Today an interesting and somewhat bizarre news story has been spreading and at first it seems almost unbelievable. A man in China accidentally cut off his hand in an industrial machine accident and while for most there would be no way to save the hand, the doctors in China successfully managed to save his hand. The radical procedure used to save the man’s hand hadn’t been used before and doctors weren’t sure if it was even possible, but after multiple surgeries the man’s hand was successfully grafted onto his calf for temporary survival.

Due to the severity of the damage to the man’s arm it was not possible to immediately reattach it. In order to make things work doctors surgically attached the hand to the man’s calf so it would get a constant supply of oxygen and blood to stay alive. Then once his arm and wrist area had successfully recovered enough doctors removed the hand and placed it back where it should be. The entire story seems farfetched and impossible but it is in fact true, it is an absolutely heartwarming story of just how innovative medicine can be. Now after some recovery time has passed the man has complete movement and feeling in his hand, which is something many doctors believed would never be possible.

Lentil, the 5 month old French Bull Dog puppy has found his place in the world and it’s helping kids and those around them accept the craniofacial differences that affect heads and faces like cleft palates or cleft lips.

Lentil started out as one of 4 pups born in New Jersey, all with facial defects. Little Lentil was the only one to survive despite being born with a cleft lip and a cleft palate. He was unable to eat or drink on his own and needed constant attention.

Lindsey Condefer is a volunteer working with the French Bull Dog Rescue Network of Philadelphia. She offered to take on Lentil’s care which consisted of feedings through a tube ever two hours around the clock. Food or liquid could easily go up his nose and Condefer says his life hung by a thread for the first three months. After that feedings moved to every three hours.

Condefer was able to line up surgeons through the University of Pennsylvania’s veterinary school. They would perform the necessary surgeries that would eventually allow Lentil to lead a more ordinary life. Because repairing the cleft lip is really a cosmetic procedure, it was decided to leave it as is. The veterinary school asked that Lentil become part of a program where kids with specific conditions meet animals with the same issues. Lentil would be a great asset in dealing with kids with craniofacial issues. The program helps those kids to feel as normal as possible.

Subsequently, Lentil is a staple at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia where he has met with hundreds of patients like fourteen year old Danny Pfeiffer. Pfeiffer suffers from Saethre-Chotzen syndrome, a genetic condition which causes the skull bones to fuse too early and stops the skull from developing normally. The shape of the head and face can be adversely affected. Lentil helped him cope with his own differences because Lentil, too, looks different than a normal dog.

Lentil has been able to eat on his own since his surgery in May. Since then he’s become the mascot for craniofacial awareness and travels wherever he is needed. When he’s not on the road, he hangs out at Condefer’s pet shop in Philly where fans stop by to thank him for his work.

Condefer thinks Lentil was put here on Earth for a reason and that he survived his ordeal for a reason. She says he is a special dog and so do the hundreds of children he has helped in his short life so far.

This week a miraculous medical story has been sweeping the world. Three year old Grayson Clamp has been unable to hear since he was born due to the fact that he was born without a cochlear nerve which is crucial for the transmission of sound to the brain. Fortunately thanks to some advanced medicine he is now able to hear like a normal child.

Grayson underwent an extensive surgery to add an auditory brain stem implant that doctors hoped would help him be able to hear. Grayson is the first child in the United States to ever have received such an implant, although many adults have received it in the past. Doctors were incredibly hopeful that the device would work just as well for Grayson and now, a month after the surgery, they’re happy to report that it appears to be working perfectly.

At this point doctors say that the can not exactly confirm what Grayson does or does not hear, but there is plenty of proof that he is in fact hearing. The boy reportedly looked amazed shortly after waking up from the surgery as he was hearing noise for the first time. Doctors are incredibly happy with the results and are hopeful that this type of surgery will become more common for children in the future.

Today 3 week old Ashlyn Julian received an incredibly uncommon surgery that doctors felt was the only possible means of survival. The infant had been suffering from numerous medical problems since birth and doctors finally found that they were all tied to a single aneurism in the infant’s brain. This is such an uncommon condition that the doctors had almost no prior experience or even the necessary tools to do the surgery.

Fortunately after hours of surgery and multiple in depth investigations doctors concluded that the aneurism had been taken care of and the infant’s brain was no longer in danger. Unfortunately while removing the aneurism the surgical team also inflicted some damage to the affected blood vessel, which is common in adult patients. Due to the size of the infant there was not any special medical devices available to fix the damage, fortunately the doctors had a solution. Medical grade super glue, commonly used for exterior wounds, was very carefully applied to the incredibly small hole in the blood vessel. In a matter of seconds doctors managed to seal up the blood vessel with only a few tiny drops of super glue.

In the end the infant surgery went extremely well. Doctors are incredibly happy with the results and say she should be recovering nicely in the coming weeks.

Weight Loss Surgery Cuts Diabetes Risk

This week a major medical study released shows just how effective a variety of weight loss surgeries are in regards to cutting down the risk for type 2 diabetes. Diabetes is always a major risk for overweight individuals and simple weight loss surgery has now been shown to dramatically cut the disk.

The report shows that over a 15 year period patients that underwent weight loss surgery were 80% less likely to develop type 2 diabetes down the road. This is an absolutely amazing result and doctors say that it is absolutely connected. Weight in general is a direct contributor to the development of type 2 diabetes and having a surgery to remove or reduce extra fat is effective in limiting risk.

