New research based on a study at Bradford Teaching Hospitals, shows that hospital inpatients are, on average, likely to miss out on almost 10% of their medication doses. The study, will be presented at the Royal Pharmaceutical Society’s annual conference 5-6th September. Overall, 9.7% of prescribed medicines were omitted. However, this could be explained by a variety of reasons, including ‘nil by mouth’ policies after surgery, specific advice from a health professional to withhold doses and very often, patients themselves refusing to take medication…

DePuy Orthopaedics, Inc., announced it is voluntarily recalling the ASR™ XL Acetabular System and DePuy ASR™ Hip Resurfacing System used in hip replacement surgery due to the number of patients who required a second hip replacement procedure, called a revision surgery. The majority of ASR hip replacement surgeries have been successful. However, the company is advising patients with an ASR device to visit their surgeons for evaluation of their implant performance…

WPAT(Jackson, Miss.): “Finding quality health care continues to be a challenge in the New Orleans area. Five years ago, Hurricane Katrina flooded area hospitals, destroyed buildings and scattered patients. The health care industry has been slow to recover and in some cases, facilities still haven’t opened. … Right now, there is no hospital in New Orleans East. They all closed after Hurricane Katrina. Recently, Mayor Mitch Landrieu announced a deal that would reopen Methodist Hospital, which will have 80 beds and emergency care services for surgery…

OmniGuide® Inc, pioneer of the world’s most precise flexible surgical scalpel for minimally invasive surgery, recently celebrated its 10-year anniversary. Since its inception OmniGuide has introduced a new vision for fibers that guide light by virtue of a hollow core photonic bandgap structure. What initially began as an ambitious R&D effort, later culminated in the development of a unique manufacturing process for multimaterial fibers that has transformed the vision into a commercial reality…

15% of patients experience more pain, physical and emotional problems a year after surgery than before their operation and 24% have less vitality, according to a study of over 400 patients published online by the British Journal of Surgery. Twelve months after their operation 17% also reported greater pain, 14% said their functional abilities had reduced and 16% had poorer mental health. The results can be partly explained by physical and psychological factors, such as acute postoperative pain in the first four days after surgery and presurgical anxiety…

Kinetic Concepts, Inc. (NYSE: KCI) announced the U.S. launch of the Prevena™ Incision Management System, the latest addition to KCI’s negative pressure technology platform. The Prevena™ System leverages the clinically proven effectiveness of negative pressure wound therapy that KCI pioneered with the V.A.C.® Therapy System, which has been used to treat millions of complex open wounds since its introduction. The Prevena™ System is expected to be used most often for linear incisions associated with general surgery, OB/GYN, orthopedic and cardiothoracic incisions…

The 2010 Annual Meeting & OTO EXPO of the American Academy of Otolaryngology - Head and Neck Surgery Foundation (AAO-HNSF), the largest meeting of ear, nose, and throat doctors in the world, will convene September 26-29, 2010, in Boston, MA. Featuring more than 305 scientific research sessions, 594 posters, and several hundred instruction course hours for attendees, the annual meeting is a unique opportunity for journalists from around the world to cover breaking science and medical news…

Burton Medical, Inc., the leader in examination and minor surgery lighting equipment, introduces the Burton LE-35 to deliver superior illumination, improved reach, and better range of mobility in an affordable task light. The 35-watt LE-35 provides two to five times more bright white illuminance than similar lights in its class, improving efficacy and visibility. This task light provides illuminance of 30,000 lux at 18 inches. The LE-35 has a color-rendering index of 97 and a color temperature of 2900K with a rated average life of 4,000 hours…

University of Alberta researcher Margie McNeely says results from an international study she was part of indicates certain precautions about the risk of lymphedema for breast cancer survivors are outdated. McNeely, from the Faculty of Rehabilitation Medicine, says women who’ve had breast cancer surgery are often warned that pressure changes in an airplane cabin could trigger lymphedema, chronic swelling in the arm. But the study she did with an Australian research team showed that only five per cent of these women are likely at risk of developing any arm swelling when flying…

Are there too many stem cell research journals? This question has been posed by Drs. Paul Sanberg and Cesar Borlongan of the Department of Neurosurgery and Brain Repair at the University of South Florida. Their article appears in the current issue of Stem Cell Reviews and Reports. Both Sanberg and Borlongan are concerned about the quality of the science being published in the proliferating stem cell journals..