News briefs from the journal Chest, MAY 2005
...uicker Without Early Aspirin Withdrawal Patients undergoing coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) routinely stop low-dose aspirin therapy 7 to 10 days before the operation to restore normal platelet hemostatic function, but a new study suggests that it may be more beneficial to continue taking aspirin until ...Mayo Clinic researchers report on effectiveness of treatments for hot flashes
...denly than it would normally occur; so, many women undergoing treatment for cancer must also cope with hot flashes. Researchers say that hot flashes appear to be triggered by changes in a woman's brain chemistry that result from decreased estrogen levels as she approaches menopause. There are other non-estrogen...Still have to swab those tonsils, Mayo Clinic study finds
...tudy was conducted prospectively with 130 patients undergoing tonsillectomy and in some cases, removal of the adenoids as well. Approximately three-fourths of the patients were children and one-fourth were adults. During the surgery, the surgeons swabbed each patient's tonsil surface, the inside of the cheek ...An alternative to prevent UC-associated colon cancer
...ven more promising, patients receiving statins and undergoing surveillance lived longer than patients who underwent surveillance alone, and had a better quality of life. Patients who received statins and underwent surveillance once every 10 years had 96 percent of their cancer prevented the same proportion as ...Significant non-coronary findings found during heart CT scans
A significant percentage of patients undergoing targeted CT of the heart have abnormalities outside the coronary arteries, some of which could be life threatening, and as a result need the experience of trained radiologists to interpret them, say researchers from the University of Michigan Cardiov...Ablation therapy improves survival for patients with inoperable liver tumors
...ficant difference in overall survival for patients undergoing surgery versus those undergoing ablation or the ablation/surgery combination. "The results of this study show that tumor ablation th...Cutting-edge technologies signify a new era for colorectal cancer screening
... single-arm, single-center study enrolled patients undergoing colonoscopy for colorectal cancer screening or monitoring. The researchers examined the colon using white light (WL) followed by fluorescence light (FL). Of 285 evaluable biopsies, a total of 123 lesions were found in 44 patients (120 adenomas, two...Studies on HRT for breast cancer patients can give false hopes
...rrence of breast cancer in breast cancer survivors undergoing HRT are unreliable. There are two main types of research studies qualitative and quantitative. Each type is used to answer different research questions. Dr Col, from Brown Medical School, USA, and colleagues found that all of the qualitative studi...Women rising to the challenge of weightlessness
...ncidence of headaches than in a group of women not undergoing bedrest. That is not to say, however, that there are no effects arising from simulated weightlessness, as Elisabeth points out: "I feel fine, except for the fact that from time to time I forget I've got legs. You are not aware of losing muscle mass ...Obesity is risk factor for aggressive prostate cancer
...ht to height ratio and prostate cancer in 787 men undergoing biopsy due to an elevated tumor marker in the blood or an abnormal physical exam at a Veterans Affairs hospital in California between 1998 and 2002. It indicated that obesity increases the risk of prostate cancer, particularly in young men, as well a...Patients' favorite music during surgery lessens need for sedative
...s intraoperative sedative requirements in patients undergoing surgical procedures under anesthesia. He wanted to know if the decrease resulted from listening to music or eliminating operating room noise The study included 36 patients at Yale-New Haven Hospital and 54 patients at the American University of Beir...Increase in heart surgery mortality from SSRIs or depression?
...tive serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRI) prior to undergoing coronary artery bypass surgery have significantly higher death and rehospitalization rates up to five years after the procedure than patients who were not on SSRIs. The researchers said that, based on the results of their analysis of more than 4,700 ...Fluorescence device to diagnose atherosclerosis and tumors described at optics conference
.... In a study of plaques collected from 34 patients undergoing surgical removal of carotid plaque, with 150 plaque areas analyzed, the TR-LIFS technique has been able to distinguish plaque found in inflamed areas from more stable plaque with a high degree of sensitivity and specificity. Experiments are now bein...Mayo Clinic Proceedings studies risk factors for blood clots
...on between the duration of anesthesia for patients undergoing hip or knee replacement surgery and blood clots in the veins after surgery. Analysis of the patient data suggests a threshold of anesthesia duration that increased the odds of a patient having blood clots in the veins. The information indicates that ...New information on reproductive health in St Petersburg
...th, family life and sexuality in St Petersburg are undergoing a change. The nuclear family model with parents and children is becoming an ever more widespread model, even though families that have been extended with relatives are still common. Russian women normally give birth to one child, even if two childre...Diabetes, hypertension and obesity negatively effect joint replacement outcomes
...predictors of increased complications for patients undergoing major joint replacement surgery," said the study's...sis. " Specifically, in their analysis of patients undergoing hip, knee or shoulder replacement surgery, the researchers found that 3.7 percent of obese patients ...Greater risk of death for cardiac surgery patients with long ICU stay
...is needed of the preoperative health of candidates undergoing certain cardiac procedures. Those with poor organ function before surgery will require longer ICU stay and puts them at greater risk of death after surgery....OHSU researchers uncover cause, possible treatment for abdominal fat in postmenopausal women
...ers treated seven postmenopausal women not already undergoing hormone replacement therapy with a synthetic form of estrogen. After one month of therapy, these women, who all previously had heightened cortisol levels, witnessed decreased cortisol at levels close to that of premenopausal women. The findings als...UVa Health System doctors study surgery to stop epileptic seizures
...ay." Today, though, Hillyard is seizure-free after undergoing epilepsy surgery at the University of Virginia Health System in 2002. "It's allowed me to have my life back," she said. To see if Hillyard's experience will benefit others, neurologists and neurosurgeons at UVa are participating in a multicente...One-a-day tablet treats common infection among head and neck cancer patients
...curring infection in head and neck cancer patients undergoing radiation therapy, scientists report today at the 2nd ESMO Scientific & Educational Conference (ESEC) in Budapest, Hungary. Dr. Rene-Jean Bensadoun from Centre Antoine Lacassagne in Nice, and international colleagues, studied patients in 36 centers w...