Doctors have not yet begun recommending weight loss surgery to patients that are at high risk for type 2 diabetes, but after a follow up study is available many analysts feel that it will likely become quite common. Weight loss surgery is much less complicated or expensive than dealing with type 2 diabetes for life and it is also significantly less risky in the long run. Overall it is great to see that there may be a good alternative method to prevent the development of type 2 diabetes, obviously staying in shape and healthy is the first and foremost suggestion but this is a very good backup.

Heart valve failure is a relatively common issue suffered by thousands of people every single year. Unfortunately at this point the only viable solution to fix the problem is extensive surgery requiring hours of precise work, but now there may be another great alternative available.

The new system is called a Sapien Heart Value and the creators of the device say that it works just as well as traditional heart valves but does not require nearly as intensive of a surgical procedure. Obviously there is still surgery involved but the amazing thing is that the significant reduction in surgery invasiveness also leads to significantly reduced healing times.

The FDA just began hearing the case for the heart valve but preliminary results look good. This could be absolutely great news for the thousands of patients that are treated each year for heart value failure, especially since most analysts believe the FDA will soon approve the new system. Saving recovery time and reducing the surgical risk are two of the biggest motivating factors of most medical research and that is exactly what has been accomplished with this new heart value, this is absolutely great news and in the future it will likely continue to spread to other surgical operations. The possibilities are endless and it is amazing to see that medical research is finally beginning to cut down on the severity of most major surgeries.

A team of doctors at Stanford University Hospital successfully completed a miraculous life saving operation today. The patient was a 15 minute old child that was in desperate need of some heart help and while many doctors did not think it could work out the doctors at Stanford proved them wrong. The infant had been diagnosed with an incredibly rate heart ailment and immediately after being born was taken into critical surgery.

The surgeon behind the operation was the first to propose the procedure and immediately after birth he began the operation. Doctors said the chances of survival were slim and the chances of a successful recovery were even less likely; today that has been proven wrong as the surgery did in fact go off without a hitch and the infant is recovering well. After approximately an hour of intense operation the infant’s surgery was complete and the doctors announced that the procedure had went well.

A procedure like this on such a young child is incredibly uncommon. Doctors are happy that it went so well and they are confident that the child will recover quickly and fully. The family has expressed their gratitude towards the doctors and the medical team at the hospital and they are hopeful that in a few short weeks they will be ready to return home. Stories like this are uncommon and inspiring as this is truly a miracle made possibly by modern day medicine and quick thinking doctors and surgeons.

Maria and Teresa are only a little over one year old and they already have an incredible story to tell. The two girls were born conjoined in the chest and last month they began an extensive surgery process to begin the separation process. After nearly a month of surgery, treatment, and recovery the two girls are finally able to leave the hospital where all of the processes took place.

The miraculous surgeries and recovery took place at a hospital right outside of Washington DC and the girls’ family is more than grateful for the incredible treatment they received. The teams of doctors associated with the program worked endlessly in order to guarantee the best possible results and in the end they say that the results are in fact incredibly good as the girls will more than likely be able to lead completely normal lives in the future.

This is a truly incredible story as it is quite uncommon that extensive surgeries like this turn out as successful as this has. Doctors affiliated with the surgeries say that the entire thing went much better than they could have ever hoped and they were more than happy to report that the recovery actually took less time than expected. Maria, Teresa, and their family are now headed back home to the Dominican Republic where they are expected to lead an essentially normal life with a really cool story to tell in the future.

Miraculous Surgery Gives English Man Second Life-- Source: mirror.co.uk

Matthew Green became the first man in Britain to receive an artificial heart transplant earlier this week. Surgeons say that the surgery went off without any trouble and Mr. Green is now beginning the long recovery process that will accompany the surgery.

Such surgeries are not entirely unheard of around the world though this was the first time such a surgery was undertaken in Britain. The surgery took place at Papworth Hospital and after 6 hours the surgeons believe the artificial heart should have absolutely no problem functioning in place of Mr. Green’s natural heart.

Amazingly doctors working with Mr. Green also say that the surgery went so well and he is recovering so well he might be able to return to his normal life soon. Doctors all around the world were stunned and happy to hear about the overwhelming success of the surgery especially given the fact that it took little time compared to most major heart surgeries. Mr. Green’s family has also expressed the utmost gratitude toward the surgical team for their work as they have essentially given Mr. Green a second lease on life through the incredible operation.

Following the surgery the surgeons involved announced the results of the surgery. Given the resounding success of the operation it is likely that these types of lifesaving operations may become more widely available in the coming years as there has now been multiple complete artificial heart transplants used around the world for a variety of different patients.

Doctors Successfully Implant Synthetic Windpipe-- Source: BBC News

Scheduled for release tomorrow this unnamed patient has received the first of what will likely become a popular surgery. The man was originally given almost no chance for survival because he had extensive cancer in his throat but thanks to the creation of a synthetic windpipe the man has been given a second life essentially.

Doctors implanted the artificial windpipe and trachea on June 9th and ever since then the patient has been undergoing testing, treatment, and recovery procedures. Today however the world found out that the recovery went much quicker than expected as the patient will be released from the hospital tomorrow morning.

Up until this surgery such a transplant had never been attempted but doctors are beginning to agree that synthetic transplants may be the way of the future. The recovery was incredibly quick according to doctors affiliated with the operation and they say that the technology used could easily be translated to numerous other body parts and organs that may need replaced for one reason or another.

Overall the operation was 100% successful according to the medical team responsible for it. They are currently in the process of writing up an official medical journal release which will detail the operation and procedure and after that they anticipate that significant testing will likely take place to determine what other critical body parts could be replaced by a similar surgery. This is great news for everyone as it will likely lead to much higher survival rates in many types of cancers and other deadly illnesses.