The Surgeon

Gunther von Hagen’s Body Worlds Exposition is the Anatomical Exhibition of Real Human Bodies Through Plastination

Botox and Botox Cosmetic (Botulinum toxin Type A) and Myobloc (Botulinum toxin Type B) have been associated with undesirable side-effects, including respiratory failure, and on occasions death, says the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA). These adverse reactions can occur after treatment for a range of conditions and dosages.

Breast cancer survivors who take Tamoxifen can only take it for five years. New research shows that women can follow up with the drug, Femara, even after several years. Dr. Sean Kenniff reports.

As vascular specialists, interventional radiologists see first hand the damage that smoking causes to the arteries (10 million Americans suffer from hardening of the arteries in the legs) and the accompanying leg pain that many smokers suffer. While most people are aware of the cancer risk from smoking, health experts indicate few realize the damage it causes throughout the body’s vascular system. Smoking damages the blood vessels and smokers are at risk for all vascular diseases including peripheral vascular disease (PVD), stroke, heart attack, abdominal aortic aneurysm and subsequent death. This year during the Great American Smokeout , the Society of Interventional Radiology is urging smokers to quit.

A young man in southern China has a huge growth removed from his face. 31-year-old Huang Chuncai suffers from the world’s most extreme, recorded case of neurofibroma. As Huang’s tumour grew he lost his sight in his left eye.Eventually it became so big it damaged his hearing and made speaking very difficult.

The world’s top laser experts will gather in Kissimmee, FL, to share innovations in lasers and emerging technologies at the 28th Annual Scientific Conference of the American Society for Laser Medicine and Surgery (ASLMS). “LASER 2008” will be held on April 2-6, 2008, at the Gaylord PalmsTM Resort and Convention Center. Headlining the scientific program are acknowledged leaders in the field who will unveil the latest research developments and clinical studies in laser medicine, as well as present promising devices poised to enhance disease detection and management.

The ASLMS conference is traditionally regarded as the premier forum for the introduction of the newest breakthroughs in laser diagnostics and technology. Accordingly, some of the research and techniques presented at the meeting are only in the early stages of development. In addition to nearly 2,000 laser specialists in aesthetic medicine, dermatology, ophthalmology, oncology, urology, gynecology and dentistry, about 160 industry exhibitors will be on hand to showcase their latest products.
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A new study reveals that mobile phones (cell phones) may eventually be responsible for more human deaths than smoking or asbestos. Dr. Vini Khurana, an award-winning cancer expert (14 awards) from Australia, has published some grim study results. Khurana added that government and mobile phone companies should do whatever they can to immediately reduce people’s exposure to radiation.
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Patients with breast cancer who developed anemia during chemotherapy had nearly three times the risk of local recurrence as those who did not, according to a study published in the April 1 issue of Clinical Cancer Research¸ a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research.

“We speculate that there may be an interaction between chemotherapy/radiotherapy and anemia,” said lead researcher Peter Dubsky, MD, a senior consultant in the department of surgery at the Medical University of Vienna, Austria. “Both treatment modalities have been shown to be less effective in anemic patients. Since we do not see the effect in terms of relapse-free survival, the interaction with local adjuvant treatment may play a more important role.”
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In a new collaborative study, the BC Cancer Agency, an agency of the Provincial Health Services Authority (PHSA), is trying to determine if a test for Human Papilloma Virus (HPV) can replace the standard Pap test as the primary method of cervical cancer screening, allowing women to be screened more effectively and less frequently.

The HPV FOCAL Study – the first long term and largest study of its kind in North America is conducted in collaboration with another PHSA agency, the BC Centre for Disease Control, as well as the UBC Department of Family Medicine and the Faculty of Medicine, McGill University department of Epidemiology, and about 100 family doctors in Greater Vancouver.
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Management of ingested foreign bodies is a common clinical encounter. Complications of this pathology are dependent on a patient’s age, the nature and localization of the foreign body, the presence of a perforation, and initial management procedures.

Dr. Christian Righini from the University Medical Center of Grenoble advocates the use of the rigid endoscope which is placed just above the proximal tip of the foreign body where it dilates the esophageal lumen to the extent that the impacted foreign body is movable.
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