http://medicalxpress.com/ en-us Medical Xpress internet news portal provides the latest news on Health and Medicine. When a biologic aortic valve prosthesis fails, the patient often faces a high risk valve replacement through repeat open heart surgery. A new technique, known as Valve-in-Valve, uses minimally invasive techniques to introduce a collapsible aortic heart valve into the damaged valve in order to restore function. This procedure avoids the need to open the chest or use cardiopulmonary bypass (heart-lung machine), according to Leo Ihlberg, MD, PhD, a cardiothoracic surgeon at the Heart and Lung Center of Helsinki University Hospital, Finland, who will be presenting the results of a new study at the 93rd AATS Annual Meeting in Minneapolis on May 6, 2013. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-05-minimally-invasive-biological-aortic-valve-successful.html Cardiology Mon, 06 May 2013 12:00:04 EST news287057200 Using adult stem cells is a good way of culturing better-quality cartilage to repair worn hips and knees. New cartilage that has good properties can be grown in particular by cultivating adult stem cells in combination with a small quantity of cells from the patient's own cartilage. In the long run this increases the likelihood of a cartilage implant being successful, provided it is carried out in time. These are the findings put forward by PhD student Nicole Georgi, who did her research at the University of Twente's MIRA Institute for Biomechanical Technology and Technical Medicine. She is to receive her PhD on March 22. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-03-cartilage-stem-cells.html Medical research Thu, 21 Mar 2013 08:06:27 EST news283071954 Anatomic differences between male and female knees have resulted in the creation and regular use of gender-specific implants. However, a new study presented today at the 2013 Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (AAOS) finds that a specialized prosthesis may not improve overall outcomes in female total knee replacement (TKR) patients. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-03-knee-implants-specifically-female-patients.html Surgery Thu, 21 Mar 2013 01:20:02 EST news283024652 Infections, as the news has shown time and again, can be deadly. Periprothesthetic joint infection (PJI) is the infection of grave concern to the orthopedic community, especially in its growingly common antibiotic-resistant form. This all-too-common infection can be found deep inside the joint prosthesis following joint replacement surgery. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-03-optimal-esr-crp-cut-off-values.html Surgery Thu, 21 Mar 2013 01:00:01 EST news283024687 Replacement of prostheses is unpleasant to the patient and expensive to society. Replacement of failed hip prostheses gives rise to an expenditure of about 10 million euros yearly in Finland. A usual reason for the need to change a prosthesis is its becoming detached from bone. A recent doctoral dissertation at Aalto University has come across several methods with which the adhesion of implants to bone can be improved. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-03-methods-implant-bone.html Medical research Wed, 13 Mar 2013 08:10:04 EST news282379339 For the first time an operation has been conducted, at Sahlgrenska University Hospital, where electrodes have been permanently implanted in nerves and muscles of an amputee to directly control an arm prosthesis. The result allows natural control of an advanced robotic prosthesis, similarly to the motions of a natural limb. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-02-world-premiere-muscle-nerve-controlled-arm.html Medical research Fri, 22 Feb 2013 09:04:26 EST news280746248 For an amputee, replacing a missing limb with a functional prosthetic can alleviate physical or emotional distress and mean a return of vocational ability or cosmetics. Studies show, however, that up to 50 percent of hand amputees still do not use their prosthesis regularly due to less than ideal functionality, appearance, and controllability. But Silvestro Micera, of the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) in Switzerland, is paving the way for new, smart prosthetics that connect directly to the nervous system. The benefits are more versatile prosthetics with intuitive motor control and realistic sensory feedback—in essence, they could one day return dexterity and the sensation of touch to an amputee. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-02-quest-bionic.html Medical research Mon, 18 Feb 2013 03:38:15 EST news280381078 Pentagon-backed scientists on Monday announced they had created a robot hand that was the most advanced brain-controlled prosthetic limb ever made. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-12-mind-controlled-paralysed.html Neuroscience Mon, 17 Dec 2012 05:13:41 EST news274943613 A team of researchers at the University Department of Orthopaedics at the MedUni Vienna / Vienna General Hospital has for the first time investigated the durability of Zweymüller hip prostheses, which were developed at the end of the 1970s, over a period of 20 years. The result: the stem of the endoprosthesis, which was named after the Professor of Orthopaedics at the Vienna General Hospital and developed over 30 years ago, lasts for at least 20 years. "This shows that the fear over hip prostheses is unfounded. It is better to live with a prosthesis and without pain than to live without one and be in pain," says Reinhard Windhager, Head of Orthopaedics at the MedUni Vienna / Vienna General Hospital. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-12-news-hip-surgeries-prosthesis-years.html Surgery Mon, 03 Dec 2012 09:00:10 EST news273746046 The world's first implantable robotic arm controlled by thoughts is being developed by Chalmers researcher Max Ortiz Catalan. The first operations on patients will take place this winter. