Path: bloom-picayune.mit.edu!snorkelwacker.mit.edu!news.media.mit.edu!americast.com!americast.com!usa-post Newsgroups: usa-today.health,americast.usa-today.health From: usa-post@AmeriCast.Com Organization: American Cybercasting Approved: usa-post@AmeriCast.com Subject: health Mon, Sep 14 1992 Date: Mon, 14 Sep 92 04:32:03 EDT Message-ID: 09-14 0000 DECISIONLINE: Health USA TODAY Update Sept. 14, 1992 Source: USA TODAY:Gannett National Information Network LAPAROSCOPE OFTEN USED WRONG: The laparoscope, a tool that helps doctors remove diseased gall bladders, debuted so quickly four years ago that not all surgeons learned enough before using it. Some cut into the wrong organs, nicked veins and arteries, and in a few cases, caused patient deaths. The procedure will be discussed at a National Institutes of Health conference next week. (For more, see special Conference package below.) LEAD SCREENING CRITICIZED: The Health Care Financing Administration has ordered lead screening of all preschool children on Medicaid using a test unable to detect lead levels below 25, the New York Times reported Sunday. Screening should focus on high-risk areas and detect levels in blood as low as 10, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics. LEAD TESTS WILL MISS MOST KIDS: The federal government's plan to test all children on Medicaid for lead exposure will miss most exposed kids and waste money, says Dr. Routt Reigart of the American Academy of Pediatrics. His research shows levels from 10 to 25 are linked with mental retardation, hyperactivity, attention disorders. The government's test won't detect levels below 25. POVERTY LEGISLATION PUSHED: Frustrated by deadlock on child poverty legislation, some members of Congress are proposing a "bare bones" remedy called the "Family Investment Act." Included: Full funding for Head Start, immunizations for children, and nutrition programs for pregnant poor women. The proposals also call for more money for family preservation programs that keep kids out of foster care. AIDS VACCINE DOUBTFUL: The odds are against scientists ever producing an AIDS vaccine, says Dr. Albert Sabin, developer of the oral polio vaccine. Writing in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, he says the virus' actions make it difficult to contain. Dr. Anthony Fauci of the National Institutes of Health, admits there are "formidable obstacles" but says many scientists believe they can be overcome. MORE GULF ILLNESSES REPORTED: Symptoms reported by Gulf War veterans who served in the Middle East during Desert Storm are also showing up among some members of a military police unit from Hanscom Air Force Base, Mass. Symptoms include problems with breathing and digestion, rashes, mouth and rectal bleeding, joint pain and severe fatigue. Military and health officials will testify at a U.S. House hearing Wednesday. COCAINE LINKED TO STROKE RISE: Cocaine may be the cause of a sharp increase in strokes, says Dr. Douglas Chyatte of Northwestern University School of Medicine. Chyatte, addressing the World Stroke Conference in Washington, D.C., said Connecticut autopsy records show that a high percentage of cerebral hemorrhage victims "had positive tests for the recent use of cocaine." SINGER SENDS MEDICAL AID: Singer Paul Simon, who set up the Children's Health Fund program in 1987 to help poor kids, is sending a mobile medical van this week to Homestead, Fla. The van will serve medically neglected youngsters in the area and aid victims of Hurricane Andrew. The fund had planned to start a sister program in Florida next year, but Simon hurried things along because of the hurricane. TOWNS TRY TO ATTRACT DOCTORS: Facing little or no access to medical care, 74 Tennessee communities hope to lure doctors under a three-year-old state program. Incentives include offering money to pay medical school loans, practice start-up grants and other payments. SPECIAL PACKAGE ON CONFERENCE: ABDOMINAL SURGEONS MEET: Experts in abdominal surgery will gather at the National Institutes of Health Sept. 14 to Sept. 16 to discuss laparoscopic gallbladder removal. During the conference, experts will issue an opinion on the procedure, which has come under increased scrutiny. The opinion won't be binding but will influence the outlook of doctors and insurance companies, says the NIH's William Hall. TOOL REVOLUTIONIZED SURGERY: With the procedure, surgeons insert a slim, telescope-like device called a laparoscope into the patient's abdomen to see what they're doing. Lasers cut away the diseased organ, which is then pulled out through the incision used to insert the laparoscope. The advantage: Doctors to operate on the inside of the abdomen without cutting through muscle. N.Y. BEGAN NOTING PROBLEMS: The New York State Health Department was the first to notice a problem with the procedure and in June issued strict guidelines on training for laparoscopic surgery. The number of complications among New York patients has dropped since then. "Injuries were widely dispersed," says health department spokeswomen Frances Tarlton. "An individual would not have seen a pattern." ENDORSEMENT IS EXPECTED: Laparoscopy sounds simple, but, because surgeons must look at a television rather than at patients, proper hand-eye coordination is crucial, says Dr. Nathaniel Soper of the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. "I think the conference will" approve the procedure "when it is done by properly trained surgeons," Soper said. (End of package.) Health Editor: Christopher Goldthwaite. (1-919-855-3491) Making copies of USA TODAY Update (Copyright, 1992) for further distribution violates federal law. This article is copyright 1992 Gannett News Service. Redistribution to other sites is not permitted except by arrangement with American Cybercasting Corporation. For more information, send-email to usa@AmeriCast.COM