The ability to identify an individual's specific tumor type prior to surgery could have important implications for the management of patients diagnosed with kidney cancer.

Instead of using theusual cancer-fighting modalities, surgery, chemotherapy, or radiation,researchers from a drug development company called Advaxis, have embarked on a novel approach to fighting cancer: Engaging the immune system to
attack cancer in the same the way it would a flu vaccine, by creating new
life forms.

Monitoring blood levels of a compound known as procalcitonin in patients with peritonitis (a serious intra-abdominal infection) could help identify patients at increased risk of organ failure and death, according to a report in the February issue of Archives of Surgery, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.

A new study on liver retransplantation (re-LT) over a 15 year period at a clinic in Germany found that indications for the surgery had changed and there were fewer rejections, complications, and recurrence of disease during that time. The positive trend may be due to improvements in intensive care management and immunosuppressants, along with early decisions about when to retransplant despite the shortage of quality donor organs.

A set of molecular biomarkers might better predict the recurrence of bladder cancer than conventional prognostic features such as the stage or grade of the malignancy at the time it is discovered, UT Southwestern Medical Center researchers have found.

According to a review of the latest clinical trials, coronary artery bypass surgery performed on a beating heart, without the aid of a heart-lung machine, is a safe option that leads to fewer negative side effects for bypass patients. This review is featured in Journal of Cardiac Surgery.

An increase among women electing to have caesarean sections in recent years has been due in large part to a concern that giving birth vaginally will lead to a fallen bladder and uterus in later life, and the issue has been hotly debated in the medical community.

The noninvasive imaging technology called positron-emission tomography (PET scan) is extremely accurate in diagnosing a type of congenital hyperinsulinism (HI), a rare but severe imbalance of insulin levels in newborns. When that disease is confined to a limited section of the baby's pancreas, the PET scan is 100 percent accurate in locating the abnormal spot, and guiding surgeons to curative, organ-sparing surgery.

To help progress and financially back the drug's development, the Florey and Starfish Ventures, a leading Australian venture capital firm, have formed a start-up company, 'Nephrodynamics Pty Ltd'.