Photo Hunters : “Childhood”
My son’s favourite playground. The most memorable times in childhood are playtimes.
Magnetic anchoring and guidance system (MAGS)
“MAGS” is another idea to decrease the scars on the abdomen for minimal access surgery. It is a developmental system to position instruments in the abdomen and control the instruments.
This was announced by a team of doctors and engineers in Southwestern Medical Center in March this year. It was published in the Annals of Surgery
The idea of using magnets to manipulate the instruments in the abdominal cavity was formulated after Dr. Cadeddu watched a television show featuring teens who used magnets to hold studs on their lips to avoid getting their lips pierced.
Currently, laparoscopic instruments are inserted via “ports”, which are fixed on the abdominal wall. They become the fulcrum (pivot point) for all the instruments that are inserted. Therefore, the instruments can only approach an organ from one direction through any given port.
MAGS depend on instruments that are anchored on the INSIDE of the abdominal wall by magnets on the OUTSIDE. The pivot point can be changed by changing the position of the anchor. That gives greater flexibility to approach organs.
Besides that, it reduces the number of ports that need to be used to introduce instruments. I would imagine that one port might be all that’s necessary to introduce all the instruments you need for an operation. That would translate into fewer scars and less pain.
Perhaps this could be used together with N.O.T.E.S. to enable operations to be performed more ergonomically. Slowly but surely, technology will change the way we operate.
*Ahem* did I say “slowly”? … 
Malaysian Doctor Blogs
Palmdoc lists the top 15 Malaysian Doctor Blogs on Malaysian Medical Resources. Go see.. 
I also want to take this opportunity to introduce my friend, George’s new domain: http://gcgeorge.net. After getting hacked and while recovering, he thought about it and decided to get his own domain name. Congrats, George!
Go and link him for more excellent clinical pictures and x-rays. And really good underwater shots from his diving expeditions.
Photo Hunters : “Rare”
What photos do I have to show something “rare”? Perhaps this?
This is a rare malignancy. It’s a melanoma at the anus. Melanoma is not rare, but it’s rare in the anus. That’s rare.
This is common. It’s carcinoma in the rectum.
Basically these are just different types of malignancies. The importance is in the way that the behave, which are different.
