It used to be “big hole, big surgeon” — but no more, according to Stanford’s chair of surgery, Tom Krummel, MD, who's one of the surgeons featured in Stanford Medicine magazine's report on surgery and life in the operating room, “Inside job: Surgeons at work.”
During his career of more than 30 years, Krummel has seen a massive shift from open surgeries to minimally invasive procedures — major surgeries conducted with tools that work through small openings.
“We do the same big operation. We just don’t make a big hole,” he said in the article leading off the report.
In the same issue, CNN's chief medical correspondent, neurosurgeon Sanjay Gupta, MD, talks about why he’s “doubling down” on his support for medical marijuana.
As the editor, I'm biased — but I think it's worth a read, along with the rest of the issue, which includes:
- "In the groove": on the culture of the operating room
- "Going under": on efforts to improve anesthesia by understanding the physiology of unconsciousness
- "Her left hand": on a surgeon's crisis when her hands become paralyzed
- "Sculpting bones": on lengthening a young girl’s leg using an external fixator — a device described both as draconian and as the perfect blend of engineering and art (Check out our animation by Lighthaus showing how the device works)
- "Healing wounds": on the burgeoning problem of wounds that don’t heal
The issue also includes a report on research on Alzheimer’s disease, and an excerpt from Surgeon General's Warning, a new book by Associated Press medical reporter Mike Stobbe on the fall from power of the U.S. surgeon general. The digital edition offers audio interviews with Gupta, Stobbe, Stanford surgeon and humanitarian-aid volunteer Sherry Wren, MD, and photographer Max Aguilera-Hellweg, MD.
Previously: The vanishing U.S. surgeon general: A conversation with AP reporter Mike Stobbe, Mysteries of the heart: Stanford Medicine magazine answers cardiovascular questions, From womb to world: Stanford Medicine Magazine explores new work on having a baby and Factoring in the environment: A report from Stanford Medicine magazine
Photo by Max Aguilera-Hellweg
