Surgery, features and articles | Educational Science

Apr 23, 2018

Doctors Perform World's First Full Penis-and-Scrotum Transplant

Doctors at Johns Hopkins Medicine performed the world's first complete penis-and-scrotum transplant. The 14-hour operation, which took place on March 26, involved a team of nine plastic surgeons and two urological surgeons, according to a statement from Johns Hopkins Medicine. The surgeons transplanted the entire penis, scrotum (without the testicles)...

Apr 27, 2018

Surgeons Reattached This Girl's Leg Backward. No, It Wasn't a Mistake.

When Amelia Eldred, an active 7-year-old in England, needed her leg amputated to treat bone cancer, doctors performed an unusual surgery: They removed the middle part of her leg and then reattached the lower part of her leg — but backward. While the surgery sounds odd — it results in...

May 3, 2018

Surgeons Remove 'Very Rare' 132-Pound Ovarian Tumor

Connecticut surgeons recently removed a 132-lb. (60 kilograms) ovarian tumor from a woman's abdomen. The tumor, a benign [noncancerous] mucinous ovarian tumor, was removed during a 5-hour surgery that involved more than 20 specialists at Danbury Hospital, according to a news release from Western Connecticut Health Network. A mucinous ovarian...

Aug 16, 2018

No, You Shouldn't Get Plastic Surgery Advice from YouTube

An old adage with a modern spin says that you shouldn't believe everything you read on the internet. Now, new research adds that you shouldn’t believe everything you watch online, either. And that especially goes for plastic surgery videos on YouTube. That's because these videos can be misleading forms of...

Sep 27, 2018

Many People with Appendicitis Don't Need Surgery, Just Antibiotics

Each year, about 300,000 Americans have surgery to remove their appendix, but a new study suggests many of these people may not need to go under the knife. Instead, their condition could be safely treated with antibiotics, the researchers say. The study looked at data from more than 250 adults...

Oct 29, 2018

The US Is Throwing Out Donor Kidneys That Could Be Given to Patients, Study Says

There's a serious kidney shortage in the United States. According to the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network, a federal database on organ transplantation, there are nearly 100,000 Americans currently on the waitlist for a kidney. So far this year, only around 16,000 people on that list received a kidney. But...

Jul 10, 2019

'Tree Man' Gets Pioneering Surgery for Rare Skin Condition

A man in Gaza with an extremely rare skin condition dubbed tree man syndrome says his life has been changed by a pioneering surgical treatment, according to news reports. The man, 44-year-old Mahmoud Taluli, has undergone four surgeries in the last two years to remove extensive, wood-like lesions on his...

Jul 18, 2019

Conjoined Twins Fused at the Head Now Separated After More Than 50 Hours of Surgery

Twin girls who were born joined at the head have been successfully separated after a months-long medical endeavor that required more than 50 hours of major surgery and a team of 100 medical professionals, doctors announced this week. The 2-year-old twins, Safa and Marwa Ullah, were born with an extremely...

Aug 1, 2019

Japanese Scientists Plan to Create Human-Mouse Hybrids. Here's How.

Some unusual embryos may soon be growing in Japan: those of human-mouse and human-rat hybrids, news sources are reporting. A research group in Japan received approval from a committee in the Japanese government on July 24 to move forward with an experiment that will put a type of human stem...

Aug 12, 2019

A Man's Dentures Were Stuck in His Throat for More Than a Week

A U.K. man's dentures fell down his throat during surgery and were stuck there for more than a week before they were discovered, according to a new report. The case highlights the dangers of leaving dentures in a patient's mouth during any surgery that requires general anesthesia, according to the...

Nov 14, 2019

Doctors Removed a Melon-Size Tumor from This Man's Neck

Doctors removed a cantaloupe-size tumor from a man's neck that was threatening to suffocate the patient, according to news reports. The cancerous mass measured 9 inches (23 centimeters) across and weighed between 5 and 7 lbs. (about 3 kilograms), several outlets reported. Retired electrician, 81, finally gets a soccer ball-sized...

Dec 28, 2019

How long can organs stay outside the body before being transplanted?

When it comes to organ transplant surgery, doctors are racing against the clock — and time is not on their side. A team of clinicians must first remove the organ from its donor, sets of gloved hands coordinating to deftly cleave tissue from the body. Doctors then prep the harvested...

Jan 8, 2020

How a Piece of Popcorn Stuck in a Man's Teeth Led to Open-Heart Surgery

Getting popcorn stuck in your teeth is usually just an annoyance, but for one man in England, it led to open-heart surgery, according to news reports. The 41-year-old man, Adam Martin, was eating popcorn while watching a movie at home last September when a husk got lodged in his teeth,...

Jan 21, 2020

How surgery in infancy led to a woman's stone 60 years later

Bowel surgery given to a 6-day-old infant had unusual ramifications for her decades later when she was 60 years old, according to a new case report. At first, emergency room doctors were unsure why the 60-year-old woman was vomiting and having abdominal pains. But they cracked the case after learning...

Jan 28, 2020

In rare surgery, hospital swaps man's lost thumb for a big toe

A cobbler lost his thumb while trimming the heel of a shoe, but thankfully, surgeons were able to replace the missing digit with one of the man's big toes. Master cobbler David Lee lost his thumb on Jan. 9, 2019, just six weeks after moving his cobbling business to a...