#medical

#medical

Women are More Likely to Die if Their Surgeon is MaleA study out of the University of Toronto compared surgical outcomes by the gender of patients and the gender of the surgeon. They found that for male patients, on average it doesn't matter whether the surgeon is a man or a woman. If you are a woman surgeon, your male and female patients are likely to have equivalent outcomes. But for a woman patient, the gender of the surgeon can make a difference. They found that women patients are 15% more likely to have a bad outcome with a male surgeon as compared to a female surgeon, and are 32% more likely to die if their surgeon is a man. The study was done by analyzing records of 1.3 million patients using nearly 3,000 different surgeons. A bad outcome was defined as post-surgical complications, readmission to the hospital within a month, or death. They included 21 types of operations, from appendix removal to brain surgery. For example, in brain and vascular surgeries, 1.2% of women who had a male surgeon died, while women who had a female surgeon saw only a 0.9% death rate. While that may seem like a small percentage, it's a significant difference. While the percentages vary, the difference in a woman's surgeon held across all types of surgery. While the researchers cannot pinpoint the reason for the difference, they offer some possibilities in an article at the Guardian. And they issued a call for more women to be trained in surgery. -via Damn Interesting(Image credit: Samuel Bendet, US Air Force) #surgery #gender #medical

For the First Time in Medical History, a Drone Carrying a Defibrillator Saved a Man Suffering From a Heart AttackFor the first time in medical history, a drone played a significant role in saving the life of a 71-year-old man suffering from an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest. The patient was shoveling snow in his driveway when he suffered cardiac arrest. Luckily, Dr. Mustafa Ali was there to help. Three minutes after contacting Sweden's emergency number, the defibrillator arrived with a drone.Everdrone’s Emergency Medical Aerial Delivery service (EMADE) is designed to deliver help as soon as possible.This unique achievement took place on the morning of December the 9th of 2021. All Images: Everdrone#Drone #Medical #LifeSaver

Another Small Step for Pig-to-Human Xenotransplantation: Pig Kidney Transplant Didn't Trigger RejectionPigs have been the focus of research in terms of organ transplantation. Sugar in pig cells, however, cause the immune system of the human body to reject the organ. Through genetic engineering, researchers were able to eliminate the sugar in pig cells that cause organ rejection. A surgical team led by Dr. Robert Montgomery at NYU Langone Health tested the gene-altered pig's kidneys on a deceased recipient (the animal-to-human transplant is called xenotransplantation). After a two-day observation, the kidney was normally functioning with no triggers of rejection. Most people who need organ transplants eventually die while waiting for a donor. This research brings hope of saving millions of lives in the future. All Images: Joe Carrotta/NYU Langone Health via AP#Xenotransplantion #OrganTransplants #Medical #Science