Awake awakening
December 29, 2007 § 7 Comments
I have no surgical training. I started nursing school once, but quit after finishing my anatomy and physiology exams. But as I spend large portions of my work week in ORs, I’m sometimes called upon to assist the nurses when things get a bit too hectic.
A few weeks back they did.
I was scheduled to make a video of a craniotomy. The patient had a neoplasm in the brain, believed to be causing his epilepsy. « Read the rest of this entry »
SurgeXperiences 112 – Call for submissions
December 24, 2007 § 4 Comments
I’ll have the honor of hosting the 112th edition of the SurgeXperiences surgical blog carnival on January 6th.
Please submit your articles here, by January 4th.
Don’t forget to check out the 111th edition, hosted at Buckeye Surgeon.
An interesting case of autografting
December 17, 2007 § 7 Comments
This autumn I had the privilege of documenting several operations for head and neck cancer. Some of the most fascinating operations involved the use of an autograft to replace the resected cancerous structures.
One of these operations was performed on a patient with cancer of the gingiva (gums). The tumor had infiltrated the mandibular bone and the surgeons had decided to remove the tumor and a part of the mandible.
In order to make a functional jaw, they were going to cut out a segment of the patient’s fibula (calf bone) and reconstruct the mandible.
The resected segment of the mandible with a tooth. The missing teeth are replaced with a dental prosthesis.
Headlight cameras
December 11, 2007 § 19 Comments
A camera solution often suggested to me by surgeons is the headlight camera. Headlights are used by surgeons when the OR’s surgical lights don’t supply enough working light. This is often the case when operating in narrow spaces, e.g. the pelvis minor and the oral cavity.
Mounting a camera on the headlight might sound like a good idea, and some of the headlight manufacturers even supply it as a part of their product line. « Read the rest of this entry »
Image of surgery
December 10, 2007 § Leave a comment
There are lots of surgery-related websites, but Image of Surgery is one of the more fascinating and weird sites I’ve seen. « Read the rest of this entry »
Camera left inside patient
December 10, 2007 § 1 Comment
According to ScienceDaily surgical objects are left inside about 1500 patients in the US every year, leading to pain, infections and other serious complications.
This issue is something I’ve often thought about when I’m in an OR. It’s always fascinating to watch the surgical nurses maintaining the count of instruments, sponges and other stuff. Making sure everything is outside the patient before the wound is closed.
The ScienceDaily article states that about two-thirds of the objects accidentally left inside people are surgical sponges. They’re used, amongst other things, to absorb blood and are hard to distinguish from tissue when they’re all red with blood.
Surgical history
November 19, 2007 § Leave a comment
I’m very fascinated with surgery. When you spend a lot of time in operating rooms I guess you can’t help getting either nauseated or fascinated by the craft.
One of the most fascinating aspects of surgery is its history. Some of the operations that’s still around today, were also conducted several hundred years ago. One of the most ancients operations we know about is the removal of bladder stones. The oldest bladder stone specimen found is dated at about 4800 BC. « Read the rest of this entry »
Patient patients
November 17, 2007 § 2 Comments
In my current job almost all the videos we make are of actual patients undergoing cancer surgery and procedures used in diagnosing cancer . Before we can go ahead with a recording, the patient has to sign a paper stating her consent.
When I was initially briefed about the job, I thought this would be the project’s Achilles’ heel. Why would someone who’s about to get a cancerous tumor removed from their body agree to having a camera team present? Would any woman who’s getting her breasts scanned want the extra stress of being filmed? I imagined a lot of time would be spent searching for a patient who would say “yes”. « Read the rest of this entry »
The Sterile Eye 