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Science

Conjoined twins with fused brains separated; surgeons practiced for months in virtual reality

Arthur and Bernardo finally get to see each other face to face.

Image by sasint/Canva

Surgeons prepared to separate 3-year-old conjoined twins in Brazil using virtual reality.

The things human beings have figured out how to do boggles the mind sometimes, especially in the realm of medicine.

It wasn't terribly long ago that people with a severe injury had to liquor up, bite a stick, have a body part sewn up or sawed off and hope for the best. (Sorry for the visual, but it's true.) The discoveries of antibiotics and anesthesia alone have completely revolutionized human existence, but we've gone well beyond that with what our best surgeons can accomplish.

Surgeries can range from fairly simple to incredibly complex, but few surgeries are more complicated than separating conjoined twins with combined major organs. That's why the recent surgical separation of conjoined twin boys with fused brains in Brazil is so incredible.

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Science & Technology

Man with world's first full double arm transplant is already making incredible progress

Felix Gretarsson/Instagram

Felix Gretarsson, 48, was an electrician working in his home country of Iceland 23 years ago when a miscommunication with coworkers led to him accidentally grabbing a live wire. The 11,000-volt shock threw Gretarsson to the frozen ground more than 30 feet below. Not only did he break his back and neck in three places, but his arms caught fire as well.

"I just remember lying there waiting for the ambulance and feeling pain in my belly because my body had shut out everything else," Gretarsson told Positive News. "I was put to sleep when I got to the hospital, and woke up three months later with no arms."

At first, his arms were amputated just above the elbow, but repeated infections resulted in losing the limbs all the way up to his shoulders. He ended up having 54 operations in the years immediately following the accident.

That's a lot of trauma and pain, and Gretarsson numbed it all with substance abuse. "My therapy was shutting it out with drugs and alcohol and general destruction for the next few years," he said. "I got to a place where they said: 'you are either going to be dead or you do something'."

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After getting help from Alcoholics Anonymous and two liver transplants, Gretarsson got a glimmer of hope. A French doctor who had successfully transplanted a hand happened to be lecturing in Iceland in 2007. Gretarsson spoke with him and he agreed to review his case. Gretarrson moved to Lyon, France, to be closer to the transplant doctors who might be able to help him get his arms back.

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medicine

Well Being

In men, it’s Parkinson’s. In women, it’s hysteria.

via Columbia Social Work / Twitter

This article originally appeared on ProPublica. You can read it here.

Once it was called "hysterical" movement disorder, or simply "hysteria." Later it was labeled "psychogenic." Now it's a "functional disorder."

By any name, it's one of the most puzzling afflictions — and problematic diagnoses — in medicine. It often has the same symptoms, like uncontrollable shaking and difficulty walking, that characterize brain diseases like Parkinson's.

But the condition is caused by stress or trauma and often treated by psychotherapy. And, in a disparity that is drawing increased scrutiny, most of those deemed to suffer from it — as high as 80% in some studies — are women.

Whether someone has Parkinson's or a functional disorder can be difficult to determine. But the two labels result not only in different treatments but in different perceptions of the patient. A diagnosis of Parkinson's is likely to create sympathy, but a functional diagnosis can stigmatize patients and cast doubt on the legitimacy of their illness.

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psychology

All good parents want their children to live happy and healthy lives. But for parents of sick kids, particularly those with chronic and congenital health conditions, that's a much more difficult goal to achieve.

Unsurprisingly, anxiety is ever-present in both these parents and kids' lives.

As a mother of two children with congenital health conditions, I know first-hand how scary it can be when you’re worried and trying to process the “what if” or expected eventuality of surgery.

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Dignity Health

Hello Humankindness

He had to operate to save an orangutan's life. The catch? He'd never done it before.

True

When Daniel the orangutan arrived at the Phoenix Zoo in Arizona, he was in rough shape.

He was suffering from a respiratory disease, which, just like in humans, can worsen and even lead to death when untreated.

The stakes were high, especially considering that orangutans are a highly endangered species. And respiratory illnesses can be even more dangerous for orangutans which have an inflatable air sac that can be vulnerable when it becomes infected.Located in their throats, these air sacs are helpful in allowing orangutans to sustain the loud calls they're known for by creating a chamber for the sound to resonate within, but these air sacs are also prone to infection.

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surgery

Conjoined twins with fused brains separated; surgeons practiced for months in virtual reality

Arthur and Bernardo finally get to see each other face to face.

A doctor in India stuck in traffic abandons his car and runs 45 minutes to perform surgery

That's what you call dedication!

Man with world's first full double arm transplant is already making incredible progress

In men, it’s Parkinson’s. In women, it’s hysteria.

Kids can drive mini cars into surgery at this hospital, leaving their anxiety in the dust.

All good parents want their children to live happy and healthy lives. But for parents of sick kids, particularly those with chronic and congenital health conditions, that's a much more difficult goal to achieve.

In California, one hospital is doing what they can to make the idea of surgery less daunting by allowing kids to drive mini cars into the operating room.

Once the video started to go viral, folks in the social media world expressed their gratefulness for the opportunity to see something so positive vrooming down their timelines.

Other hospitals are catching on, too. It's why Sheffield Children’s Hospital offers it's kid patients their own sweet ride into surgery.

The most common surgery in the world still costs lives. Two doctors hope to change that.

Dr. Michael Ohene-Yeboah can still recall the seemingly mysterious ailment that afflicted so many people in his Ghanaian village.

He never had a name for it until he became a district medical officer: inguinal hernia. And cases of it kept him busy day and night.

"Non-surgeon physicians already perform the repair of inguinal hernias in the rural district hospitals," Ohene-Yeboah says via email.

Ohene-Yeboah was still committed to saving as many lives as possible, but he always knew there had to be a better way. Then, one day, it found him.

So Ohene-Yeboah and Beard worked together to create a "toolkit" to help non-surgeon doctors in Ghana address the hernia problem themselves.

And that's how the Ghana Hernia Society was born, with the mission to "reduce the burden of disease from inguinal hernia through increasing access to high quality care."

In 2018, the Ghana Hernia Society received a $50,000 Gen H Challenge grant. It's a huge step forward — but they still need more support as they move into the future.

He had to operate to save an orangutan's life. The catch? He'd never done it before.

When Daniel the orangutan arrived at the Phoenix Zoo in Arizona, he was in rough shape.

There was just one problem: Simms had never operated on an orangutan before.

Simms got to work. He started by studying up on orangutan anatomy before surgery.

Daniel was doing extraordinarily well after the surgery, and his recovery offers hope for other primates who face the same challenges.

Sorry, Labradors. After 31 years, America has a new favorite dog.

Couple buys new house and finds abandoned dog tied to a tree by the old homeowners

Mom goes on strike after teenage son said he'd be better off without her. Did she go too far?

Mindfulness teacher shares the '7 things adult children may need to hear’ from their parents

Dad 'gentle parenting with malicious intent' is making people laugh and sparking a new parenting technique

Woman was mocked online for calling an $80 purse a 'luxury item.' Her response went viral.