Doctor At UCSD Medical Center Utilizes New Technique For Abdominal Surgery
Dr. Santiago Horgan says he is the first in the nation to do so.
San Diego Union-Times:
New Tool Shrinks Incision For Single-Site Abdominal Surgery
A new technique now in use at UC San Diego Medical Center reduces the amount of skin that must go under the knife for abdominal surgery. The procedure makes a roughly half-inch incision inside a patient’s belly button, creating an access port for up to four long, thin surgical instruments called laparoscopes that can bend and twist to reach internal organs. Dr. Santiago Horgan, director of the Center for the Future of Surgery at UC San Diego, said he is the first in the nation to extract a gallbladder using tools and techniques made by Netherlands-based Fortimedix Surgical to enable the smaller, single incision. (Sisson, 10/14)
In other news —
The San Diego Union-Tribune:
Salk Scientist Wants To Solve Transplant Shortage By Growing Organs In Animals
Juan Carlos Izpisúa Belmonte’s mission is provocatively ambitious: End the shortage of organs that causes nearly two dozen Americans — and many others around the world — to die each day while awaiting a transplant. The Salk Institute scientist’s strategy for fulfilling that mission is bold: Inject targeted human cells into designated animals’ embryos, then spurring those embryos to grow the desired human organs. The ultimate result would be pigs or other mammals born with human kidneys, livers, hearts or lungs — organs that can be transplanted into ailing people. (Fikes, 10/15)