| A High-Tech Way To Help Wounds Heal Fuels KCI's Profit Growth
Before there was biotech, genome mapping, surgery or even drugs, there was wound care. Even dogs and cats instinctively clean their injuries to prevent infection. Yet this most ancient form of medicine can still get high-tech upgrades. Kinetic Concepts (NYSE:KCI - News) is one company that shows what a long way we've come since the Pleistocene. .
Obesity center at St. Mark's is honored
The St. Mark's Hospital's Center for the Surgical Treatment of Obesity celebrated Thursday after being designated as a Center of Excellence by the American Society for Bariatric Surgery (ASBS). Regence Blue Cross Blue Shield Association also honored the St. Mark's Center as a Blue Distinction Center for Bariatic Surgery. This is the first hospital in Utah to receive this title. To achieve the rank of excellence from the ASBS the center passed a series of site inspections in which surgical processes were closely observed and data on patient results were collected. The hospital received its distinction from the Blue Cross Blue Shield by meeting a quality criteria set up by expert physician panels. Living up to the high standard has given St. Mark's better patient results and consistency in care "as well as greater value to members of the Blue Shield health care plan," according to a news release.
Seth Roberts: Shangri-La Diet Phenomenology
You can simulate loss of smell by closing your nose with swimmer's nose clips ($4) when eating and many SLD dieters have done just that. As far as I can tell, it works. By what factor is that easier, cheaper, faster, and safer than bariatric surgery? One million? 2. Kris from South Carolina wrote me: I have an interesting side effect of the SLD diet: I have not peeled from sunburn. I have been using the extra light olive oil. I have light skin and usually peel even after a minor sunburn. It has not happened since I have been taking the oil. I tested it last week at the beach. Several hours on the beach with no sunscreen. I got a little red but after a week-no peeling. I've also lost 25 lbs in a couple of months. 3. A fascinating thread in the Shangri-La Diet forums about unexpected reactions to weight loss: As I've lost a significant amount of weight and really started looking different, I've started noticing more .
Surgeon has made himself 'judgment proof,' lawyer says
Driving a car is enough of a risk that Ohio requires its motorists to carry liability insurance on their vehicles. But that same reasoning doesn't apply to another life-and-death endeavor — the practice of medicine. There's no law requiring physicians to carry professional liability insurance. .
Breast feeding session set
Women's Health Boutique will host Jan McKnight, nurse and lactation consultant with Longview Regional Medical Center, from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Wednesday at 510 E. Loop 281. The free session is titled "Babies Were Born to be Breast Fed." Reservations may be made by calling (903) 758-9904. The session will provide educational information to help educate mothers about breast feeding. Athletic injuries focus of free clinics Good Shepherd Sports Medicine will host free athletic injury clinics from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. every Saturday, Aug. 25 to Nov. 10, at Good Shepherd Physical Therapy and Sports Medicine located at 103 W. Loop 281, Suite 800. Good Shepherd Sports Medicine provides licensed athletic trainers and other professionally trained staff to keep area athletes on the playing field and in condition, clinic officials said.
Exercise Essential Before Gastric Bypass, Says Pacific Bariatric Surgical Medical Group
New studies have confirmed that even small to moderate amounts of exercise could help overweight and obese women improve their overall health. This research comes as no surprise to physicians, who have long ascribed to the idea that even minimal activity is better than none at all. .
Tips on gallstone disease
Gallstones are one of the most common gastrointestinal (GI) problems, especially for women. Women between the ages of 20 and 60 years are three times more likely to develop gallstones than men. Gallstones are solid clumps of cholesterol or pigment material that form in the gallbladder, and can range in size from a single grain of sand up to the size of a ping-pong ball. Risk factors for the development of gallstones include:
1. Female gender
2. Multiple pregnancies
3. Age over 60
4. Obesity
5. Rapid weight loss (especially after weight loss (bariatric) surgery)
6. Diabetes
Some common symptoms of symptomatic gallstones include:
1. Severe pain in the upper stomach
2. Pain under the shoulder or in the right shoulder blade
3.
Bariatric Surgery Patients At 5-Star Hospitals Have 64 Percent Fewer Complications Compared To Those At 1-Star ...
Bariatric surgery patients had 64 percent fewer complications and a 26 percent shorter hospital stay if they went to a five-star rated hospital compared with a one-star rated hospital, according to a new study released by HealthGrades, the healthcare ratings company. The study of bariatric surgery outcomes at hospitals in 19 states over the years 2003 to 2005 also found that five-star rated hospitals -- those with better-than-average patient outcomes -- performed about twice the number of procedures compared with hospitals that rated poorly.
A clear trend away from traditional, more invasive gastric bypass to a less invasive laparoscopic procedure was also found in the study, according to the second annual HealthGrades Bariatric Surgery Trends in American Hospitals. Over 70 percent of the surgeries done in 2005 were laparoscopic, which are associated with fewer inhospital complications than traditional gastric bypass.
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