General Surgery News

• Hospitalists Are Natural Leaders in the COVID Battle Four hospitalists share their experiences in treating patients with COVID-19.
  Medscape Hospital Medicine, October 28, 2020
• POP Surgeries Not Tied to Decreased Sexual Functioning The researchers determined that there is "moderate to high quality data" supporting the influence of POP on sexual activity and function.
  Medscape Medical News, October 28, 2020
• Frivolous Lawsuits: Still a Big a Threat to Doctors? There has long been debate about whether frivolous claims exist. How common are such suits today, and what can physicians do to prevent them?
  Medscape Medical News, October 28, 2020
• IDWeek 2020 Fulminant C diff Debate: Fecal Transplants or Antibiotics? One expert at IDWeek says fecal microbiota transplants should be initiated before colectomy. Another says traditional therapeutics are still the best choice as not enough is known about FMT.
  Medscape Medical News, October 28, 2020
• Hood Technique Can Facilitate Swift Return to Urinary Continence After Radical Prostatectomy The 'hood' technique for robot-assisted prostatectomy enabled a return to continence within four months, without compromising surgical margins, in a single-center, single-surgeon study.
  Reuters Health Information, October 26, 2020
• Melatonin Supplementation Linked to Better Sleep Quality in ICU Patients In intensive care unit (ICU) patients taking analgesics and/or sedatives, a melatonin supplement improved sleep quality in a placebo-controlled trial, suggesting a possible role for the hormone in critically ill patients.
  Reuters Health Information, October 24, 2020
• After Total Joint Replacement, Amateur Golfers Play More Often Amateur golfers who have a total joint replacement are able to play more frequently than they did before surgery, though their golf handicap suffers slightly, according to a survey and database study.
  Reuters Health Information, October 23, 2020
• Black Children Half as Likely to Undergo Surgery, Twice as Likely to Die During Reoperation Black children in the US are twice as likely to die during unplanned reoperations as their white peers, but half as likely to undergo surgeries in the first place, according to data from two independent studies.
  Reuters Health Information, October 23, 2020
• CHEST 2020 Unneeded Meds at Discharge Could Cause Harm Too many patients are discharged from the hospital with unneeded bronchodilators and acid suppressant agents, highlighting the need for medication reconciliation.
  Medscape Medical News, October 23, 2020
• Decision on Race Multiplier in CKD in Blacks 'Has Real Consequences' Dropping the eGFR multiplier for African Americans produced a 33% hike in those assigned to a more severe stage of chronic kidney disease. But whether or not to keep the adjustment remains unclear, say experts.
  Medscape Medical News, October 23, 2020
• TCT 2020 Stellarex Paclitaxel Coated Balloon Safe, Durable in PAD Moving ahead with paclitaxel balloons in the periphery: Calls for comparative effectiveness trials, like those for coronary stents, followed release of long-term postmarket data from ILLUMINATE-Global.
  Medscape Medical News, October 23, 2020
• New Thermography Shows Efficacy for Breast Cancer Screening Thermography aided by diagnostic software may provide an alternative to mammography in resource-poor countries where standard breast cancer screening is not available or affordable, say researchers.
  Medscape Medical News, October 23, 2020
• Rates of Bone Density Testing in Men Initiating ADT Low but Rising While bone mineral density (BMD) testing is becoming more common among men initiating androgen deprivation therapy (ADT) for prostate cancer, a Canadian study suggests that most men still are not being assessed prior to treatment.
  Reuters Health Information, October 21, 2020
• DVT Screening, Early Treatment, Prevent PE in Necrotizing Pancreatitis Ultrasound screening enabled identification and early treatment of extremity deep vein thrombosis (DVT), thereby preventing symptomatic pulmonary embolism (PE) in a single center trial.
  Reuters Health Information, October 21, 2020
• TCT 2020 New SCOPE Data Put ACURATE neo on the Back Foot Again The road ahead -- at least in this iteration of the device -- is shaky after failing to show noninferiority with two approved gold standard valves.
  Medscape Medical News, October 21, 2020
• pCR in HER2+ Breast Cancer Predicts Long-Term Survival A pathologic complete response to targeted therapy in HER2-positive breast cancer portends good long-term outcomes and may be a marker of cure, according to the final results of a phase 3 trial.
  Medscape Medical News, October 21, 2020
• TCT 2020 Paclitaxel-Coated Devices Don't Increase Mortality New results from VOYAGER PAD showing no suggestion of increased mortality may finally put to rest questions about the safety of paclitaxel devices in peripheral artery disease.
  Medscape Medical News, October 21, 2020
• TCT 2020 TAVR in Degenerated TAVR Valve Works in 'No Option' Patients A 'TAVR-in-TAVR' registry of nonsurgical patients could lead one day to a transcatheter option for today's low-risk TAVR patients who may still be acceptable for surgery when their first valve fails.
  Medscape Medical News, October 20, 2020
• Gene Signature May Be Similarly Prognostic in ILC and IDC The MammaPrint 70-gene signature has similar prognostic performance in women with early-stage invasive lobular carcinoma and invasive ductal carcinoma (IDC), according to an exploratory analysis.
  Medscape Medical News, October 20, 2020
• TCT 2020 MitraClip Effective for Post-MI Acute MR With Cardiogenic Shock Percutaneous mitral valve repair with the MitraClip appears to be a safe, effective, and life-saving treatment for severe acute MR secondary to MI in surgical noncandidates, according to IREMMI data.
  Medscape Medical News, October 19, 2020