Henry Rosenberg, MD, president of the Malignant Hyperthermia Association of the United States, recently communicated via the MHAUS hotline with a desperate OR team trying to stabilize a teenage patient experiencing a severe MH episode during an elective orthopedic procedure. It didn't end well.

"We were all at a loss and very frustrated because no matter what was done in terms of following all the guidelines and recommendations, this poor patient was not responding," he recently recounted on the MHAUS blog. "Finally all the dantrolene was given, the rigidity continued and the heart failed completely."

Read more about what happened and how best to treat this confounding condition about which surgical professionals still have a lot to learn.

Daniel Cook

The use of electronic health records could contribute to a dramatic decline in medical malpractice claims, according to a study from Harvard Medical School.

The study tracked 275 Massachusetts physicians that were surveyed in 2005 and 2007. It found 49 claims related to alleged malpractice that occurred before the physicians implemented electronic records and 2 claims after adoption.

Study authors point out, though, that factors other than EHRs could possibly explain the drop in claims. For example, physicians using electronic records could be "early adopters" that practice a style of medicine less likely to generate malpractice claims, according to the researchers, who also noted that the study was confined only to Massachusetts-based physicians affiliated with Harvard Medical School.

Still, the study offers more evidence that electronic health records "improve quality and safety and, as a result, prevent adverse events and reduce the risk of malpractice claims," says Steven Simon, MD, MPH, associate professor in the department of medicine at Harvard Medical School, an internist with VA Boston Healthcare System and a co-author of the study.

The results should help alleviate concerns that the use of electronic health records could lead to increased medical malpractice risk, says Tom Baker, a professor of law and health sciences at the University of Pennsylvania Law School, noting that some observers have expressed fears that the ease of reviewing electronic records would make finding errors simpler.

"This research suggests that, rather than increasing medical malpractice risk, adopting electronic health records reduces that risk," says Mr. Baker.

Mark McGraw

A titanium, snorkel-shaped stent 1mm in length has earned the FDA's approval as a treatment for mild- to moderate-stage open-angle glaucoma among adult patients, in whom it can be implanted in conjunction with cataract surgery.

The device reduces intraocular pressure by draining built-up aqueous humor from the anterior chamber, through the blocked trabecular meshwork and into Schlemm's canal, where it can leave the eye.

The device's manufacturer, Glaukos Corporation of Laguna Hills, Calif., bills the iStent Trabecular Micro-Bypass Stent System as the "smallest medical device known to be implanted into the human body." Pre-loaded into a sterile, disposable inserter, the stent works without creating a bleb on the surface of the eye.

"This option may be considered earlier in the disease process than some other types of surgical glaucoma treatments," says Christy Foreman, director of the Office of Device Evaluation at the FDA's Center for Devices and Radiological Health. Glaukos notes that it also retains the possibility of future surgical treatments for glaucoma patients.

David Bernard

Do you send physicians and patients to your online presence with pride, or is it in need of an overhaul? Grade your facility's web page in this week's InstaPoll and check back next week to see the final marks.

About 2 out of 3 (64%) of the 280 surgical facilities who took last week's InstaPoll pay their medical directors. For more than 1 in 5 (22%) of the respondents, medical directors earn more than $30,000 per year . The results: