Orthopedic News

Keith Richards Falls Out of Palm Tree, Hospitalized

While vacationing in Fiji, 62-year-old Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards fell out of a palm tree and suffered a mild concussion.

... media reports in Australia and New Zealand said Richards hurt his head after falling out of a palm tree at an exclusive Fiji resort and remained hospitalized in Auckland. (Washington Post)

Face Transplant Patient Has Complete Feeling

Isabelle Dinoire, the French woman who underwent the world's first face transplant after she was attacked by a dog, says she now has complete feeling in her face.

Isabelle Dinoire, 38, also told the newspaper Le Journal du Dimanche that the hardest part of her recovery appears to be getting to know herself again. When asked if she has accepted her new face, she responded: "It's too difficult to explain." (Washington Post)

Fosamax Causes Bone Disease

According to LIJ, “ONJ is a condition in which the bone tissue in the jaw fails to heal after minor trauma such as a tooth extraction, causing the bone to be exposed.” The exposure, the doctors said, can eventually lead to infection and fracture and may require long-term antibiotic therapy or surgery to remove the dying bone tissue. (opednews.com)

Lawsuits Filed Over Fosamax

Seeger Weiss LLP announces that it is investigating claims against Merck & Co. for Fosamax-related injuries, including reports of osteonecrosis of the jaw. (chron.com)

Damage to Bones and Teeth From Fluoride

Fluoride in drinking water — long controversial in the United States when it is deliberately added to strengthen teeth — can damage bones and teeth, and federal standards fail to guard against this, the National Academy of Sciences reported Wednesday. (MSNBC)

New Osteoporosis Drug Shows Promise

A new drug for osteoporosis increases bone mineral density and decreases the rate of bone destruction in postmenopausal women.

The study centered on injections of denosumab, which made its administering different from almost every other treatment for osteoporosis. "They show that the drug is very potent," said Dr. Michael Whyte, author of an accompanying editorial and a professor of medicine, pediatrics and genetics at Washington University in St. Louis. "When they administer the denosumab subcutaneously, the bone breakdown parameters plummet very rapidly." (excite.com)

Limited Benefits From Calcium

The latest news about calcium and vitamin D may not look so encouraging, but most experts say the take-home message is the same: Keep taking your pills.

The biggest study ever to examine the value of the supplements suggests they convey only limited protection against broken bones. They failed to protect against most fractures in the mostly low-risk women, but seemed to offer some benefit against hip breaks among women over 60 and those who took the pills most faithfully. (excite.com)

Body-Harvesting Scandal Causes Shock, Anger

A macabre scandal has spread from a body-harvesting lab in New Jersey to hospitals as far away as Florida, Nebraska and Texas as hundreds of people discover that they have received tissue and bone carved from looted corpses, not least the cadaver of Alistair Cooke, the late and erudite host of PBS's "Masterpiece Theatre." (Washington Post)

Alcohol Can Damage Bones

Bone loss is an often-overlooked consequence of heavy drinking, but recent research has illuminated how alcohol takes a toll on the bones, according to a new report.

In a review of cell, animal and human studies, Dr. Dennis A. Chakkalakal of the Omaha VA Medical Centre in Nebraska describes how heavy drinking leads to bone loss, higher risk of fractures and slower healing of bone breaks. (MSNBC)

Hospitals Reusing Single Use Medical Devices

A growing number of U.S. hospitals, including at least eight in the Washington area, are saving money by reusing medical devices designated for one-time use, ignoring the warnings of manufacturers, which will not vouch for the safety of their reconditioned products. (Washington Post)

Botox May Relieve Pain of Tennis Elbow

A new study has found that an injection of Botox relieves the pain of tennis elbow for up to three months. The findings of the study have been published in the Annals of Internal Medicine.

The new study is the first to find that botulinum toxin injections outperformed a placebo in the treatment of tennis elbow. In this case, injections of plain saline served as the placebo. (Reuters UK)

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Woman in France Has First Partial Face Transplant

Physicians in France said they had performed the world's first partial face transplant, advancing into a risky medical frontier with an operation on a woman disfigured by a dog bite.

The 38-year-old woman, who has asked to remain anonymous, had a nose, lips and chin grafted onto her face from a brain-dead donor whose family gave consent. The operation, performed Sunday, included a surgeon famous for transplant breakthroughs, Jean-Michel Dubernard. (Washington Post)

Actress Brooke Burns Hospitalized

LOS ANGELES -- Actress Brooke Burns was hospitalized after diving into her backyard pool and hitting her head, her agent said Monday.

Burns broke a bone in her neck and required "minor surgery," said Paradigm spokeswoman Jennifer Glassman. (Washington Post)

Calcific Tendonitis and a New Office Chair Change One Woman's Life

It started simply enough, with a new office chair ...

An X-ray revealed a calcium deposit, a tiny mineral mass, technically called calcific tendinitis, within a tendon of my shoulder. As the new chair jammed my upper arm up against the deposit, the area became inflamed. The doctor first suggested anti-inflammatory medication, but by July 2004 the medication had diminishing impact. (Washington Post)

Lindsay Lohan Suffers Minor Injuries After Car Crash

Lindsay Lohan and two other people were taken to a hospital Tuesday after the actress' black Mercedes-Benz convertible collided with a van in West Hollywood, authorities said.

Witnesses said Lohan was trying to avoid paparazzi photographers when the crash occurred. (Washington Post)