Here is the amazing story of how a man with cancer of the trachea (and no other remaining treatment options) was treated with a tracheal transplant created from “scratch” in the tissue engineering lab, using the patient’s own stem cells. Very exciting, cool stuff, reported today in the Wall Street Journal.************ Cancer Patient Saved With Lab-Grown […]
When traveling, I’ve often wondered why the TSA agents don’t wear the little dosimetry badges that all medical and dental personnel who work around X-rays wear on their lapels. It’s a standard safety precaution in the industry, another method of ensuring that medical personnel aren’t inadvertently getting exposed to too much radiation at work. Well, […]
When the FDA re-approved silicone breast implants for general use, back in November of 2006, one of the conditions was that the two major manufacturers and the FDA would co-operate to do some ongoing follow-up studies about implant safety and effectiveness. Now, approximately 5 years later, the FDA has released an update, discussing the first […]
This week, the FDA announced a series of changes that will affect how sunscreens are labelled. This is a good thing for consumers: the manufacturers will have to be very clear about whether the product products against UVA rays, or the more typical UVB. Misleading terms like “sunblock” and “waterproof” are going to be eliminated. […]
Source: Dermatology Times E-News A new study reveals dramatic results for an experimental drug designed to attack a melanoma tumor’s genetic trigger in patients with advanced disease. About half of melanoma patients’ tumors carry a mutation of the BRAF gene, which causes skin cells to reproduce out of control. The experimental drug, called PLX4032 or […]
More bizarre parenting, this time from the UK. Plastic-surgery obsessed mom gives daughter a voucher for breast augmentation…but she’s only SEVEN. Here’s the story, from the Daily Mail: ******** She made the headlines last year when she confessed to teaching her then six-year-old daughter Poppy to pole dance. And now Sarah Burge is back in the […]
With a name like the SPY system, you might think that “Q”, from the James Bond series, would be introducing the technology with a clipped “Pay attention, 007”. Not the case here, though. Despite the neat moniker, the SPY system is a Canadian-made tool to help surgeons figure out whether tissue is getting the correct […]
The drug Aromasin appears to cut the odds of breast cancer by 65 percent in high-risk postmenopausal women, new research has found. Unlike other anti-estrogen drugs like tamoxifen, Aromasin doesn’t seem to have an increased risk of uterine cancer or blood clots.Aromasin, an aromatase inhibitor, is currently approved for early breast cancer patients, but is […]
A murder-suicide in a parking garage at Florida Hospital in Orlando left a doctor and the gunman dead today, police said. The doctor was identified as 41-year-old Dmitriy Nikitin, a skilled transplant surgeon. The gunman, allegedly a disgruntled patient, killed himself after shooting the surgeon several times in the chest. Officers closed off the hospital […]
Here’s a cool product I checked out in Boston: 3-D imaging for patients, without an expensive, dedicated multi-camera system. Swiss software company Crisalix has been working on this for several years, and now they are at the stage where they are offering a commercial product, designed to help patients thinking about breast augmentation surgery. Simply upload 3 […]
