Inventory
February 21, 2008 § 6 Comments
The last three years I’ve been working on a large project to document cancer diagnostics and treatment. With only one year left of the project I wanted to make a list of all the procedures I’ve filmed so far.
Probably not interesting to anyone but myself, but it’s my blog and I’ll list if I want to. « Read the rest of this entry »
Check out SurgeXperiences 115
February 17, 2008 § Leave a comment
Edition 115 of SurgeXperiences – the blog carnival of all things surgical – is up at Made A Difference For That One.
The theme is “Full Metal Scalpel: The love-hate relationship between surgery and war,” and it is – as always – packed with interesting posts.
Also interesting are the pictures featured. They’re all from the National Museum of Health and Medicine exhibit “Battlefield Medicine 101: From the Civil War to Vietnam”. Visit their photo gallery for more great pictures.
Please consider heeding the call for hosts.
Inner scents
February 16, 2008 § 4 Comments
Normal tissue hardly smell at all. Your skin smell because of bacteria in your sweat. Your mouth stinks because of bacteria, and another source of foul odour is caused by gas producing bacteria. Opening the abdominal cavity does not emit any smells, unless there’s some infected parts, necrotic tissue, pierced bowels or gas present.
Cutting the body is not in itself a source of foul scents, but the way it’s cut can cause smell. « Read the rest of this entry »
Valentine Grand Rounds
February 12, 2008 § Leave a comment
My post on photodynamic therapy is included in this weeks edition of the Grand Rounds – the weekly rotating carnival of the best of the medical blogosphere.
The edition is organized around themes related to Valentine’s Day. What has skin cancer got to do with expression of love? Go check it out!
The Grand Rounds schedule and archive can be found here.
You’re not recording sound, are you?
February 12, 2008 § 6 Comments
There is one question I always get when I’m filming an operation. No matter if the surgical team knows me or not, someone always asks me, with a concerned look on their face, if I’m recording the sound (photo credit).
« Read the rest of this entry »
Surgical steel (well, metal anyway)
February 9, 2008 § 3 Comments
Most people are not familiar with medical terminology. To some it’s just a lot of mumbo jumbo. To others it’s a source of horror.
The foremost purveyor of horror in music is death metal. Raging drums, ripping guitars and growling vocals all combine to create a dark and aggressive expression. Some bands choose to top this off with lyrics about war and destruction. Others feed off the shock effect of the prince of darkness. And some turn to medicine and surgery for help.
I’ll take you on a tour of some of the strangest choices of band name. Strange, that is, from a medical perspective. « Read the rest of this entry »
Check out SurgeXperiences 114
February 3, 2008 § Leave a comment
SurgeXperiences 114 is up at Notes of an Anesthesioboist.
Check out this excellent edition which chronicles nothing less than were we come from, who we are and were we’re going. Impressive!
Edition 115 will be hosted at Made A Difference on February 17th. Send in your posts now! You should also consider hosting an edition yourself.
Makes a grown man writhe
January 31, 2008 § 6 Comments
On most occasions I know exactly what to expect when I’m heading out to film some procedure or other. Operations are routine work and I know how patients tend to react to different biopsies, infusions etc. But one recent assignment really caught me off guard.
There is a treatment option for skin cancer which sounds easy and gentle. Most cancers can only be treated with major surgery, radiation or massive chemotherapy schedules. But for skin cancer patients, a treatment involving light has emerged the last 15 years.
« Read the rest of this entry »
Different shades of red revisited
January 29, 2008 § Leave a comment
A while back I wrote this post about the problems video cameras have with reproducing the insides of our bodies. The blood running through our bodies cause most tissues to be some shade of red.
This week I got an excellent opportunity to visualize this. « Read the rest of this entry »
Lucid medical comic strip
January 23, 2008 § Leave a comment
I have to recommend my long time favorite webcomic Lucid TV.
According to Comixpedia it chronicles the professional lives of the resident staff of the “Jim Belushi Memorial Hospital” in Juneau, Alaska. Both staff and patients in this comic represents common stereotypes taken to the extreme. « Read the rest of this entry »
The Sterile Eye 