http://medicalxpress.com/ en-us Medical Xpress internet news portal provides the latest news on Health and Medicine. Elderly patients who receive anesthesia are no more likely to develop long-term dementia or Alzheimer's disease than other seniors, according to new Mayo Clinic research. The study analyzed thousands of patients using the Rochester Epidemiology Project—which allows researchers access to medical records of nearly all residents of Olmsted County, Minn.—and found that receiving general anesthesia for procedures after age 45 is not a risk factor for developing dementia. The findings were published Wednesday, May 1, online in Mayo Clinic Proceedings. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-04-link-anesthesia-dementia-elderly.html Alzheimer's disease & dementia Wed, 01 May 2013 00:10:01 EST news286564133 A life-threatening condition that often requires transplantation and accounts for half of all acute liver failures, autoimmune hepatitis is often precipitated by certain anesthetics and antibiotics. Researchers say these drugs contain tiny molecules called haptens that ever so slightly change normal liver proteins, causing the body to mistake its own liver cells for foreign invaders and to attack them. The phenomenon disproportionately occurs in women, even when they take the same drugs at the same doses as men. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-04-estrogen-fuels-autoimmune-liver.html Medical research Tue, 30 Apr 2013 13:48:32 EST news286548506 Since the mid-1800s, doctors have used drugs to induce general anesthesia in patients undergoing surgery. Despite their widespread use, little is known about how these drugs create such a profound loss of consciousness. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-03-brain-regains-consciousness-video.html Neuroscience Mon, 04 Mar 2013 16:40:24 EST news281637617 Up to one-third of patients undergoing surgery in Ontario have a treatable form of anemia but are not optimally treated for it. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-01-anemia.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Thu, 24 Jan 2013 15:44:01 EST news278264633 (Medical Xpress)—With demand for unresolved back pain relief growing as the U.S. population ages, Rush University Medical Center is doing more minimally invasive spine surgery procedures that allow patients to return to normal, day-to-day activities faster than if they undergo conventional surgery. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-01-minimally-invasive-spine-surgery-real-time.html Surgery Tue, 15 Jan 2013 08:30:01 EST news277460037 When patients are put under anesthesia, they are often told they will be "put to sleep," and now it appears that in some ways that's exactly what the drugs do to the brain. New evidence in mice reported online on October 25 in Current Biology, a Cell Press publication, shows that the drugs don't just turn wakefulness "off," they also force important sleep circuits in the brain "on." http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-10-anesthesia-drugs.html Medications Thu, 25 Oct 2012 15:28:38 EST news270397685 (HealthDay) -- It seems there's virtually no end to the power and stamina of Olympic athletes, which is due in part to the detailed guidance they get from experts about the right amount and type of food they need. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-07-olympic-athletes.html Health Fri, 27 Jul 2012 15:22:19 EST news262621249 A surgical technology called Firefly is shedding new light on kidney cancers and helping doctors at MedStar Georgetown University Hospital remove tumors more safely and more efficiently while sparing the rest of the healthy kidney. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-06-firefly-technology-precise-kidney-surgery.html Surgery Tue, 05 Jun 2012 16:09:58 EST news258131302 It's Sunday lunchtime in Las Vegas and Justin looks like he wants to curl up and die. He has a monster hangover after drinking for two days solid. But help, he hopes, is at hand. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-04-vegas-monster-hangovers.html Other Tue, 24 Apr 2012 04:00:02 EST news254457606 The Texas Medical Board on Friday approved new rules on experimental stem cell therapies such as the one Gov. Rick Perry underwent during back surgery last year, despite objections they don't do enough to protect patients and could led to an explosion of doctors promoting unproven, expensive treatments. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-04-texas-oks-experimental-stem-cell.html Health Fri, 13 Apr 2012 16:10:02 EST news253552163 The cost to place an implantable cardioverter-defibrillator (ICD) increased by $844 per case after a new requirement from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) went into effect in February 2010, according to research presented today at the American College of Cardiology's 61st Annual Scientific Session. The Scientific Session, the premier cardiovascular medical meeting, brings cardiovascular professionals together to further advances in the field. