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Data from the U.S. show that approximately 20% of the population smoke cigarettes, and the same percentage is present among patients who have to undergo surgery in general. The data concerning Italy (DOXA survey in the first three months of 2005) speak of a smoking rate of 21% among people aged [...]
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Parathyroidectomy surgery can be performed under cervical anesthesia with no hospitalization for the patient, through a minimally invasive procedure. With this report by the Yale University, a surgeon has presented his experience in 613 parathyroidectomies performed before 1998 and 1,037 surgeries [...]
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It is well known that smokers present higher postoperative risks than non-smokers (a delay in cicatrization time, pulmonary complications, an increase in overall mortality), but we do not know yet which advantage smoke cessation can practically imply in case of surgeries. On the contrary, some [...]
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Various strategies have been used to try limiting at the utmost post-operative infections (use of antibiotics before the intervention with different timings, keeping of normal body temperature, hair cutting and then shaving), but some problems still remain to be discussed, like the choice of the [...]
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Even if the thrombotic risk is certain for patients undergoing surgery, the extent of this risk and the causes are not at all clear, so some researchers at the English “National Health Service” have connected data on admissions and deaths in a hospital with the information taken from the Million [...]
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At present, the surgical approach is the only possible choice for Dupuytren’s disease, but FDA is evaluating the proposal of a therapy based on collagenase derived from Clostridium Histolyticum, injected in the local site. With a trial sponsored by pharmaceutical industry, 308 patients with [...]
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The two most used techniques in bariatric surgery (obesity surgery) are the gastric banding (the banding of the first part of the stomach through silicone bandages), a technique prevalently used in Europe, and Roux-en-Y bypass (surgical intervention to connect esophagus to duodenum), a technique [...]
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For thromboembolic prevention, the use of low-molecular-weight heparin (LMWH) is widely used in surgery, but there is no evidence yet justifying its use after arthroscopic procedures: some Italian researchers have then randomized 1761 patients undergoing knee arthroscopy to wear gradual compression [...]
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A more and more spread problem in US hospitals is represented by Clostridium Difficile infections, whose onset can be put into relation with a not always justified use of peri-operative antibiotics. In order to verify this relation, the risk of this infection has been retrospectively analyzed among [...]
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It is still a controversial subject if the interruption of the anticoagulation therapy before surgery is opportune and free from risks: some researchers have then performed this prospective cohort trial in order to verify the onset of thromboembolisms and hemorrhages within 30 days from warfarin [...]