Surgery/Specialties Editor's Note A statistically significant association was found between type 2 diabetes and the risk of hip fracture in this study. Researchers analyzed 158,984 patients with and without diabetes. The incidence of hip fracture in diabetics was 2.3% using the competing risk with death methodology (Fine-Gray models) and 2.6% using…
Editor's Note Surgeons at the Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, completed the first successful penis transplantation in the US in a patient who had a subtotal penectomy for penile cancer. Operative reinterventions were needed on postoperative days 2 and 3 for hematoma evacuation and skin eschar debridement. At 3 weeks, no…
Editor's Note In this study, non-elective surgical procedures performed by older surgeons (aged 50 and up) had lower mortality rates than those performed by younger surgeons, and mortality rates did not differ significantly by surgeon gender. A total of 892,187 Medicare patients who had one of 20 common types of…
Editor's Note The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on April 25 issued a Safety Alert that provides preliminary information concerning magnetic resonance (MR) thermometry reliability with MR-guided laser interstitial thermal therapy (MRgLITT) devices. The FDA is evaluating data that suggests potentially inaccurate MR thermometry information can be displayed during treatment,…
Editor's Note This study from the Mayo Clinic of children undergoing general anesthesia before age 3 supports earlier findings of no significant impact on intelligence. However, multiple exposures may be tied to behavioral or learning difficulties. In this analysis of 997 children (411 unexposed, 380 singly exposed, 206 multiply exposed)…
Editor's Note In this study, a significant mismatch was found between parents’ and pediatric surgeons’ expectations on the role of the surgeon on the day of surgery, with parents expecting more direct involvement by the attending surgeon. A total of 110 parents and 84 pediatric surgeons and surgical residents completed…
Editor's Note No difference was found in the effect of perioperative ß-blockade (metoprolol continuous release 200 mg for 30 days) versus placebo on postoperative outcomes between older and younger patients in this study (POISE [perioperative ischemia evaluation] trial). In this analysis of 8,351 patients from 190 centers in 23 countries,…
Editor's Note In this study, 30-day complications rates increased after the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) warned against the use of power morcellation in women undergoing hysterectomy for benign gynecologic indications. In a cohort of 75,487 women who had hysterectomies, statistically and clinically significant increases in major (1.9% to 2.4%)…
Editor's Note Spinal anesthesia was associated with lower mortality and morbidity rates after hip fracture repair than general anesthesia in this study that will be presented Saturday April 19 at the 2018 World Congress on Regional Anesthesia & Pain Medicine in New York City. In this analysis of 2,591 patients,…
Editor's Note Patients at Porter Adventist Hospital in Denver may be at risk for HIV or hepatitis after the hospital discovered a surgical instrument sterilization breach, the April 5 LiveScience reports. The process for precleaning surgical instruments was found to be inadequate, which may have put patients who had orthopedic…
