MASSDEVICE ON CALL — A form of weight loss surgery pioneered during the 1980s can lead to serious health complications down the line, according to Belgian researchers.
They found that lap-band surgery, which uses an adjustable silicon ring to constrict the upper portion of the stomach, resulted in explantation in half of the patients they studied over a 12-year span.
And about a third of the 151 subjects in the study had the band eat its way through the stomach wall. Nearly 4 percent of them died.
Read more of MassDevice.com’s coverage of weight-loss surgery
“The high failure rate of [lap-band surgery], at least in our hands, could be detrimental to its future continued widespread use as a restrictive weight loss operation,” according to a report on the study published in the Archives of Surgery.
Allergan, which makes the Lap-Band system, told Reuters Health the study involved an older iteration of its device and that surgical techniques and medical devices have evolved since the early 1990s, when the study subjects were implanted with the devices. The researchers were only able to follow half of the study’s initial cohort, who were all from a single hospital.
“We are disappointed to see the publication of an ill-constructed, single-center clinical assessment that does not meet the high clinical standards one should expect from peer-reviewed data, and is not reflective of today’s clinical standards,” director of corporate communications Cathy Taylor wrote in an email to the new service.
More than 500,000 patients have been implanted with Irvine, Calif.-based Allergan’s Lap-Band device, according to the company, giving it a substantial stake in a market worth an estimated $400 million.
Allergan said the It also noted that the study was based on only 151 patients from a single hospital, and that the researchers had only been able to test half of those patients.
Breast cancer, smoking linked in older women
Smoking might increase the risk of breast cancer among post-menopausal women, according to a study published in BMJ.
It’s one of the first studies to explicitly link breast cancer and smoking or exposure to second-hand smoke, adding to a list of things women can do to lessen their risk of developing the disease.
“The findings are important because smoking was not previously thought to increase the risk of breast cancer, but this study adds to the increasing evidence that it does,” said lead researcher Dr. Karen Margolis of HealthPartners Research Foundation in Minneapolis.
Rich people get more skin cancer
Affluent young women were nearly six times as likely to develop one of the deadliest forms of skin cancer, according to a Stanford University study.
It turns out that socio-economic status, not exposure to the ultra-violet rays that cause the cancer, is a better indication of the risk for melanoma, according to the researchers.
“That was a surprise to us,” co-author Christina Clarke, of Stanford University and the Cancer Prevention Institute of California, told WebMD. “We thought UV radiation exposure would be a more important predictor of melanoma risk than socioeconomic status, but that is not what we found.”
Nevada suspends doc who re-used disposable medical devices
Nevada suspended the license of a physician there accused of re-using medical devices that were supposed to be destroyed after a single use.
Dr. Michael Kaplan put his patients at risk of developing blood-borne diseases like HIV and hepatitis, according to health officials in the Silver State.
Cooper said Kaplan reused endocavity needle guides — plastic sheaths used to direct needles during biopsy — via the anus and rectum.
Cytori looks to India
St. Jude Medical Inc.’s (NYSE:STJ) Daniel Starks isn’t the only medical device CEO interested in India. Christopher Calhoun, the top dog at Cytori Therapeutics Inc. (NSDQ:CYTX), told Reuters that he’s got his eye on southern Asia.
Cytori is inking deals with hospital chains in India — including its largest, Appollo Hospital Enterprises — aiming to boost sales of its Celution breast reconstruction system.
“We selected Apollo as a group to work with as it has the largest hospital chain within India, which gives us the opportunity for bringing our technology across India,” Calhoun told the news service.
