A shorter course of post-mastectomy radiation doesn't jeopardize a patient's chances of successful breast reconstruction, a new study finds.
Hopping backward is a good test to see if someone’s ACL surgery has gone well, a new study says.
That backward hop is an effective way of measuring the strength of a patient’s knee function, as well as the strength of their quadriceps, researchers reported re...
There have been 50 face transplants performed in 11 countries since the surgery was pioneered back in 2005, and long-term outcomes have been favorable, a new review finds.
In total, 85% of people receiving these complex surgeries survived five years and 74% were still al...
Fluorescent light can be used to highlight bacteria that hides in wounds, causing infections and slowing down the healing process, a new evidence review says.
A handheld fluorescent device can light up bacteria in 9 out of 10 wounds that traditional clinical treatment wo...
The risk of death associated with donating a kidney is at an all-time low, a new study finds.
A kidney donor’s risk -- already small a decade ago -- is now lower by ...
At least 20 million hernia surgeries are performed globally each year, making it one of the most common medical procedures in the world. But does gender matter when it comes to hernia risk?
New Australian research says yes: Half of the nearly 436,000 hernia repair proced...
Wildfire smoke could interfere with the safety of surgeries, a new study warns.
Inhaling the smoke could complicate the effects of anesthesia on surgical patients, and it also might hamper their recovery, researchers reported Aug. 6 in the journal Anesthesiology...
Surgery is being overused to correct breastfeeding difficulties in infants, a new report says.
A growing number of newborns are being diagnosed with ankyloglossia, also called “tongue-tie.â€
Tongue-tie restricts the tongue’s range of motion in a b...
The virus responsible for COVID-19 is widespread among wildlife, a new study finds.
SARS-CoV-2 was detected in six common backyard species, including deer mice, opossums, raccoons, ...
Women who are diagnosed with breast cancer in one breast, even in the early stages, sometimes opt for a double mastectomy, due to the fear that the cancer will migrate to the other breast.
But that decision may not offer any real benefit in terms of survival, an exhausti...
Brent Ruch, a collegiate basketball center, opted to have his left knee replaced at age 35 after struggling with pain for years.
“Walking with a limp and living with a consistent aching pain was physically and emotionally difficult. I didn’t want ...
Many tweens and teens are filling prescriptions for opioids far in advance of surgeries unlikely to be associated with severe pain afterward, a new study says.
Worse, a significant minorit...
Diabetes can make lumbar spinal fusion surgery much more likely to fail, a new study says.
People with diabetes are nearly three times more likely to have their vertebrae fail to properly he...
Opioid addiction often starts with a prescription for post-surgery pain relief, and two new studies identify a handful of procedures that account for large shares of those prescriptions.
The findings were published recently in two major medical journals.
"Our findi...
You're getting heart surgery, but your surgeon notices a new anomaly that perhaps could be fixed at the same time.
That's more likely to happen if you're a man than a woman, new studies find.
John Nicolas was deep into kidney transplant surgery when he decided to ask his doctors if they'd started yet.
"At one point during surgery, I recall asking, 'Should I be expecting the spinal anesthesia to kick in?'"Nicolas, 28, recalled in a news release. "They had alre...
A surgery that helps 7- to 10-year-olds with cerebral palsy walk also helps older kids and teens with the condition, a groundbreaking study shows.
"We had thought that the older kids would not do as well, but there was really no difference in outcomes between the two gro...
British retiree David Butler was surprised to find that he had prostate cancer, and that it had spread to the lymph nodes and other places near the prostate.
"I ...
Older adults who avoid surgery because they fear general anesthesia will cause thinking declines need not worry, researchers report.
A study of more than 1,000 patients who had heart surgery at four hospitals in Canada found that the amount of anesthesia used did not aff...
Despite recent concerns that taking Ozempic, Wegovy or other GLP-1 medications might be unsafe before a surgery, a new review has uncovered no such danger.
The issue arose because weight-loss drugs slow gastric emptying. The thought was that food might linger in the stom...
A woman who was the second person to ever receive a kidney from a genetically modified pig has had the transplanted organ removed due to complications linked to a heart pump she is using, her doctors said.
Lisa Pisano, 54, remains hospitalized and has been transferred ba...
Nerve surgery can reduce the number of headache days for people who suffer frequent migraines, a new review finds.
The procedure also can decrease the ...
California skateboarder Jared Hager has become the first person to receive a transparent skull replacement, which allows doctors to better view the function of his brain.
The window has allowed doctors to both monitor his progress and test new and better scanning methods...
A 4,000-year-old skull provides evidence that ancient Egyptians might have tried to treat cancer, a new study claims.
Microscopic observation of the s...
Heading for surgery? The ratio of women to men in the operating room could influence your recovery, new research shows.
Hospitals in Canada that had 35% or more surgeons and anesthesiologists who were female on staff tended to produce better outcomes for patients undergo...
Chicago resident Arthur "Art"Gillespie fell ill in early March 2020 with COVID, after he and his father went to visit an uncle in a nursing facility.
