NIle Rodgers Fights Cancer

As he recently divulged on his own blog, Nile Rodgers was diagnosed with prostate cancer at the end of October and has already undergone surgery to remove the malignancy. Rodgers, co-founder of Chic, famously composed "Le Freak" after being denied entry into New York's Studio 54, and went on to produce a long list of pop icons, including Diana Ross, David Bowie, Duran Duran, Sister Sledge, Madonna, and many others. He's active on Facebook and Twitter with health updates and other news, so send him some love. We're sure he'll appreciate the positive thoughts. LINK

The World's First Full-Face Transplant // Update of video included

Doctors in Spain have carried out the world’s first full-face transplant. Although there have already been partial transplants, this was the most complex so far:

It appears to include more bone and much more of the lower part of the face.

A spokesperson for the UK’s Facial Transplantation Research Team, which has ethical permission to carry out a full face transplant, said it was “a tremendous achievement”.

“This appears to be the most complex facial transplant operation carried out so far worldwide,” he said.

“It once again shows how facial transplantation can help a small number of people who are the most severely facially injured and for whom reconstructive surgery cannot and has not worked.”

Link, Via: Gizmodo | Image: Vall D’Hebron Hospital, Via: Neatorama

"ADDITION" ( 4-26-2010 ) I received an Email giving me the LINK to the video. From Newsy.com.

Former Miss Argentina dies after plastic surgery

A former Miss Argentina died Sunday after complications arising from plastic surgery, the official Telam news agency said.

Solange Magnano, 37, died in a hospital after being transferred from a clinic where she underwent an elective surgery on her buttocks on Wednesday, the agency reported.

Magnano ran her own modeling agency in Argentina, and had been a model and Miss Argentina in 1994. She also was the mother of 7-year-old twins.

The cause of her death was under investigation, authorities said. LINK

Pensioner grows new skull

A pensioner whose skull was removed after an accident in the 1950s astounded doctors by growing a new one.

Gordon Moore, 72, had worn a metal plate to protect his brain for more than 50 years after he was involved in a car crash.

But when surgeons removed the titanium plate to treat an infection, they were astonished to find the had grown a new skull underneath.

A skull growing back is so rare there are no records on the number of times it has happened.

The whole smashed front section of Gordon's skull, from his eye to his ear, backwards to the top of his head, has regenerated.

It is understood there has been only one other discovery like this in the world. LINK

Full story here.

Surgical Videos from the 1930s

"Caesarean section at full term for contracted pelvis (1930)"

(YouTube Link)

Courtesy of the British Medical Asssociation, Wired has a collection of seven videos from the 1930s showing common surgeries. They’re good demonstrations of what has changed and what hasn’t in the past seventy years of medicine. The video above is of a Caesarean birth. Others include brain, ovarian, and tonsil surgeries. Note that these videos are medically graphic and not for the squeamish.

Link, Via: Neatorama