in Beaumont Hospital in Dublin has found that surgery, rather than antibiotics-only, should remain as the...
Expert panel: First opioid prescribing guidelines for children post-surgery
An expert panel convened by the American Pediatric Surgical Association Outcomes and Evidence-based Practice Committee set out some guidelines for how to think about...
Weight-reduction surgery may prevent second heart attack and death
People with severe obesity (BMI >35) and a prior heart attack who undergo weight-reduction surgery may lower their risk of a second heart attack,...
Antibiotics compared to surgery in treating appendicitis — Randomised trial
The largest randomised US study of appendicitis found that 70% of patients can avoid surgery and be treated with antibiotics only.
Every year more than...
Meta-analysis: No benefit to continued antibiotic prophylaxis after surgery
When best practice standards for surgical antibiotic prophylaxis were applied, postoperative continuation of antibiotic prophylaxis was found to have no benefit in reducing the...
AI outperforms clinicians in triaging post-operative patients for ICUe
Artificial intelligence (AI) in the form of a machine-learned algorithm correctly triaged the vast majority of post-operative patients to the intensive care unit in...
Major surgery increases odds of decline in brain functioning
Major surgery is associated with small, long term decline in brain functioning. On average, this was equivalent to less than five months of brain...
Vascular surgery after gunshot injury linked to increased morbidity and mortality
Among all hospitalisations that were due to firearm injury, patients who underwent surgical repair of their major blood vessels had the highest injury severity...