Jun 18, 2014
New approaches to treating achalasia, a neuromuscular condition marked by difficulty swallowing, successfully reduce esophageal sphincter pressure, while avoiding the need for laparoscopic surgery.
Apr 28, 2014
Penn State Health Milton S. Hershey Medical Center’s designation as the only comprehensive stroke center in central Pennsylvania by the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association means patients who require treatment beyond tPA can get the care they need.
Neurosurgeons at Penn State Health Milton S. Hershey Medical Center use the Pipeline® Embolic Device, a flow diverter, to treat brain aneurysms endovascularly, without the need to access the aneurysm itself.
Mar 14, 2014
While open thoracotomy is the traditional approach most often chosen for patients undergoing thoracic spine reconstruction, alternative approaches can be useful in certain situations. Mark Knaub, MD, Penn State Bone and Joint Institute, says, “For patients with spinal tumors, osteomyelitis or major trauma, particularly at upper thoracic levels, an open thoracotomy may not offer sufficient access to the surgical site."
Jan 23, 2014
Throughout the gastrointestinal (GI) tract, mononuclear phagocytes, such as dendritic cells and macrophages, play key roles in protective immune responses. A subpopulation of macrophages that resides in the smooth muscle layer of the gut which faces the peritoneum also known as muscularis externa, e.g., muscularis macrophages (MMs), is still poorly understood.
Jan 14, 2014
A residency training program that stresses minimally invasive hysterectomies is proving to be not only feasible, but a highly effective strategy for providing valuable surgeon training and improving patient outcomes. As leaders of Penn State Milton S. Hershey Medical Center’s Division of Urogynecology and Minimally Invasive Gynecologic Surgery, Gerald Harkins, M.D., and his colleague Matthew […]
For infertile women with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) or couples with unexplained infertility who wish to become pregnant, fertility treatment is often expensive and invasive, and holds greater risks. Increasingly, couples are being advised to consider in vitro fertilization (IVF) as a front line treatment. “Even though we have effective strategies for inducing ovulation and […]
Ovarian cancer, occurring in approximately 25,000 women each year in the United States, frequently presents as advanced disease, with most cases at stages 3/4 at initial detection. Improvements in chemotherapy regimens and cytoreductive surgery have boosted five-year survival rate to about 40 percent. “On average, most of these patients will require two or three additional […]
Nov 27, 2013
In high-level athletes, joint pathology discovered on imaging studies is extremely common, even among those not manifesting clinical symptoms. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) studies of asymptomatic professional baseball pitchers show 79 percent with labral abnormalities in the shoulder; likewise, 65 percent of asymptomatic college basketball players show some combination of patellar tendinosis or chondrosis. Based on the abnormalities present on MRI, surgeons can potentially be misled into recommending a surgical procedure, based on an imaging finding, that does not correlate with clinical symptoms or physical exam.
Jun 28, 2013
Pancreatic cancer is the fourth leading cause of cancer-related death in the United States. Usually detected at only the most advanced stages and with median survival time of only three to six months, it leaves little time for treatment or cure. This abysmal clinical outlook has fueled a great deal of research into the nature of pancreatic cancer, as well as key patient factors that place some people at increased risk of the disease.
