Hernia

TUESDAY, Jan. 30, 2024 -- Older adults frequently delay needed surgery because of financial concerns, a new study finds. Nearly half of people ages 50 and older who were very concerned about the cost of surgery wound up not having an operation they had considered, researchers reported Jan. 30 in the journal JAMA Network Open . Further, more than half who were very concerned about taking time off work wound up dropping plans for surgery, results show. “When I counsel patients in my clinic who are considering elective surgery, I now also spend a good deal of time discussing the financial and employment implications of surgery with them,” said researcher Dr. Nicholas Berlin , a surgical fellow with the University of Michigan Medical School. “Unfortunately, I have seen a number of insured patients forego needed surgery because they are unable to afford the out-of-pocket costs or take time away from work for recovery,” Berlin added in a university news release. For the study, Berlin and his colleagues analyzed data from the National Poll on Healthy Aging, which showed in 2022 that nearly half of older adults considering surgery had concerns about costs, work time lost or COVID risk. About two-thirds who said they were very concerned about COVID exposure during surgery or recovery wound up not having an operation they had considered, researchers found. On the other hand, few patients dropped plans for surgery due to concerns over pain or recovery. For instance, those very concerned about surgery-related pain were as likely as those with no concerns about pain to proceed with their planned operation, results show. Berlin said that federal policymakers have tried to address cost issues by requiring price transparency from hospitals. Those efforts also include reducing the amount of tacked-on “surprise” billing that can occur when someone receives care from a provider not in their insurance network. However, those policies don’t address lost wages from taking work off for surgery or costs related to the way a person’s health insurance is structured, Berlin said. For example, over the past two decades the percentage of people over 60 who work has doubled. At the same time, enrollment in limited-network Medicare Advantage plans and high-deductible heath plans has grown. More research is needed to understand what influences a person’s decision to proceed with operations, said poll director Dr. Jeffrey Kullgren , an associate professor of internal medicine at the University of Michigan. “More research is needed to understand and address caregiver impacts, which were also a factor in not having surgery for some people in the study,” Kullgren added. “This includes both those who are concerned about surgery temporarily making them unable to care for someone else, and those concerned about having someone to care for them after their operation.” The poll included 2,110 adults between the ages of 50 and 80, of whom 32% had considered an elective surgical procedure in the previous five years. Two-thirds of those who considered an operation wound up going through with it. The most common elective operations were knee or hip replacement, cataract surgery, hernia repair, gall bladder removal and hysterectomy, results show. Those procedures can be medically necessary and covered by insurance, but some participants also had considered cosmetic surgery, which is paid for entirely out of pocket. Sources University of Michigan, news release, Jan. 30, 2024 Disclaimer: Statistical data in medical articles provide general trends and do not pertain to individuals. Individual factors can vary greatly. Always seek personalized medical advice for individual healthcare decisions. Posted January 2024 More news resources FDA Medwatch Drug Alerts Daily MedNews News for Health Professionals New Drug Approvals New Drug Applications Drug Shortages Clinical Trial Results Generic Drug Approvals Subscribe to our newsletter Whatever your topic of interest, subscribe to our newsletters to get the best of Drugs.com in your inbox.

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., Jan. 24, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- AbSolutions Med, Inc., a privately held medical device company, announced today that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted Breakthrough Device Designation for its REBUILD Bioabsorbable (“REBUILD”) abdominal wall closure device. REBUILD met the criteria set by the FDA for Breakthrough Devices, potentially providing a novel treatment of an often irreversibly debilitating condition: incisional hernia. Less than 7% of Breakthrough Devices are in the field of general surgery, making REBUILD a standout product in a sector of medicine struggling to make profound advances. Since the first documented laparotomy in 1809, general surgery has been challenged by its limitations in reliably managing a basic but fundamental aspect of abdominal surgery – closure of the abdominal wall. Clinical failure of the closure from sutures tearing through tissue leads to incisional hernia in up to 35.6% of cases1. The impact of a failed abdominal closure can be devastating, with lifelong debilitation, morbidity, and re-operation occurring in a large percentage of patients. REBUILD supports the abdominal wall closure by distributing suture tension over a large area of tissue to maintain apposition of the midline fascial structures during the critical period of healing after surgery, and is then absorbed so as to minimize the risk of long-term foreign body complications. REBUILD has been tested in both animal and human studies with promising outcomes. “The field of hernia repair and hernia prevention has been dominated exclusively by various mesh products. REBUILD takes a different approach, focusing on the root cause of the problem by supporting intrinsic tissue healing, designed to eliminate long-term foreign bodies, and potentially improving patient quality of life by breaking the vicious cycle of repairs, complications and re-operations,” said Dr. Daniel Jacobs, CEO of AbSolutions Med, Inc. About REBUILD REBUILD is intended to support soft tissue approximation of the abdominal wall in conjunction with suture by distributing tension to maintain apposition of the rectus muscles during healing, which has been associated with reduction in post-operative ventral hernia formation. REBUILD is not cleared by the FDA and is not for sale. About AbSolutions Med, Inc. AbSolutions Med, Inc. is a medical device company with the vision to move beyond mesh and rebuild abdominal wall integrity while maintaining normal anatomy and function. For more information, please contact info@absolutionsmed.com or call 1-833-4-ABSMED (1-833-422-7633). 1 Bosanquet DC, Ansell J, Abdelrahman T, Cornish J, … Torkington J (2015) Systematic Review and Meta-Regression of Factors Affecting Midline Incisional Hernia Rates: Analysis of 14,618 Patients. PLoS ONE 10(9): e0138745. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0138745

Less than 7% of Breakthrough Devices are in the field of general surgery, making REBUILD a standout product in a sector of medicine struggling to make profound advances REBUILD supports the abdominal wall closure by distributing suture tension over a large area of tissue. (Credit: Piron Guillaume on Unsplash) AbSolutions Med, Inc., a privately held medical device company, announced today that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted Breakthrough Device Designation for its REBUILD Bioabsorbable abdominal wall closure device. REBUILD met the criteria set by the FDA for Breakthrough Devices, potentially providing a novel treatment of an often irreversibly debilitating condition: incisional hernia. Less than 7% of Breakthrough Devices are in the field of general surgery, making REBUILD a standout product in a sector of medicine struggling to make profound advances. Since the first documented laparotomy in 1809, general surgery has been challenged by its limitations in reliably managing a basic but fundamental aspect of abdominal surgery – closure of the abdominal wall. Clinical failure of the closure from sutures tearing through tissue leads to incisional hernia in up to 35.6% of cases1. The impact of a failed abdominal closure can be devastating, with lifelong debilitation, morbidity, and re-operation occurring in a large percentage of patients. REBUILD supports the abdominal wall closure by distributing suture tension over a large area of tissue to maintain apposition of the midline fascial structures during the critical period of healing after surgery, and is then absorbed so as to minimize the risk of long-term foreign body complications. REBUILD has been tested in both animal and human studies with promising outcomes. “The field of hernia repair and hernia prevention has been dominated exclusively by various mesh products. REBUILD takes a different approach, focusing on the root cause of the problem by supporting intrinsic tissue healing, designed to eliminate long-term foreign bodies, and potentially improving patient quality of life by breaking the vicious cycle of repairs, complications and re-operations,” said Dr. Daniel Jacobs, CEO of AbSolutions Med. Source: Company Press Release