I have a patient who had a failed mesh placement and a panniculectomy and who has developed at least three separate fistulas with a very large amount of output (3-4 L/24 hrs). Any suggestions? I am using an Eakin wound management pouch hooked up to wall suction.
Looking Ahead with Optical Imaging
- Tue, 11/1/11 - 3:29pm
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- 722 reads
Skin Comfort, a project driven by a consortium consisting of Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Centre (RUNMC) (Nijmegen, the Netherlands) and a group of corporate partners, is intriguing on many fronts. A joint venture of academia and industry that uses nondestructive, non-invasive imaging technology to help us better understand the response of skin to a variety of processes – physical, chemical, and immunological – that we cannot now “see” in real time. The opportunities here are limitless.
COLD is cool!
- Wed, 11/17/10 - 2:56pm
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- 3671 reads
Molecular medicine, an approach to customized care based on the patient’s genome, is a burgeoning field. The ability to predict responses to tyrosine kinase inhibitors is important for both optimizing patient outcomes where these drugs are expected to be effective and for avoiding them when there will be no benefit.
Synthetic material revs up blood clotting at low cost
- Wed, 9/1/10 - 11:07am
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- 1649 reads
The search always goes on for better hemostatics. While a red-hot piece of iron has always worked well, the recipients of such treatment never show much enthusiasm for the same. For surface bleeding we have a variety of hemostatic approaches such as thermal cautery, electrocautery, topical hemostats such as Monsel’s solution or aluminum chloride, firbrin - thrombin mixes (at great cost), alginates and collagen dressing, chitin, and starch and clay based products among others we mix and match. New additions are always welcome.
Antimicrobial polymer suitable to combat growing MRSA infections
- Wed, 9/1/10 - 11:05am
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- 1559 reads
Eradicating devices associated MRSA infections is a tall order and an impressive claim if it indeed works. I was so intrigued that I Googled the patent number and found http://www.patentgenius.com/patent/7772296.html (though I could also have gone directly to uspto.gov and search for the patent directly!) and was impressed by what I found. Of course, materials impregnated with an active drug such as the silver laced dressing we use every day and the eluting stents for cardiac vessels that have received so much coverage in the medical literature and lay press are still a topic of
Weird Science
- Tue, 8/31/10 - 10:24am
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- 562 reads
In the 1975 cult classic, “Monty Python and the Holy Grail,” the classic dialog between Sir Belvedere and a peasant takes place as follows:
Sir Bedevere: What makes you think she's a witch?
Peasant: Well, she turned me into a newt!
Sir Bedevere: A newt?
Peasant: [meekly after a long pause] ... I got better.
Crowd: [shouts] Burn her anyway! 1
Putting aside the wry grin, more science fiction approaches science fact. The brilliant minds at Gladstone Institute of Cardiovascular Disease, San Francisco,
