Archives - Nov. 4, 2008

Cone-beam CT which is believed to deliver less radiation than MDCT is just as useful when evaluating patients before and after percutaneous vertebroplasty according to a study performed at the Department of Clinical Radiology, Kyushu University, Fukoka, Japan. Percutaneous vertebroplasty is a minimally invasive cement augmentation technique to relieve pain in the back that is non-responsive to conservative treatment.

Hip resurfacing is often seen as a modern alternative to the more conventional total hip replacement, but new data from a study led by Rush University Medical Center suggest that a patient's age and gender are key to the operation's success. In a review of over 500 surgeries performed in the U.S.

[Lipedema, a hardly known disease: diagnosis, associated illnesses and therapy.] Orv Hetil. 2008 Nov 9;149(45):2121-7 Authors: Wenczl E, Daróczy J Lipedema is a common but rarely diagnosed disease or frequently confused with obesity. Patients are almost exclusively women. It is characterised by symmetrical, circumscribed, in advanced form deforming fat tissue accumulation on the legs that is associated with lymphedema. Spontaneous pain, pain to pressure and tendency to hematoma are characteristic. One of the possible causes of a fat leg, that is a very common complaint, is lipedema. Main differential diagnoses are obesity, lipohypertrophy and primary and secondary lymphedema. It is often associated with chronic venous and lymphatic insufficiency, early degenerative articul...

More than half of Australia's professional AFL players consume alcohol during the end-of-season period at levels that could put them at risk of long-term harm, according to a world-first study published in the latest issue of the Medical Journal of Australia (MJA).

December 5th-7th sees the 10th Mountain Medicine and High Altitude Physiology Course, set in the dramatic scenery of Plas Y Brenin, the National Mountain Centre in Capel Curig, Gwynedd, North Wales. Run by the University of Leicester in association with Medical Expeditions, the three-day course attracts an international panel of speakers, including leading altitude physiologists and physicians from around the world.