Penn Medicine News Blog Archive: Surgery

Art has been shown to have a calming and healing effect, which makes it a vital presence in a hospital environment. This is especially true in an intensive care unit which can be a frightening experience for both patients and visitors, with all its unfamiliar equipment and sounds. When the...

New research from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania indicates that modern techniques used in rhinoplasty are showing excellent improvements in patients’ quality of life and function as compared to older techniques used for the procedure.

Jesse Taylor, MD, assistant professor in Plastic Surgery, is using 3D computer-aided design (CAD) to plan out a surgery to restructure someone's face. Dr. Taylor walks through a recent surgery, one of the most complicated cases he's done, of a patient whose facial structure was significantly impacted by a rare genetic condition called Saethre-Chotzen syndrome (SCS).

New research indicates that in recent years orthopaedic surgeons have seen a dramatic surge in the number of Baby Boomers suffering from rheumatoid arthritis, osteoarthritis, or injury to the joint – often resulting from increased activities such as marathon running, swimming, or even power walking. According to the federal Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, knee replacements nearly tripled in people ages 45 to 64 between 1997 and 2009. Though still less common in younger patients, current estimates suggest that more than half a million Americans in their 50s have had the procedure. Based on current trends, operations in that age group are expected to increase.

To celebrate February as American Heart Month, the News Blog is highlighting some of the latest heart-centric news and stories from all parts of Penn Medicine. This month marks the five-year anniversary of Penn Medicine’s first implantation of a temporary total artificial heart (TAH) in a patient suffering from end-stage...

Perelman School of Medicine student Dan Hashimoto recently made Penn Medicine proud when he claimed the top spot in the Top Gun Laparoscopic Skills Challenge at the annual Clinical Congress of the American College of Surgeons (ACS). Hashimoto defeated a chief resident and a third year surgical resident from another...

To celebrate February as American Heart Month, the News Blog is highlighting some of the latest heart-centric news and stories from all parts of Penn Medicine. It may seem thoroughly unromantic, but researchers at Penn Medicine’s Cardiovascular Institute are hoping for some broken hearts this Valentine’s Day. But these broken...

Due to the complex, interdependent nature of the human body’s internal organs, transplant specialists are constantly working to develop new procedures for disorders that extend beyond a single organ. Increasing success with single solid-organ transplantation over the last 50 years has helped propel the field into the more complicated realm of multi-organ transplantation. The first dual-organ transplant, which provided a 6-year-old Texas girl with a new heart and liver, took place on Valentine’s Day in 1984, but just over 100 heart-liver transplants have been performed in the nearly three decades since. Penn Medicine transplant physicians are at the forefront of this work, performing 19 of these combination transplants since 2002 – the second largest number of any transplant center in the U.S., most of whom have only done one or two of the procedures.

This month, the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania united with First Lady Michelle Obama and more than 100 other members of the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) to improve the health and wellness of military service members and their families as part of the new...

If you wind up going to the hospital to get a tattoo, you're not the only person to be surprised by the intersection of art and medicine. We're very fortunate at Penn to have a skilled tattoo artist who specializes in 3D nipple tattoos along with tattoos for scar camouflage or cosmetic purposes - Mandy Sauler, a micropigmentation specialist in Penn's Plastic Surgery Division.