‘Smallest patient’ recovering well after robotic surgery

Only one month old when he made medical history at University of Iowa Children's Hospital at University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics, a North English, Iowa child is well on the road to complete recovery, according to UI pediatric surgeon John Meehan, M.D.

Mason Allen was reportedly the smallest patient in the world ever to receive surgery using the da Vinci® robotic surgical system.

Meehan led a surgical team that performed a Nissen fundoplication and gastrostomy tube placement on the 5.7-pound baby boy on Sept. 17, 2004. The operation involved three incisions that were one-fifth of an inch long and one incision that measured only one-eighth of an inch.

During a Nissen fundoplication, surgeons wrap the top part of the stomach—called the fundus—around the esophagus. This helps prevent food from escaping the stomach back up the esophagus.

Specialists say their ability to conduct the procedure was largely due to the availability of a new five-millimeter camera system funded by Children's Miracle Network and a five-millimeter, 30-degree camera donated by Intuitive Surgical.

The da Vinci robot allows a surgeon to perform minimally invasive surgery using special hand controls to manipulate long, narrow, specially hinged surgical instruments that are inserted through the small incisions in the patient.

Happy New Year! New heart brings joy to toddler’s parents

In what must have seemed the best possible way to ring in the New Year, a 20-month-old Dubuque toddler underwent a life-saving heart transplant. Aryanna Wiebke received the new heart on Dec. 31, 2004, ending a 356-day wait for a healthy heart. It was the longest inpatient wait ever for a pediatric heart transplant at University of Iowa Children's Hospital. "We never lost hope," said Wiebke’s mother, Emily Harrah. Aryanna’s need for a new heart stems from dilated cardiomyopathy, a disease that causes the heart to pump inefficiently, causing it to fail. As a child grows, the heart has to work harder, getting worn and thinned out and stretching bigger in size, says Harold Burkhart, M.D., University of Iowa Children's Hospital surgical director of pediatric heart surgery and pediatric cardiac transplantation. He said there is no known cause for the disease.

User-friendly Web site offers free, valuable insights about cancer

Iowans will find free, comprehensive information about cancer risk factors, prevention, community resources, and information about specific cancers at a new Web site launched by the Iowa Consortium for Comprehensive Cancer Control. Available online at www.canceriowa.org, the site helps users learn about Iowa-specific resources related to cancer, their personal risks for cancer, possible treatments and the potential of research for lessening the suffering and deaths caused by the disease. A grant from the Centers for Disease Control through the Iowa Department of Public Health funded the development of the Web site. Call toll-free 800-237-1225 for more information.

Health specialists urge healthy weight awareness for kids

Pediatricians and other child health specialists from University of Iowa Children's Hospital at UI Hospitals and Clinics are encouraging families to help children understand how weight can affect their health. The prevalence of overweight and obese children has more than doubled in the last 20 years, with over 15 percent of 6- to 19-year-olds considered overweight or obese. "Lifestyle changes that focus on adequate exercise and proper nutrition can help children achieve or maintain a healthy weight," says Patricia Donohoue, M.D. "Being a healthy weight helps prevent serious disorders such as diabetes and heart disease and helps children become healthy, happy adults."

Iowans to benefit from network that researches cardiac arrest in Iowa

Long-time advocacy by Iowa’s rescue community for research into improving the treatment of patients with cardiac arrest paid off when the National Institutes of Health established the Iowa Regional Resuscitation Center at University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics. As part of the project, emergency medical services throughout Iowa will participate in the new statewide network. This network will assess the effectiveness of new devices, drugs, and strategies to treat serious trauma and prevent out-of-hospital sudden death due to cardiac arrest. Richard Kerber, M.D., directs the new Center, and Steven Hata, M.D., co-directs.

The Department of Pharmaceutical Care recently received re-accreditation for both of its residency programs: the Pharmacy Practice Residency and the Pharmacy Primary Care Residency.

Joseph Buckwalter, M.D., orthopaedics, has been elected to membership in the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences.

Antonio Damasio, M.D., Ph.D., and Hanna Damasio, M.D., jointly received the Jean-Louis Signoret Prize in Cognitive Neuroscience.

H. Stanley Thompson, M.D., has been honored as the new namesake for the H. Stanley Thompson Neuro-Ophthalmology Clinic at UI Hospitals and Clinics.