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-11-thought-controlled-prosthesis-amputees.html Medical research Wed, 28 Nov 2012 09:59:00 EST news273319125 The suffering caused by the loss of a nose must be indescribable. In terms of function, a sense of smell is perhaps less important than the ability to see, hear and eat - and we can breathe through our mouth or nasal cavity. But somehow, a missing nose elicits a more profound sense of shock in other people than the sight of an eye patch. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-11-3d-nose.html Other Thu, 08 Nov 2012 06:50:01 EST news271578304 Patients who have lost their voice box through disease such as throat cancer may be able to speak immediately after a procedure to create a small opening at the throat. A novel system developed through an Engineering-in-Medicine project led by Dr Chui Chee Kiong, NUS Department of Mechanical Engineering, and Dr David Lau, Consultant Ear, Nose & Throat (ENT) Surgeon at Raffles Hospital, cuts down a two-week duration before patients can speak, to about 10 minutes after the initial procedure. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-10-one-step-voice-throat-cancer-patients.html Surgery Mon, 08 Oct 2012 12:50:28 EST news268919408 On Friday September 28, a U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Ophthalmic Devices Advisory Panel unanimously voted 19-0 that the probable benefit of the Argus II Retinal Prosthesis System outweighs the risks to health, an important step toward the FDA market approval of this product manufactured by Second Sight Medical Products, Inc. In making this determination, the panel spent ten hours carefully reviewing and discussing data submitted from the international clinical trial of this innovative retinal implant that, for the first time ever, partially restores vision to patients who are blind due to Retinitis Pigmentosa (RP). http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-10-fda-sight-ii-retinal-prosthesis.html Ophthalmology Wed, 03 Oct 2012 04:03:12 EST news268455784 The development of body-powered prosthetic hands has stagnated for over twenty years. That is the main conclusion of a study by researchers from TU Delft and the University of Groningen into this type of prosthesis, which is published in the American Journal of Rehabilitation Research and Development. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-06-prosthetic-stagnated-years.html Other Tue, 12 Jun 2012 11:04:18 EST news258717836 Surgeons can now, thanks to bionic reconstructions, change the anatomy of patients so that high-tech prostheses can now replace the lost function of limbs very effectively. The control of these prostheses, which is currently linear, may soon be improved even further: with pattern recognition. In collaboration with Ottobock, this method is currently being tested and developed at the Christian Doppler Laboratory for the Restoration of Extremity Functions, which is being opened today (8th May) and which is being headed up by Oskar Aszmann from the Department of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery at the University Department of Surgery at the MedUni Vienna, part of Vienna General Hospital.    http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-05-hi-tech-prostheses-personalized-movement-pattern.html Surgery Tue, 08 May 2012 09:43:23 EST news255688979 (HealthDay) -- After at least 10 years of follow-up, total knee replacement using a second-generation, cemented, rotating-platform, posterior-stabilized total knee prosthesis offers excellent and durable clinical and radiologic results in active patients, according to a study published in the April 4 issue of The Journal of Bone & Joint Surgery. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-04-benefit-rotating-platform-knee-arthroplasty.html Surgery Wed, 25 Apr 2012 04:41:07 EST news254547651 An EU-funded project has developed an artificial hand that will revolutionise the lives of amputees. The so-called Smarthand has all the basic functions of its real counterpart including sensitivity and motor control. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-04-prosthetics.html Other Wed, 11 Apr 2012 07:53:45 EST news253349609 Patients who have had metal-on-metal hip replacements are no more likely to develop cancer in the first seven years after surgery than the general population, although a longer-term study is required, a study published in the British Medical Journal today claims. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-04-metal-on-metal-hip-patients-cancer.html Cancer Tue, 03 Apr 2012 18:30:02 EST news252689459 When someone loses a limb to war, accident, or disease, she can get an artificial limb that restores some of her lost movement. But even the best prosthesis doesn’t restore the sense of touch. And touch is what lets you grip an egg tightly enough that it doesn’t fall but loosely enough that you don’t smash it. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-01-life-limb.html Medical research Thu, 05 Jan 2012 09:13:27 EST news244977200 Orthopaedic surgeons face a steep learning curve to get used to new prostheses, and the instruments and methods that go with them, before new total knee replacement procedures are as safe and effective as conventional methods. Patients who undergo the first 15 operations using a new device in a hospital are 48 percent more likely to need early revision surgery, than patients undergoing an operation to fit a prosthesis previously used in the hospital. The work by Mikko Peltola from the National Institute for Health and Welfare in Finland, and colleagues, is published online in Springer's journal, Clinical Orthopaedics and Related Research. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-12-patients-knee-joint-complications-technology.html Other Wed, 14 Dec 2011 10:25:23 EST news243080715 It had taken some years for Nicole McLean to embrace her God-given breasts, ample at size H cups. So when, at 39, she was diagnosed with stage 3 breast cancer and told, despite her adamant protests, that mastectomy was the best option, McLean never hesitated to pursue reconstruction. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-09-women-reconstruction-mastectomy-options.html Other Mon, 26 Sep 2011 05:20:01 EST news236230896