Science and Medicine News

Back to Work  Most patients who undergo lumbar diskectomy, the most common lower-back surgery in this country, can safely return to work much sooner than doctors customarily recommend, a research team at the medical center has concluded. Every year, nearly 200,000 people in the United States undergo this procedure, which involves removing damaged portions of a squashed and/or displaced spinal disk. After following 50 consecutive patients for two years or more, the researchers found that patients who returned to work sooner than two weeks after the surgery did as well as those who were typically told to stay home and take it easy for two months or more after surgery. “The potential savings to the nation from this earlier return to productivity could amount to $1 billion a year,” said Dr. Eugene J. Carragee, associate professor of functional restoration (orthopedic surgery), who led the study. His co-authors included Dr. Glen S. O’Sullivan, assistant professor of functional restoration (orthopedic surgery), and orthopedic nurse Elizabeth Helms.

Reducing Arterial Plaque  Atherosclerosis, or hardening of the arteries, is arguably the most serious health problem in the developed world. While atherosclerosis has some well-known risk factors, such as high cholesterol and high blood pressure, the reason life-threatening plaques form in arteries has, until now, remained a mystery. New research by Dr. Christopher Zarins, chief of vascular surgery, and surgical resident Dr. Bradford Tropea and their colleagues shows that one important trigger for plaque formation is the mechanical stress induced by the expansion of blood vessels under high blood pressure. The researchers also found that they can prevent plaque formation in rabbits by gently reinforcing an artery with a wrapping of Gore-Tex, a waterproof, “breathable” fabric. The sleeve-like wrap damps down the motion of the pulsating artery. “This study shows that the mechanical functions of the arteries and the physical forces on them are just as important [in plaque formation] as the known metabolic factors such as cholesterol,” said Zarins. The results hold out the hope that new techniques may limit or prevent plaque progression by reducing artery-wall motion, Zarins noted.

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