Articles tagged with Surgery
The newly revised nomograms combine clinical stage, Gleason score, and PSA level information to identify men who can be cured by surgery alone. The use of these nomograms should improve our ability to predict surgical curability and help patients make informed treatment decisions.
Maintaining a surgical patient's normal body temperature has been shown to reduce infections, speed healing and shorten hospital stays. Results of a clinical trial suggest a 55% risk reduction in cardiac complications when near-normal body temperatures are maintained.
Research shows music can decrease cardiovascular stress and improve coping abilities for patients undergoing ambulatory surgery. Music-listening patients reported lower stress levels and better coping mechanisms than those who did not listen to music.
A recent study published in the New England Journal of Medicine found that blacks are less likely to undergo heart bypass surgery compared to whites. The research suggests that patient preferences and cultural factors contribute to this disparity in treatment.
A study by Harvard Medical School researchers found that publicly released performance reports on quality have a neutral impact on referrals, but may discourage cardiac surgeons from taking on high-risk cases. The report's authors argue that closing the credibility gap between clinicians and public data is vital for improving quality.
A multi-institutional study found that surgery is effective for localized prostate cancer, with tumor grade being the best predictor of long-term survival. Ten years after surgery, men with grade 1 tumors had a 6% mortality rate, while those with grade 2 and 3 tumors had 20% and 23% mortality rates, respectively.
A study by Ohio State University researchers found that overweight and severely overweight patients are six to nine times more likely to develop post-operative infections than normal weight patients. These infections can be serious, but obesity does not increase mortality rates in this context.