Is that surgery really necessary?
If you’re considering elective bone or joint surgery, you may want to get a second opinion, reports The New York Times.
A recent review of evidence suggests that in many cases, an operation will likely be no more effective than exercise, physical therapy, drug regimens, and other treatment options—but will definitely be more expensive, risky, and inconvenient. British researchers examined studies on 10 common orthopedic procedures, including surgeries for the knee, hip, shoulder, spine, and wrist. They found strong evidence that total knee replacement and surgery for carpal tunnel syndrome were superior to other treatments. But six other surgeries showed little advantage over nonsurgical treatment. “Our study doesn’t show that these operations don’t make patients better,” says lead author Ashley Blom, from the University of Bristol. “It’s just that some don’t work any better than the best nonsurgical treatments.” The success rate for arthroscopic operations on the knee to repair the anterior cruciate ligament, or ACL, for example, is as high as 97 percent. But nonsurgical treatments achieved similar levels of success.
a patient is on course to develop dementia, a breakthrough that could revolutionize the diagnosis of the disease. The AI was fed data from more than 15,300 people, with an average age of 72, who had attended memory clinics across the U.S. The data included medical records, results from tests on memory and cognitive performance, and family health history. Out of that group, 1,568 were diagnosed within two years as having dementia after an assessment by a panel of experts. The AI successfully predicted who would receive a diagnosis with 92 percent accuracy, reports The Times (U.K.)—that’s nearly 10 percentage points more accurate than standard, humanbased screening methods for the neurodegenerative disorder. “This technique is a significant improvement over existing approaches,” says Rosa Sancho, head of research at Alzheimer’s Research U.K.,
“and could give doctors a basis for recommending lifestyle changes and identifying people who might benefit from support or in-depth assessments.”