Surgery

Sentinel node biopsy in the axilla as part of breast cancer surgery is standard of care. It has spared women from the requirement of a full axillary dissection, where many nodes are removed with resultant risks of long-term complications, such as arm swelling, or lymphedema.

With Barbara Walters' announcement that she is scheduled to undergo surgery to replace a faulty aortic valve (most likely caused by stenosis of the aortic valve, according to Sara Sirna, MD, of the Temple Heart Center), your patients may be asking you questions about stenosis, aortic valve replacement surgery, mitral valve regurgitation, and a other related topics.

Good news doctors! Although the current Congress is content to fritter away your future income with so-called healthcare reform, a plucky Republican candidate for Senate in Nevada has offered a sensible (and tasty) alternative to the usual fee for service: poultry!

Unless you've yet to come out of your winter hibernation, you've likely heard about the subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH) suffered-just days after an emergency appendectomy-by Poison front man and "The Celebrity Apprentice" contestant Bret Michaels. But few media sources have gone past reporting the incident to explain how it could affect Michaels long-term (should he survive) and how it might have been prevented; Matt Mealiffe, MD, over at DNA and You, is an exception.

Brandon Roy of the Portland Trail Blazers in the NBA played tonight in game 4 of the Blazers playoff series with the Phoenix Suns. To those of you who are not sports fans, you may say, "So what?" The amazing thing is that Roy had arthroscopic surgery for a torn meniscus eight days ago.

In a preliminary study, Attiva, increased the post-meal feeling of satiety and reduced hunger between meals.

Line 'em up and take a count: Mehmet Oz, Nancy Snyderman, Manny Alvarez, Atul Gawande, and Sanjay Gupta (surgeon, surgeon, surgeon, surgeon, and...oh wait, what a surprise...surgeon).

I thought I lost a patient a few weeks ago. No, he didn't die, but after his office visit, I had the distinct impression that he might not come back. My job is to take care of my patients' health. But sometimes I'm just the messenger.

Thyroid cancer is one of the fastest growing cancers in the United States, especially in women, according to Bryan Haugen, MD.

For patients with chronic wounds that won't heal, treatment options just got a little sweeter with Derma Sciences' MEDIHONEY Wound and Burn Dressings.

Researchers at the University of California, Los Angeles, have completed a comparative review of heart bypass surgery and angioplasty that examined the safety and efficacy of each for the treatment of heart blockages.

Google has just completed a major overhaul of Google Docs that includes redesigned spreadsheet, document, and drawing editors; group chat functionality; and the ability to collaborate with real-time character-by-character mark-up.

Researchers at Stony Brook University received a $606,000 grant to continue studying a telephone-based program designed to help arthritis patients maintain better control of their pain.

The highly coveted iPad was released last weekend, and those who were fortunate enough to acquire the new gadget have been quick to discuss what kind of impact it will have on just about any industry. But what kind of impact will the iPad have on healthcare?

Are we prepared to care for people with chronic or complex conditions?

Results from the STOP-AF trial was presented at the recent American College of Cardiology annual conference, and it sure has generated much excitement about atrial fibrillation (AF) ablation. This is a good thing.

Early this morning, President Obama announced that there is no actual need for healthcare reform, and apologized for "making such a big deal about it before."

People with diabetes who undergo cancer surgery are more likely to die in the month following their operations than those without diabetes, but researchers don't know why.

We met cute. Classic Hollywood. America caught a glimpse of healthcare reform about a year ago--but only in passing, a little flirtatious hair-toss. Couldn't really see anything, veiled and shadowy, but God did she look great.

The quality of life of GERD patients may be more significantly improved with stomach wrap surgery than with medication, at least in the short-to-medium term.

We've entered a new arena of horror where our Richter scale, for the first time, doesn't seem to reach high enough, and adjectives are crumbling under the impact. "Devastation" or "catastrophe"? None of the usual descriptors feel powerful enough.

View a demo of a We Care Solar Suitcase here. This tool was used by many healthcare professionals who spent time in Haiti

How quickly we humans normalize even the most extreme scenario - as long as we see it over and over. By now, it seems perfectly normal for our fringed-draped bus to 4-wheel it over piles of rubble.

Even the predawn day began a little differently. The shrill distant stadium cheers of hundreds of Haitian roosters sounded oddly synchronized, as though perhaps they were doing the wave.

After six hours of unaccustomed sleep, I awoke like a mad pirate, with one red eye, hair askew, lurching and croaking.

I feel they picked my pocket! Consider what happened to me-I broke my leg (a 4" fibula fracture). An orthopedist inserted a 4-inch plate, but the surgical wound wouldn't close.

There's something about the constant drone of a generator – the relentless, unremitting growl that hangs in the air. It's like the smell and the dust and the fear of the rainy season, the way it creeps under your skin so quickly, and then sinks so deepely that you're not even aware that you're aware of it. All the time.

Immediately after crossing from the DR into Haiti, you can see the visible downshift into a worse level of poverty.

If you look at the photo of what finally went into my personal bag to Haiti, it's hard to imagine how much thought and fretting and, frankly, geometric calculation was involved.

Haiti trip, 5 days and counting. The overriding question, for me, has become, just how bad is it?