An interesting paper (for a gynaecologist anyway) examined the outcomes of women having two ovaries removed at hysterectomy, as opposed to one. Those with only one had less likelihood of an admission with ischaemic heart disease, and were less likely to die from any cause. They did not mention symptoms arising from pain in the residual ovary, anecdotally a common cause of further surgery.
A US study examined differing outcomes in patients seen and clerked by medical graduates from the US and from outside the US. They found that patients treated non-US graduates had lower mortality rates but higher costs. Readmission rates did not differ between the two groups.
And who has not heard of Heimlich’s manoeuvre? Well sadly, Henry Heimlich died recently at the age of 96. A thoracic surgeon, when he began to think and work on his most famous achievement, death by choking was the SIXTH commonest cause of death in the US. Testing out his theory on anaesthetised dogs initially, he published his recommendations as “Pop Goes the Café Coronary” in 1974 in the Journal of Emergency Medicine.
David Cahill, Professor in Reproductive Medicine and Medical Education, Programme Director for the MB ChB course