July 23rd, 2010 by Happy Hospitalist in Better Health Network, Humor, Medical Art, Opinion
Tags: Abusing The System, CT Scan, Driving Up Healthcare Costs, Food Scans, Fruits and Vegetables, Incidentalomas, Medical Pastiche, MRI Scanner, Peter Zavislak, Radiology, Technologists, X-ray
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Medical Pastiche blogger Peter Zavislak, whom I can always count on to point out the unusual and interesting sides of medicine, sent me to a website that has nothing but pictures and videos of food in an MRI scanner.
Here’s a series of images from their site of a cantaloupe as viewed from an MRI:
I just find myself thinking that these MRI machines aren’t cheap to run and maintain. Doctors and nurses used to be able to get “freebies” by buddying up with the X-ray, CT or MRI technologist and running a scan for free.
Some hospitals allow their employees to test the machines after being set up or maintained to get images for testing purposes. I’m sure more than a technologist or radiologist or two have found incidentalomas from this practice. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at The Happy Hospitalist*
July 23rd, 2010 by DrWes in Better Health Network, Humor, Opinion
Tags: American Diet, Bacon Burger, Cardiologist, Cardiology, Diet and Nutrition, Heart Attack, Heart Disease, High-Calorie Foods, High-Cholesterol Foods, High-Fat Foods, Job Security, Medical Humor, U.S. Health, U.S. Weight Problem
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All it takes to assure you’ll keep your local cardiologist employed is 19 strips of bacon and an egg and you’ve got yourself one heck of a solid bacon burger:
Having read about the difficulties people making such burgers have had keeping them together, I decided to add one large egg to the food processor along with the 19 slices of bacon. I ground the bacon and the egg together, then, using my hands, pulled the mixture out and used a hamburger press to make a burger. It is possible that my hands have been greasier at some point in my life, but if so I have (fortunately) forgotten it. I was not quite prepared for the raw burger to look like pure fat, and I must admit that it didn’t look very appealing. But it was for science, so I soldiered on!
I put the burger on the rack-Pyrex assembly and slid it under the broiler. Having learned a lesson from last week, I turned the stove exhaust fan to high immediately. I peeked in on it as it cooked, and it seemed to be cooking nicely, with tons of little fat bubbles sizzling on top. After seven minutes or so, I took it out to turn it over, and was pleased how easily it flipped. Five minutes later, it looked done, so I took the temperature of the inside (you need to be careful with pork, of course), and it registered at 160 degrees Fahrenheit, so out it came. Now it looked like food, and smelled delicious.
My family and I thank you, America!
-WesMusings of a cardiologist and cardiac electrophysiologist.
*This blog post was originally published at Dr. Wes*
July 22nd, 2010 by RamonaBatesMD in Better Health Network, News, Opinion, Quackery Exposed, Research
Tags: Aesthetic Surgery Journal, Cosmetic Surgery, Dermal Filler, Facial Plastic Surgery, Journal of Cosmetic Dermatology, Journal of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, Kathleen Stegman, Maxillofacial Surgery, Midwest Medical Aesthetics, Orthopedics, Plastic Surgery SmartBrief, Platelet-Rich Fibrin Matrix, PRFM, PubMed, Selphyl, Skin Rejuvenation, Skin Volume, Soft Tissue Regeneration, Twilight Movie, Vampire Craze, Vampire Facelift
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I first saw mention of the “vampire facelift” two weeks ago as a news article listed in the July 9th issue of the Plastic Surgery SmartBrief: “Vampire facelift” uses patient’s platelets and fibrin in dermal filler.”
The article begins:
Instead of a traditional facelift, patients are being offered another option to get rid of wrinkles. It’s called Selphyl or the “vampire facelift,” and it uses a person’s own blood to sculpt the face.
Selphyl, according to the company’s website:
The patented SELPHYL® System enables the safe and rapid preparation of an activated Platelet-rich Fibrin Matrix (PRFM). A small volume of the patient’s blood is collected and the platelets and fibrin are concentrated during a simple centrifuge process. The resulting product (liquid, gel or membrane) can be applied to a treatment area of the face or body to stimulate natural, new tissue growth. SELPHYL® prepared PRFM has been shown to increase skin volume and rejuvenation.
SELPHYL® ensures a preparation of fibrin and platelets, with virtually no red or white blood cells. Studies have shown these platelets to be viable and intact. Platelets will release proteins, which have been reported to trigger cell migration, proliferation and differentiation over time.
With over 45,000 procedures performed world-wide, this technology has been extensively used for soft tissue regeneration in plastic surgery, orthopedics and maxillofacial surgery.
So how does Sephyl create any face-lifting effect? Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Suture for a Living*
July 22nd, 2010 by AndrewSchorr in Better Health Network, Health Policy, News, Opinion, Quackery Exposed, Research
Tags: Avandia, Avastin, Bevacizumab, Breast Cancer Diagnosis, Breast Cancer Treatment, Breast Cancer Trials, Cancer Research, Diabetes Drug, Diagnostic Radiology, Duke University, False Hope, FDA, Food and Drug Administration, GlaxoSmithKline, Medical Credentials, Medical Errors, Medical Mistakes, Oncology, Pathology Errors, Patient Harm
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The news wasn’t good this week for women concerned about breast cancer.
First came the story that some women were diagnosed with breast cancer, very early stage, had treatment –- including disfiguring surgery -– and then found out they never had cancer in the first place. The pathologist goofed, maybe even a second pathologist also misread the biopsies.
How does this happen? Not surprisingly it comes back to the clinical experience of the doctor. Properly diagnosing breast cancer, whether through radiology scans or pathology biopsies is not always easy. And in many communities the general radiologists and pathologists just don’t have enough specialized experience. This leads to mistakes, especially when the suggestions of possible cancer are subtle and minute. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Andrew's Blog*
July 22nd, 2010 by Medgadget in Better Health Network, Health Policy, Health Tips, Humor, News, Opinion, Research
Tags: Anesthesia & Analgesia, Anesthesiology, Biodiesel, Earth's Atmosphere, End Of The World, Environmental Contaminants, Environmental Health, Gas Content, General Surgery, Global Warming, High Fresh Gas Flow Rates, Inhaled Anesthetics, N2O, Ozone Layer, Sevoflurane, University of California-San Francisco, University of Oslo
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In a development that may have you undergo your next medical procedure the old-fashioned way, two researchers from the University of California-San Francisco and the University of Oslo are reporting that inhaled anesthetics significantly contribute to the destruction of the ozone layer and add to the overall global warming gas content in the atmosphere.
Moreover, the study’s authors conclude with some valuable advice for your own practice: “From our calculations, avoiding N2O and unnecessarily high fresh gas flow rates can reduce the environmental impact of inhaled anesthetics.”
We’d like to venture even further. Not only would we recommend closed-circuit, low-flow anesthesia even with sevoflurane (damn those kidneys!), we’d also suggest that patients arrive by bicycle or, if absolutely necessary, a biodiesel-powered ambulance.
Press release: Study Shows Global Warming Impact of Anesthetics …
Abstract in Anesthesia & Analgesia: Global Warming Potential of Inhaled Anesthetics: Application to Clinical Use
Image: brutal
*This blog post was originally published at Medgadget*
