Surgery

Host: Matt Birnholz, MD

Guest: Paris D. Butler, MD, MPH

Host Dr. Matt Birnholz welcomes Dr. Paris D. Butler, who will be discussing breast reduction surgery for women who suffer from chronic back pain and breast cancer patients undergoing reconstructive surgery following a diagnosis. Dr. Butler will go into detail about the pros and cons of taking an immediate versus a delayed reconstruction approach and the various techniques associated.

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A new study suggests that teens undergoing bariatric surgery can experience benefits in terms of walking speed and joint pain. Researchers from the University of Minnesota School of Medicine are tracking long-term outcomes for 242 teens that underwent bariatric surgery at five centers around the United States.

For the current study, researchers specifically focused on improvements in mobility and pain related to muscles and joints is a subset of 206 patients. All patients participated in a quarter mile walk test before and after surgery at six months, twelve months and twenty-four months. Improvements in time to complete the walk, resting heart rate and heart rate differences continued at one and two years after surgery.

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Chronic use of prescription pain medications known as opioids is increasing in the United States. New research shows that a portion of patients undergoing several common surgical procedures may be at increased risk for chronic opioid use several months after surgery.

Researchers from Stanford University School of Medicine reviewed the records of more than 641,000 patients who underwent one of 11 common operations and were not taking opioid pain medication during the year prior to surgery.

They found that some patients were at an increased risk for chronic opioid use following surgery, with the risks ranging from about one and a half times more likely, to as high as five times more likely, depending on the procedure. Males and the elderly had a higher risk, as well as patients with a history of drug or alcohol abuse. The overall risk of chronic opioid use remained low at about 1 percent depending on the type of surgery.

[Watch more videos of The JAMA Report]

Host: Brian P. McDonough, MD, FAAFP

Guest: Charles N. Walker, MD

Dr. Charles Walker, Assistant Professor of Surgery in the Department of Urology at Yale University School of Medicine, shares clinical insights about penile prostheses, such as inflatable versus malleable devices, used as surgical gold standards to treat erectile dysfunction.

Host: Shira Johnson, MD

For the first time, Penn Medicine surgeons were able to complete a bilateral hand transplant on a child. The surgical team successfully transplanted donor hands and forearms onto 8-year-old Zion Harvey who, several years earlier, had undergone amputation of his hands and feet and a kidney transplant following a serious infection.

Host Dr. Shira Johnson sits down with Dr. Scott Levin, who led the surgical team and is Chairman of the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery at Penn Medicine. They discuss this remarkable, groundbreaking surgery.

Host: Brian P. McDonough, MD, FAAFP

Each year more than 70 million post-surgical patients are prescribed opioids. Research shows 1 in 15 will go on to use the medications long term, potentially putting them at risk for addiction and overdose.

Host Dr. Brian McDonough sits down with Dr. Susan Downey, a board-certified plastic surgeon, to talk about opioid abuse and what alternative prescription options are available instead of narcotics.

Host: Jennifer Caudle, DO

Pectus excavatum is an uncommon condition, but a highly impactful one for those who are born with it. What do physicians need to know about pectus excavatum when encountering it in practice, and what new advances in treatment are on the horizon?

Host Dr. Jennifer Caudle sits down with Dr. Dawn Jaroszewski, a cardiovascular surgeon at the Mayo Clinic, to talk about research updates and treatment options for patients with pectus excavatum.

Host: Jennifer Caudle, DO

Guest: Francis Marchlinski, MD

Host Dr. Jennifer Caudle welcomes Dr. Francis E. Marchlinski, Richard T. and Angela Clark President's Distinguished Professor and Director of the Electrophysiology Laboratory at the University of Pennsylvania. Dr. Marchlinski will review the epidemiology of PVCs, the kinds of problems that PVCs can cause, and how these problems manifest as symptoms in patients. He will also review the effectiveness of catheter ablation as a current treatment option for ventricular tachycardia (VT), a potenially serious complication of PVC's.

Host: Jennifer Caudle, DO

Guest: Timothy W.I. Clark, MD

Host Dr. Jennifer Caudle welcomes Dr. Timothy Clark, Associate Professor of Clinical Radiology and the Director of Interventional Radiology at Penn Presbyterian Medical Center. Dr. Clark will review the prevalence of peripheral arterial disease (PAD) in the U.S., the central risk factors, and how PAD is properly diagnosed and managed. He will also review advanced endovascular procedures for PAD and other therapies that make a difference in patient care and outcomes.

Host: Jennifer Caudle, DO

Guest: Nimesh Desai, MD

Complex aortic diseases, feared by clinicians and the general public alike, are often labeled "silent killers" due to their unnerving pattern for developing insideously prior to presenting as acute crises. Even more concerning, the symptoms of aortic diseases are typically vague and difficult to diagnose without a high degree of clinical suspicion. For these reasons, the speed of diagnosis and treatment can determine whether patients live or die from aortic disease. Host Dr. Jennifer Caudle welcomes Dr. Nimesh Desai, attending cardiac surgeon and Director of the Thoracic Research Program at the University of Pennsylvania, to discuss innovative medical and surgical approaches to complex aortic diseases. The two categorize these disease states specifically, examine which patient populations are at highest risk, and review methods to help clinicians reach faster life-saving diagnoses.