After a six-year study, surgeons at the University of Maryland Medical Center in Baltimore have determined that they have found a better way to repair the mitral valve, which is key to proper blood flow.

The mitral valve is the "inflow valve" for the left ventricle, the heart’s main pumping chamber, Maryland officials explain. Blood flows from the lungs, where it picks up oxygen, across the open mitral valve and into the left ventricle. When the heart squeezes, the two leaflets of the mitral valve snap shut and prevent blood from backing up into the lungs. Blood is directed out of the heart to the rest of the body through another valve, the aortic valve.

Until now, surgical treatment meant repairing the diseased valve or replacing it with a metal one or one made from animal tissue. And the majority required open-heart surgery. Doctors concluded in their study -- which began in 2003 and ended in March -- that they could do a minimally invasive repair job by making a two-inch incision on the right side of the chest. The results of the study are published in the September issue of the Annals of Surgery.

The study of 187 patients showed the procedure is safe and effective and requires just a short hospital stay and rapid recovery, said lead author James S. Gammie, a cardiac surgeon at the University of Maryland Medical Center and associate professor of surgery at the University of Maryland School of Medicine. There were no strokes, kidney failures or infections, which are the most common complications from surgery. Almost all of the patients are still alive.

The doctors said repair is also better than replacement, which tends to cause blood clots. Animal tissue replacement valves also only last 10-15 years. Repairs can last a patient’s lifetime.

The procedure further advances the trend in minimally invasive techniques across most areas of surgery. Very few surgeons across the country perform the procedure now, according to E. Albert Reece, vice president for medical affairs at the University of Maryland and dean of the University of Maryland School of Medicine. Perhaps that now will change.

Read the abstract here.

Posted by Meredith Cohn at 1:22 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Medical studies
        

The internet will get you into trouble. Everyone knows this, don't they? And yet, time and again we hear embarrassing tales of how someone posted a drunken photo or a dimwitted email on the web only to encounter the wrath of their employer.

Count medical students among the latest perpetrators. Sixty percent of medical schools reported incidents of students posting unprofessional content online, according to a new study in the Journal of the American Medical Association.  Nearly half reported use of discriminatory language, while 39 percent had depictions of intoxicated students and another 38 percent had reports of "sexually suggestive material." And perhaps most worrisome to medical schools, 13 percent reported incidents where doctors-in-training violated patient confidentiality online.

The study was based on a survey of medical schools nationwide to gauge how the proliferation of Facebook, Twitter and YouTube had affected professionalism for soon-to-be physicians. The survey also gathered information on policies regarding online conduct. Few schools, it turns out, (less than 10 percent) had any formal policies on internet use.

"The social contract between medicine and society expects physicians to embody altruism, integrity and trustworthiness. Furthermore, ethical and legal obligations to maintain patient confidentiality have unique repercussions," the study says.

But just what does "professionalism" mean when it comes to medical students and the wild wild west of the interwebs? Medical schools aren't quite sure.

Continue reading "Medical students behaving badly" »

Posted by Kelly Brewington at 7:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Medical studies
        

Two new studies shed light on the safety of the vaccine to protect women from cervical cancer and call into question the ethics behind the marketing of the shot.

Gardasil, the blockbuster vaccine to combat the human papillomavirus (HPV), which can cause cervical cancer, is linked to complications, including 32 deaths, according to an analysis in today's Journal of the American Medical Association. But researchers note that the rate of side effects is low and the safety record is not out of line from other similar vaccines. The most common side effects are fainting, nausea and dizziness at a rate of about 40 to 80 cases per 1 million girls vaccinated.

Raising more eyebrows, however, is an accompanying JAMA article revealing that the makers of Gardasil, Merck & Co, provided grants to professional medical associations to help promote the vaccine.

"However, much of the material did not address the full complexity of the issues surrounding the vaccine and did not provide balanced recommendations on risks and benefits," the authors note.

Continue reading "HPV vaccine promoted with drug company money" »

Posted by Kelly Brewington at 12:22 PM | Permalink | Comments (5)
Categories: Medical studies, Pediatrics
        

If you carried a gene that made it more likely you would someday get Alzheimer's disease, would you want to know?

How would you react to knowing that your risk for getting the progressive, fatal brain disorder was 50 percent?

A University of Michigan study out in today's New England Journal of Medicine suggests that people react much better to the news than expected. Disclosure of the genetic testing results in adult children of Alzheimer's patients did not have short-term psychological effects -- even in those who were told they carried the gene. Those who found out they did not carry the gene were relieved, though even without the gene, someone can still get Alzheimer's.

Continue reading "Would you want to know you have an Alzheimer's gene?" »

Posted by Stephanie Desmon at 8:30 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)
Categories: Medical studies