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-03-medicaremedicaid-patient-outcomes-defibrillator-implants.html Cardiology Mon, 26 Mar 2012 10:14:13 EST news251975647 Between 2003 and 2009, the use of anesthesia services to provide sedation during endoscopies and colonoscopies increased substantially, according to a study in the March 21 issue of JAMA. The authors also found that most of the gastroenterology anesthesia use was for low-risk patients, and that there was considerable regional variation in use. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-03-anesthesiologists-sedation-endoscopies-colonoscopies.html Other Tue, 20 Mar 2012 16:28:30 EST news251479689 Mayo Clinic researchers have found that multiple exposures to anesthesia at a young age are associated with higher rates of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-02-young-children-exposed-anesthesia-multiple.html Attention deficit disorders Thu, 02 Feb 2012 03:31:05 EST news247375836 Hospitals vary greatly in the number of patients who see an internal medicine specialist before major non-cardiac surgery, with rates ranging from five per cent of patients to 90 per cent, new research has found. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-12-pre-surgery-exam-vary-widely-hospitals.html Surgery Wed, 21 Dec 2011 10:42:45 EST news243686558 Aspirin taken within five days of cardiac surgery is associated with a significant decrease in the risk of major postoperative complications, including renal failure, a lengthy intensive care unit stay and even early death (30-day mortality), according to a study by researchers at Thomas Jefferson University and UC Davis Medical Center set to appear in the journal Annals of Surgery. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-12-preoperative-aspirin-therapy-benefit-cardiac.html Surgery Mon, 05 Dec 2011 13:46:40 EST news242315182 A new study has found no evidence that patients who had a heart ultrasound known as an echocardiogram before major surgery had improved survival rates one month or one year after their operation. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-08-heart-ultrasound-elective-surgery.html Other Thu, 18 Aug 2011 10:29:38 EST news232882138 (Medical Xpress) -- No cancer surgery is easy, but the two operations David Bieszke underwent at Loyola University Hospital to remove an aggressive, 10-inch tumor were especially challenging. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-07-team-large-aggressive-tumors.html Cancer Tue, 26 Jul 2011 09:17:08 EST news230890616 A thalidomide analog is shaping up as a safe, worthy opponent of sickle cell disease, Georgia Health Sciences University researchers report. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-07-thalidomide-analog-worthy-opponent-sickle.html Medical research Mon, 18 Jul 2011 11:41:56 EST news230208105 A new study by researchers at Hospital for Special Surgery has identified patients who are at a higher risk of morbidity and mortality when undergoing knee replacement surgery in both legs at the same time. The study found that patients who have a history of significant medical problems, especially congestive heart failure or pulmonary hypertension, are at increased risk for major complications. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-07-patients-bilateral-knee-surgery.html Other Thu, 14 Jul 2011 09:58:01 EST news229856262 Researchers have discovered that obese adults undergoing surgery are less frequently developing respiratory insufficiency (RI) and adult respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), and that when they do, they are less likely to have fatal outcomes. The researchers say they have several theories of how obesity protects patients from mortality associated with RI/ARDS, and pinpointing the protective mechanism could help them develop interventions to help non-obese patients avoid adverse outcomes. The finding comes from a study published online ahead of print in the Journal of Intensive Care Medicine. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-07-obese-patients-die-respiratory-distress.html Health Mon, 11 Jul 2011 04:16:22 EST news229576568 Today, one in four or five women in Ontario will give birth through a cesarean or "C-section." A new study, led by researchers from St. Michael's Hospital and The Wilson Centre for Research in Education and the Department of Anesthesia, University of Toronto, has found that many labour and delivery health professionals lack a clear understanding of the anesthesiologist's role as a physician with specialized skills in the management of seriously unwell pregnant patients. This role misperception may affect the quality of care delivered to mothers and their babies. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-05-poor-anesthesiologist-role-labor-affect.html Other Fri, 20 May 2011 11:19:40 EST news225109166 A UC Irvine anesthesiologist will use a $3.2 million National Institutes of Health grant to launch a research effort aimed at lessening the anxiety and pain children feel before and after surgery. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-04-uci-anesthesiologist-alleviating-surgical-anxiety.html Other Thu, 21 Apr 2011 12:54:05 EST news222609233