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Bariatric surgery may result in lasting improvement in sexual health
Weight-loss surgery has more benefits than simply slimming a patient down, it may also result in lasting improvements to sexual functioning, Reuters Health reports...
More post-surgery deaths than from TB, HIV and malaria combined
Around the world 4.2m people die every year within 30 days after surgery – with half of these deaths occurring in low- and middle-income...
Discovering why the 'super-agers' live long and well
'Super-agers' have long puzzled scientists, but now researchers say they are unpicking why some people live beyond 80 – and still appear to be...
Complications and hospital stay cut by exercise before lung surgery
Exercising regularly before surgery for lung cancer halves the complication rate afterwards, finds a synthesis of the available published evidence. And it reduces length...
Bariatric surgery link to reduced mortality risk in obese patients
Obese patients undergoing bariatric surgery have half the risk of death, compared with those tackling their weight through diet and behaviour alone, a large...
Death from scheduled surgery in Africa is a post-operative problem
Despite having a better risk profile than those in high-income countries, the risk of dying from scheduled surgery in Africa is more than double...
Peri-operative aspirin prevents complications in patients with previous PCIs
A Canadian-led study has found that peri-operative aspirin can prevent heart-related complications after major non-cardiac surgery in patients with previous percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI)...
Robotic-assisted vs laparoscopic surgery compared
Two large international studies have compared outcomes of robotic-assisted vs laparoscopic surgery for kidney removal, as well as for rectal cancer.
In one study, Dr...
Better outcomes from afternoon surgery
Patients undergoing open heart surgery in the afternoon have a lower risk of potentially fatal complications than those undergoing operations in the morning. The...
Surgical and radiation backlogs rocket in Gauteng
Surgical backlogs at the Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital in Johannesburg have mounted substantially to up to five years, while at the Steve Biko Academic Hospital...
Anaemia rates rise 10 years after bariatric surgery
Researchers found a high rate of anaemia 10 years after patients received Roux-en-Y gastric bypass (RYGB), suggesting that long-term follow-up with a bariatric specialist...
Patient receives 3-D printed skull after traumatic brain injury
When a coma patient with frontal lobe trauma needed emergency surgery to relieve brain swelling with the intent of replacing the skull after the...
Women fare worse than men in abdominal aortic aneurysm surgery
Mortality rates for women undergoing surgery for abdominal aortic aneurysms are nearly twice those for men, a study by Imperial College and the University...
CDC recommendations to prevent surgical site infections
Good patient and environmental hygiene and judicious use of antimicrobial therapy form the basis of new recommendations issued by the Centres for Disease Control...
Less aggressive treatment for the oldest
The oldest of the elderly are less likely to be investigated or aggressively treated after surgery – despite higher rates of multiple underlying conditions on admission. This was revealed in an audit of hospital deaths in Australia.
Gastric bypass: Better control, worse infection
Two years after surgery, people who had a gastric bypass have better control of their type 2 diabetes, but also had higher risk of infections and bone fractures.
Improving OCSCC cancer survival
Neck dissection to remove lymph nodes and treatment at academic institutions was associated with improved survival in patients with stages I and II oral cavity squamous cell cancer (OCSCC), according to a Yale study.
Enhanced recovery programme benefits
Patients undergoing colorectal operations who participated in an enhanced recovery programme left the hospital sooner and had significantly lower hospital costs.
Benefits from minimally invasive back surgery
A minimally invasive spinal fusion back surgery results in less blood loss, less post-operative pain, smaller incisions, a shorter hospital stay and faster recovery and return to work.
Remove less in liver cancer surgery – study
An approach in which a surgeon removes less than a lobe of the liver in a patient undergoing an operation for liver cancer, is associated with lower mortality and complication rates, according to a Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Centre study.
Benefits of sedatives before surgery questioned
A randomised trial finds that among patients undergoing elective surgery under general anaesthesia, receiving the sedative lorazepam before surgery did not improve the self-reported patient experience the day after surgery, but was associated with longer time before extubation and a lower rate of cognitive recovery.
ARTs boost post-operative survival rates
Post-operative mortality rates were low among patients infected with HIV who are receiving ART, and those mortality rates were influenced as much by age and poor nutritional status as CD4 cell counts.
Accurate one-minute frailty assessment
Emory University surgeons have developed that an approximately one-minute frailty assessment that can accurately determine how likely a patient is to have complications after an operation.
'Tumour-selective' dyes for brain surgery
Two new fluorescent dyes attracted to cancer cells may help neurosurgeons more accurately localise and completely resect brain tumours, suggests a study from the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine
Better survival for bariatric surgery patients
Obese patients in the US Veterans Affairs health system who underwent bariatric surgery had a lower all-cause rate of death at 5 years and up to 10 years following the procedure.