20
votes
Why aren't leg amputations done at the knee joint?
If you think about prosthetic devices, the answer will soon become clear. You would not wish to have your thigh bone extended by an extra six or eight inches (about the minimum distance that one ...
- 319
12
votes
Accepted
Videos of surgery
Top quality resources for videos will be found at sites from surgical academies, which often offer free or low-price subscriptions to students/residents/trainees:
American College of Surgeons ...
- 5,754
11
votes
Accepted
How does getting up and moving help me recover from surgery?
This is a broad question, but here are just a few major things to take into consideration after a surgical procedure. Early mobility has been shown for many years to be a major predictor of ...
- 9,384
10
votes
Why is it necessary to fast before a procedure involving anesthesia?
The purpose of fasting before a procedure involving anesthesia is to avoid aspiration of stomach contents, not anything related to drug efficacy. Your anesthesiologist/physician/dentist/nurse wants ...
- 13.3k
10
votes
Why aren't leg amputations done at the knee joint?
The bone cut must be proximal enough to perform a myodesis (anchoring the muscle through drill holes near the cut end of the bone) or myoplasty (suturing the fascia of antagonistic muscles together) ...
- 332
9
votes
Accepted
Why do surgeons wear blue aprons during surgeries?
Initially surgeons did wear white in the operating theater, but there were two large problems with this. Firstly, under the bright lights, the white reflects too much light making an inordinate amount ...
- 104
8
votes
Accepted
Heart transplant for people over the age of 65
In short, by having fewer or less serious risk factors than the other matching recipients currently on the transplant waiting list. Age is a risk factor that goes into the calculation, not a ...
- 9,694
7
votes
Accepted
Can any wound be sutured?
Not necessarily.
Here are some examples that aren't good candidates for closing with sutures:
A wound that is much wider than it is deep-- a bad road rash abrasion, for example.
A wound with ...
- 1,271
7
votes
Accepted
The Ethics of extra treatment
You're describing an unexpected intra-operative finding. The possibility of unexpected findings (and their treatment) is usually discussed during the consent for the original procedure. Of course, in ...
- 3,188
6
votes
Are there a maximum number of times for surgical ablations on patients with Atrial Fibrillation?
In 2013, a systematic review and meta-analysis (see ref in source) examined the long term outcome of catheter ablation in patient with atrial fibrillation.
They first looked at single procedure ...
- 3,194
6
votes
Accepted
Surgery of the hemorrhoid or other veins
What happens when a blood vessel is cut during surgery?
Blood vessels (not just veins, but arteries also) are transected (cut), ligated (tied off), and/or cauterized (burned closed) in just about ...
- 3,188
5
votes
Accepted
How can doctors remove a stye without damaging the eyeball?
What is a stye?
A stye is an infection of the sebaceous glands at the base of the eyelashes or the apocrine sweat glands on the margin of the eyelid. Styes are caused by the gland becoming blocked by ...
- 680
5
votes
Is there no drawback on removing varicose veins?
Removing veins impairs blood flow to that area, but since the varicose veins aren't really getting blood efficiently to their locality anyway, I wouldn't call the lack of perfusion from removing them ...
- 151
5
votes
Accepted
Are Lupus patients typically good candidates for total ankle replacements?
When you browse through Pubmed, there are two articles which provide some insights for your question:
Shah U, Mandl L, Mertelsmann-Voss C, et al. Systemic lupus erythematosus is not a risk factor for ...
- 882
5
votes
Accepted
Which medical specialist should be consulted for anus polyp?
Which medical specialist should be consulted for anal polyp?
A physician specialised in disorders of the colon, rectum and anus might be the person of choice.
This could be a proctologist (a ...
- 3,194
5
votes
Accepted
Indications for surgery for Haglund's heel?
Haglund's syndrome is defined as soft tissue and bony abnormalities in the retrocalcaneal region such as retrocalcaneal bursitis, superficial tendo Achilles bursitis, and thickening and/or ...
- 3,194
5
votes
Accepted
adequate exposure of the surgical field
It simply means visually exposing the tissues the surgeon needs to operate on. For example, if the surgeon needs to cut or suture inside one of the chambers and it's full of blood, they would be ...
- 9,694
5
votes
Accepted
Is there a common standard to assess the safety of medical procedures?
No. There is not a set standard for the safety of medical procedures. The risks of procedures varies and is balanced against the potential benefits of the procedure (which will also vary). Unlike ...
- 3,188
5
votes
Accepted
Why don't dentists use stitches after doing a tooth extraction?
It is not a black-and-white rule that no sutures are used in dental surgery. There are disadvantages to suturing, e. g.:
Clinical disadvantages of suturing: Although suturing postsurgically
has ...
- 1,161
5
votes
Doesn't Intraventricular Catheter placement damage the brain parenchyma? Is this damage significant? How is it avoided/minimised?
Insertion will cause local damage. The more carefully you look, the more there can be to find - small volume bleeding is more common than larger bleeds, and symptomatic injuries are even more unusual. ...
- 401
4
votes
Accepted
How is "histologically invasive diameter" assessed in live patients?
These patients were staged on surgery. Typically whole tumor is excised with clear margins confirmed intraoperatively. Note the measurement is diameter of the primary tumor. Nodes and mets are ...
- 3,188
4
votes
Accepted
What would a nearly-universal list of medical specialties look like
The best way to answer this would depend on your reason for making the list, which I do not know. Also, I am not sure how to create an international list, as specialties within a country are defined ...
- 5,754
4
votes
Accepted
How do neurosurgeons drill into skull without damaging the brain?
The drill is a specialised device and not a standard type of drill. It is called a trephine, which is an instrument used for cutting out a round piece of skull bone to relieve pressure beneath a ...
- 6,154
3
votes
Accepted
Are there a maximum number of times for surgical ablations on patients with Atrial Fibrillation?
This is a subject I'm very well versed in since I've had paroxysmal atrial fibrillation (PAF) and atrial flutter (AFL) for a number of years and I've undergone no fewer than five ablation procedures. ...
- 9,694
3
votes
Why do doctors use tendon instead of ligament in key-hole surgery?
Graham Chiu put it very well: "Where would you get a ligament from that isn't going to make you worse off?"
We rely on our ligaments for the structural stability of our skeleton. This supersedes the ...
3
votes
Accepted
Safe and state-of-the art method of laser vision/eyesight correction/surgery?
Brief description:
LASEK and LASIK - cut a flap in the eye, use a laser to remove material underneath to reshape the lens and correct vision. LASIK has been around for a while, so there have been a ...
- 314
3
votes
Accepted
How does gallbladder removal affects fat digestion?
The bile is produced in the liver and stored in the gallbladder. After a meal, fats trigger gallbladder contraction, which results in the release of the bile into the small intestine. The bile helps ...
- 15.8k
3
votes
Accepted
How does a late term abortion work?
8th Month is ~ 32 Weeks, pregnancy is usually ~40 weeks
Up to 15 weeks' gestation, suction-aspiration or vacuum aspiration are the most common surgical methods of induced abortion. (Healthwise, 2004) ...
- 1,094
3
votes
How does getting up and moving help me recover from surgery?
I have accepted an answer, but want to add one of my own with some more details I have observed as I go through the process (it's Day 5 today.)
First, this is something you can do to help yourself ...
- 3,829
3
votes
Techniques to avoid fainting when observing a surgery
If observing surgery might cause you to faint then there are two things you can do:
Avoid observing surgeries.
Desensitize yourself with videos and photos of surgeries in a controlled environment ...
- 9,694
Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible