December 17th, 2011 by John Di Saia, M.D. in Opinion, Research
Tags: Breast Cancer, Breast Reconstruction, Columbia University Medical Center, Cosmetic Surgery, Dr. Dawn Hershman, Insurance, Mastectomy, Outcomes, Plastic Surgery, Research, Study
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Despite the benefits of immediate post-mastectomy breast reconstruction, only a small minority of women, regardless of age, choose this option, a new study indicates. Research has shown that compared with a delayed procedure, immediate post-mastectomy reconstruction improves psychological well-being and quality of life. The new study, headed by Dawn Hershman, M.D., associate professor of medicine and epidemiology at Columbia University Medical Center, indicates that only about one-third of women opt for the procedure, according to the American Association for Cancer Research.
Source: cosmeticsurgerytimes.modernmedicine.com/
cosmeticsurgerytimes/article/articleDetail.jsp?id=751765
Immediate breast reconstruction does lead to better results in patients with early stage breast cancer. That is a pretty much well known fact. This statistic of less than a third of women seeking this type of reconstruction in this light seems kinda sad, but keep reading: Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Truth in Cosmetic Surgery*
December 17th, 2011 by RamonaBatesMD in Opinion, Research
Tags: deep venous thrombosis prevention, DVT, Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery Journal, Plastic Surgeons, Plastic Surgery, Prevention, Survey
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There were two articles regarding deep venous thrombosis prevention in the November 2011 issue of the Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery Journal. Both are worth reading. I have supplied the full references below with links.
From the second article:
Between 1 and 7 percent of surgeons have personally experienced a venous thromboembolism–related patient death after high-risk plastic surgery. Plastic surgeons’ self-reported practice patterns indicate a disparity between clinical understanding and clinical practice. The majority of surgeons can identify patients at high risk for postoperative venous thromboembolism. However, examination of their self-reported practice patterns indicates that a substantial proportion of surgeons (>50 percent) provide inadequate levels of venous thromboembolism prophylaxis for high-risk patients. In addition, surgeons recognize modifiable venous thromboembolism risk factors (such as oral contraceptive use) but may fail to modify those factors before surgery.
“Never event” is a poor descriptor for venous thromboembolism, as it implies that Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Suture for a Living*
December 16th, 2011 by GruntDoc in Opinion, Research
Tags: Bleeding, Brain, CT Scan, Detection, FDA, Food and Drug Administration, Intracranial Hematoma, Medical, Medicine, near-infrared spectroscopy, Research, Skull, Study
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I read this headline and said, “Wow!, finally I won’t need to CT all those patients’ heads!”
FDA permits marketing of the first hand-held device to aid in the detection of bleeding in the skull
Helps to determine if immediate CT scan is needed
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today allowed marketing of the first hand-held device intended to aid in the detection of life-threatening bleeding in the skull called intracranial hematomas, using near-infrared spectroscopy.
via Press Announcements > FDA permits marketing of the first hand-held device to aid in the detection of bleeding in the skull.
But then, wait, said I, is it any good? Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at GruntDoc*
December 16th, 2011 by KerriSparling in Opinion
Tags: 24-Hour Clock, Adjusting, Challenges, Diabetes, Dubai, Exhaustion, Glucose, Jet Lag, Sleep Deprived, Time, Time Zones, Traveling, Type 1
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The flight from Boston to London took just over six hours. The time change was five hours ahead of Boston, so when we landed at 6 pm, I was only ready for lunch. The trek from London to Dubai was almost seven hours, pushing the clock ahead a full nine hours from Boston, making my head hurt because how was it Wednesday morning when I was still on Tuesday’s timetable?
(I wrote about the impact of changing time zones for an Animas column last month, but I seriously had no idea what I was in for when I decided to take the trip to Dubai.)
That first day there, the Wednesday, everyone gave me the same advice: “Don’t go to sleep.” (It felt like A Nightmare on Elm Street.) “Work through the exhaustion and just go to bed on Wednesday night on Dubai time, and you should be good the next day.”
For the first few hours after landing, Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Six Until Me.*
December 16th, 2011 by Nicholas Genes, M.D., Ph.D. in Opinion
Tags: Accidents, Decorations, ED, Emergency Medicine, Emergency Medicine Today, ER, HealthDay News, Holidays, Injuries, Stats, US Consumer Product Safety Commission
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Yesterday’s ACEP Member Communication email (entitled Emergency Medicine Today, in affiliation with BulletinHealthcare) had this as its top story: Injuries Linked to Holiday Decorating on the Rise, from a website called HealthDay News. The reported cites a US Consumer Product Safety Commission press release, crafted with help from Underwriter Laboratories (the wire engineers). They claim:
In November and December 2010, more than 13,000 people were treated in U.S. emergency departments for injuries involving holiday decorations, up from 10,000 in 2007, and 12,000 in 2008 and 2009, according to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC).
“A well-watered tree, carefully placed candles, and carefully checked holiday light sets will help prevent the joy of the holidays from turning into a trip to the emergency room or the loss of your home,” said CPSC chairman Inez Tenenbaum in an agency news release.
Good advice. Though it’s been said many times, many ways. So when it came time for CPSC and UL to raise the topic, did we need the very questionable statistics to justify it? Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Blogborygmi*