"I was hospitalized for 12 days with a high fever and cough, and during that time, they were taking scans of my lungs, wh...
Robot-assisted total knee replacements tend to have better outcomes on average, a new study reports.
Unfortunately, there's a downside"having a surgical robot assist a human surgeon can make the procedure much more costly.
A blood test could help doctors spot the signs of knee osteoarthritis at least eight years before it shows up on X-rays, a new study claims.
After analyzing the blood of 200 white British women, half diagnosed with knee osteoarthritis and half without, researchers discov...
Each year, thousands of Americans head home after a surgery clutching prescription opioids to help ease post-surgical pain.
Trouble is, most won't use all those pills, and that could lead to a lot of misuse and addiction, one study found.
Most seniors probably view any emergency surgery with a certain level of anxiety.
Now, a new study seeks to sort out who might be at highest risk for a complication from such surgeries -- and which surgeries are more prone to trouble.
Two key factors emerged: How...
New Jersey native Lisa Pisano was staring down the end of her days.
The 54-year-old had heart failure and end-stage kidney disease, but several chronic medical conditi...
It's long been documented that women have a slimmer chance of surviving heart bypass surgery compared to men, and researchers believe that they now know why.
Women tend to be more vulnerable to blood loss during surgery -- red blood cells, specifically -- than men are, c...
Early-onset arthritis may hit as many as one in every four young people who undergo anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) reconstruction surgeries, new research warns.
The arthritic pain emerges within 6 to 12 months post-surgery, according to Michigan State University (MSU) ...
Researchers say they are close to perfecting a bioengineered, 3D printed replacement human ear that looks, feels and resists injury like the real thing.
Such an advance would greatly benefit people with congenitally malformed ears from birth, or those who have had an ea...
People taking weight-loss drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy need to drop them in the days or weeks prior to surgery, a new study warns.
Folks on one of these drugs -- known as GLP-1 recep...
Dr. Gary Gibbon didn't have long to live.
A harsh cocktail of chemotherapy, radiation and immunotherapy for his advanced lung cancer had permanently d...
A surgical treatment used to treat conditions like carpal tunnel syndrome and back sciatica might also help relieve the pain of patients with diabetic neuropathy, a new study finds.
Surgical nerve decompression significantly eased pain among a small group of people with ...
THURSDAY, March 21, 2024 (HealthDay news) -- For the first time ever, doctors have transplanted a genetically edited pig kidney into a human suffering from advanced kidney failure.
Such pig kidneys, altered to lower the risk of rejection and disease, have been successful...
Weight-loss surgery may help patients struggling with obesity and kidney failure become eligible for a lifesaving transplant, researchers report.
Obesity is a key reason why some kidney patients are turned down for a transplant.
But weight-loss surgery "not only he...
Nurses who specialize in anesthesia have issued new guidelines to reduce the risk that patients taking weight-loss drugs like Ozempic or Wegovy...
Weight-loss drugs like Wegovy and Ozempic can increase a person's risk of throwing up during surgery while under anesthesia, a new study reports.
People are typically asked to fast prior to surgery because general anesthesia can cause nausea, and they might inhale and ch...
Major surgery is a dicey proposition for many seniors, with a substantial number landing back in the hospital just weeks or months after their operation, a new study warns.
Nearly one in eight seniors (12%) who undergo surgery are readmitted to the hospital within 30 day...
Children exposed to anesthesia in the womb when their pregnant mom has surgery are more likely to suffer from behavioral issues later, a new study finds.
Exposure to general anesthesia before birth was associated with a 31% increased risk of diagnosis with a behavioral d...
The position in bed of stroke victims' heads could influence how well they'll fare in upcoming surgery to remove a blood clot from their brain, a new study finds.
Hospital beds for stroke patients are typically set up to keep the head elevated, researchers said.
Bu...
Patients who are bleeding out have a better chance of surviving if they're given whole blood transfusions, a new study shows.
Traditionally, patients with significant bleeding are given transfusions of specific blood components -- red blood cells, plasma and platelets th...
Elon Musk, co-founder of Neuralink, said this week that the company placed the first brain implant in a human over the weekend.
In a statement posted on X, the platform former...
Older adults frequently delay needed surgery because of financial concerns, a new study finds.
Nearly half of people ages 50 and older who were very concerned about the cost of surgery wound up not having an operation they had considered, researchers reported Jan. 30 in ...
Britain's King Charles III returned home on Monday after a planned prostate surgery, the same day his daughter-in-law Kate Middleton, the Princess of Wales, was also discharged following an undisclosed abdominal surgery.
Both had been treated at the London Clinic private...
Too many American tourists looking for cheap cosmetic surgeries alongside their beach time are winding up dead in the Dominican Republic, a new report finds.
Between 2009 and 2022, 93 people -- almost all young or middle-aged women -- have died after undergoing tummy tuc...
Britain's King Charles III is expected undergo surgery next week to correct an enlarged prostate, and experts say these procedures are common in older men and safe.
The king, 75, has what's clinically known as benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH).
"An enlarged prosta...