The Surgeon

Nymox Pharma has developed a new drug to more effectively treat prostate enlargement, a common and troublesome affliction of men in mid to later age

An American man who suffered from AIDS appears to have been cured of the disease 20 months after receiving a targeted bone marrow transplant normally used to fight leukemia, his doctors said.

The middle school years can be tough. It’s a time of change and sometimes a little awkwardness. So imagine going through those years with a condition that causes your hands or arm pits to sweat so badly that you avoid social situations. It’s called hyperhidrosis, and doctors at Mayo Clinic say a minimally invasive outpatient surgery can stop the sweating.

Scientists at Sunnybrook Research Institute (SRI) are developing and commercializing a promising novel therapy for the treatment of prostate cancer that may offer patients a faster and more precise treatment than existing clinical alternatives, with fewer side effects.
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Tumors have a unique vulnerability that can be exploited to make them more sensitive to heat and radiation, researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis report.

The Washington University radiation oncology researchers found that tumors have a built-in mechanism that protects them from heat (hyperthermia) damage and most likely decreases the benefit of hyperthermia and radiation as a combined therapy.
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Surgical management of symptomatic uterine fibroids can be accomplished cost-effectively with magnetic resonance-guided focused ultrasound surgery (MRgFUS), Canadian and British investigators report in the March issue of the British Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology.





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A new type of bariatric surgery may eliminate the need for medication in patients with type 2 diabetes, according to a study reported here at the Society of American Gastrointestinal and Endoscopic Surgeons 2008 Annual Scientific Session and Postgraduate Course.
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A revolutionary cancer treatment using microscopic magnets to enable ‘armed’ human cells to target tumours has been developed by researchers funded by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC). Research published online today in the journal, Gene Therapy, shows that inserting these nanomagnets into cells carrying genes to fight tumours, results in many more cells successfully reaching and invading malignant tumours. (more…)

The removal through endoscopy of tumours that affect only the superficial layers of the oesophagus can avoid complete extirpation of this part of the digestive tract. The technique, carried out at the University Hospital of Navarra for the last three years, was presented at the VI International Course on Therapeutic Endoscopy in the Digestive System, organized by the Digestive System Service at this hospital. Specifically, more than 90% of patients treated for this ailment at the University Hospital of Navarra have not needed the extirpation of the oesophagus.
400 specialists from ten different countries attended the course, focusing on the therapeutic possibilities of endoscopy in the digestive system. Treatment using digestive endoscopy, without having to carry out surgery, is increasing. These applications are less aggressive than surgical operations and are undertaken at out-patient clinics in about 99% of the cases, which usually enables the patient to go home after the walk-in/walk-out treatment, explained Doctor Miguel Ángel Muñoz Navas, Director of the Digestive System Service at the University Hospital of Navarra.
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