The kind of flexible sponge left inside this patient. Photo: Ole Åsheim, Nordlys.
This week one of the worst cases of retained surgical instruments in Norway was unraveled. A patient saw his five operations for colon cancer in a year turn to six, when it was discovered the surgeon had left behind a 20 cm long flexible sponge. The unique aspect of it however, was the patient’s reaction.
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Endoscopic ultrasound (EUS)
Today, three videos I’ve made of diagnosis and treatment of esophageal cancer were published on www.oncolex.no. Read more »
Alexis Carrel
The history of surgery is the history of great ideas and inventions. Ideas so outrageous, no one had dared to imagine them, before someone did. Like using a piece of intestine to replace a cancerous oesophagus. Inventions so ingenious in their simplicity, the rest of the surgical world must have gone “why didn’t I think of that”, when they were introduced.
One of the most brilliant inventions is, in my opinion, the triangulation method for suturing blood vessels. Read more »
Myelomatosis
Welcome to the 6th edition of season 2 of SurgeXperiences, the one and only surgical blog carnival. It’s my third time hosting this, and it’s been a very interesting each time. I initially came up with the theme “visuals” for this edition. But as the submissions started to flood my inbox, I soon abandoned it. So although I provide you with some visuals, the blogging this time is too diverse to box in.
The images in this edition are all microscopic photos of stained histologic sections and cytologic smears of different types of cancer. In all its horror, even cancer can at some level be beautiful. This edition of SurgeXperiences presents posts on both the beauty and horrors of the surgical world.
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I had a deeply disturbing sensation this week. It was my first operation after the summer vacation, a splenectomy for lymphoma. Very nice to be back in the OR. Maybe a little too nice. Read more »
Heart-lung machine in use during cardiac surgery.
On Sunday, September 14th I’ll be hosting the one and only surgical blog carnival SurgeXperiences for the third time. SurgeXperiences is a biweekly carnival collecting the best of blog post related to surgery (photo credit).
The theme for this edition will be “Visuals”. Interpret it as you like. All posts will be accepted. Start writing and submit your posts here by Friday, September 12th.
The current edition, called “Evidence”, is up at Scalpel’s Edge. Check out the schedule for season 2, and the season 1 archive.
Wide excision of a skin lesion on the left temple.
This spring I was filming procedures for both skin cancer and malignant melanoma. Now the videos have finally been published on www.oncolex.no.
A new five-part series on the history of surgery starts on BBC Four this Wednesday (photo credit). Titled “Blood and Guts”, the series chronicles the development of trauma, transplant, cosmetic, heart and brain surgery, tracing the steps from the cutting edge operations of today back to their beginnings. Read more »
What will the surgery of the future look like? In this interesting lecture, Jeffrey L. Ponsky MD of the Case Western Reserve University takes a step back to the days of “the bigger the incision, the bigger the ego”, and details the development of endoscopic surgery too see into the future of surgical treatment.
“The new future surgery will be a lot like you see on Star Trek.”
Today, seven videos I’ve made of diagnosis and treatment of sarcomas were published on www.oncolex.no. Working on these videos has been especially interesting, as sarcomas are a very rare form of cancer, and because of all the devoted specialists I’ve gotten to know. Read more »
