News by Subject Medicine & Health

Acute Pancreatitis (AP) is one of the most common diseases around the world. Associated with a considerable risk of morbidity and even death in patients who suffer a severe form of the disease, to date there is no specific treatment for it. Now international AP experts have published a roadmap in the journal Gut (BMJ) pinpointing the two most significant thresholds in the disease that could serve as a starting point for targeting treatment strategies for this extremely painful condition.

Acknowledging that COVID-19 may be here to stay, Oregon Health & Science University has laid out a series of steps to prepare patients for elective surgery following their illness. The evaluation, outlined in a commentary published in the journal Perioperative Medicine, is believed to be the first published protocol laying out a COVID-era path forward in American medicine.

Penn Medicine researchers have successfully developed, tested, and implemented a first-of-its-kind, patient-informed questionnaire tool for ventral hernia repair surgery patients that could be broadly used to improve the way clinicians care for patients and potentially outcomes.

A Duke-led team of scientists has developed a bio-compatible surgical patch that releases non-opioid painkillers directly to the site of a wound for days and then dissolves away. The polymer patch provides a controlled release of a drug that blocks the enzyme COX-2 (cyclooxygenase-2,) which drives pain and inflammation. The study appears Jan. 10, 2021 in the Journal of Controlled Release.

In countries with a severe shortage of surgeons it is common for some operations to be done by medical staff with lower formal qualifications. Researchers at Karolinska Institutet, Sweden, have led a study on the safety and efficacy of a common surgical procedure. The study, published in JAMA Network Open, shows that inguinal hernia operations performed by associate clinicians at a Sierra Leone hospital were just as safe and effective as those performed by doctors.

This randomized clinical trial compares the effects of two antibiotic strategies (oral moxifloxacin versus intravenous ertapenem followed by oral levofloxacin) on hospital discharge without surgery and recurrent appendicitis over one year among adults presenting to the emergency department with uncomplicated acute appendicitis.