Health

Mumbai doctors are observing a clear rise in the number of fractures among elderly patients, with nearly 10-15 senior citizens reporting fractures requiring surgical intervention every week. These injuries are no longer simple cracks but often involve multiple bones, peri-implant fractures, joint damage, and slow healing. Early diagnosis and timely management can prevent long-term disability, bed confinement, and loss of independence among older adults. A 78-year-old housewife from Chembur complained of hip pain after a minor fall at home. Living alone, she delayed seeking medical help, assuming the pain would reduce. Within days, she became completely bedridden. The fracture had worsened, leading to muscle weakness and severe pain. Hip replacement surgery was done, followed by intensive...

In a rare case, a 25-year-old Pune woman was diagnosed with both a slow-growing mesenteric tumour and abdominal tuberculosis, but has now been treated successfully by doctors in the city.  The extraordinary medical case was take up and treated by successfully tackled by a multidisciplinary team led by Dr Gauri Jagdale, consultant – Obstetrics & Gynaecology, Motherhood Hospitals in Kharadi,  The new mother had developed a massive abdominal tumour and abdominal tuberculosis (TB) just months after delivering her baby. What began as a normal postpartum recovery quickly turned into a medical puzzle involving two rare conditions occurring simultaneously — a combination never recorded before in medical literature for someone so young. Imagine bringing a baby into the world after a full-ter...

Doctors at a hospital in Kolkata have successfully performed their first-ever stem cell therapy for an advanced case of Peripheral Arterial Disease (PAD) on a 62-year-old retired government employee from the `City of Joy`. The therapy was done under the expertise of Dr Jayanta Das, consultant - Vascular and Endovascular Surgery, and Dr Krishnendu Mukherjee, consultant – Vascular and Endovascular Surgery, Manipal Hospital, Broadway. The patient was a chronic smoker, had been diagnosed with PAD nearly a year ago and was initially advised angioplasty with possible stenting. Peripheral Arterial Disease (PAD) is a condition in which the blood vessels in the legs become narrowed or blocked, reducing blood flow. This can cause leg pain, non-healing wounds, and in severe cases, infection or ampu...

Adolescent girls who actively partake in recreational physical activity can have significant protection against risks of breast cancer, according to a study.  Researchers from the Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health in the US showed that recreational physical activity may be associated with breast tissue composition and biomarkers of stress in adolescent girls. In the study, girls who reported engaging in at least two hours of recreational physical activity in the prior week, compared with none, had lower percent water content in breast tissue -- an indicator of lower breast density and lower concentrations of urinary biomarkers linked to stress. The findings, published in the journal Breast Cancer Research, shed new light on how physical activity during adolescence -- a...

At 90 million, India ranked second in the number of adults living with diabetes in 2024. China was first at 148 million and the US ranked third at 39 million, according to a study published in The Lancet Diabetes and Endocrinology journal. Researchers, including those from the International Diabetes Federation in Belgium and the India Diabetes Research Foundation and Dr A Ramachandran`s Diabetes Hospital in Chennai, said countries with large populations, such as China, India, the US, and Pakistan, contribute a very large share of the number of people with diabetes worldwide. They projected that Pakistan could surpass the US by 2050. The eleventh edition of the International Diabetes Federation (IDF) Diabetes Atlas provides national, regional and global diabetes prevalence estimates for ...

The modern social calendar is often at odds with our biological requirements. Whether it is a holiday season, a string of late-night weddings, or the occasional weekend party, our internal systems pay a heavy price for social jetlag. We often view the resulting exhaustion as a simple debt of hours, but as Dr Sneha S consultant internal medicine at Manipal Hospital, Kanakpura Road, Bengaluru, explains, the reality is far more disruptive. “When our schedules shift abruptly, our internal clocks become desynchronised, leading to sleep that is light, fragmented, and fundamentally unable to perform its restorative functions,” she shares. Repairing a shattered sleep schedule is not a matter of sheer willpower or ‘catching up’ on a Sunday morning. Instead, it requires a strategic realignment of th...

Mumbai doctors have performed a rare and clinically significant bilateral hand transplant. It was done using hands received through cadaveric donation, after the family of a 50-year-old woman consented to donate her organs following her death.  The transplant restored functional hand use to an 18-year-old male recipient. Along with her hands, the donor’s lungs, liver, and corneas were also donated, enabling multiple transplants across hospitals in Mumbai and Surat.  The recipient, 18-year-old Priyank Aghera, the son of a farmer from Rajkot in Gujarat, had lost both hands in a tragic farm accident in January 2024 while assisting his father during cotton harvesting. A branch became lodged in a tractor blade and, when the blades restarted, he sustained severe crush injuries that were beyond...

In a world-first discovery, scientists in Australia have found that the human heart can regrow muscle cells after a heart attack, raising hopes for future regenerative treatments for heart failure, and subsequently overall health. The study, published in Circulation Research, revealed that while parts of the heart remain scarred after a heart attack, new muscle cells are also produced, a phenomenon previously seen only in mice and now demonstrated in humans for the first time, Xinhua news agency reported. "Until now we`ve thought that, because heart cells die after a heart attack, those areas of the heart were irreparably damaged, leaving the heart less able to pump blood to the body`s organs," said Robert Hume, research fellow at the University of Sydney and first author of the study. "...

Mumbai doctors at a city hospital have successfully performed a complex and extraordinary liver surgery on a two-year-old giving the child a new lease of life.  Aphsa, was diagnosed with an advanced liver cancer involving major blood vessels in and around the liver. The cancer was inoperable by conventional surgery, leading to the innovative operation led by Dr Abhishek Mathur, with the collaborative expertise of Prof Darius Mirza, Dr Pradnya Bendre, Dr Shailesh Sable, Dr Gayatri Munghate, and Dr Saurin Dani, turning what seemed like an impossible situation into a story of hope. Aphsa, who is a cheerful and lively child, was diagnosed with a locally advanced hepatoblastoma by oncologist Dr Mudaliar after her mother noticed a swelling in her abdomen. Hepatoblastomas represent one of the c...

Widespread smartphone and social media use among children is driving a sharp rise in depression, anxiety and suicide, top American lawmakers and experts have said calling it a public health crisis that demands urgent government action. Parents are increasingly alarmed by the amount of time children spend on screens and the nature of the content they consume, said Senator Ted Cruz, during a Senate Commerce Committee hearing titled “Plugged Out: Examining the Impact of Technology on America’s Youth.” Cruz said children aged 8 to 12 now spend an average of 5.5 hours a day on screens, while teenagers spend more than 8.5 hours a day. “More than half of a teenager’s waking hours are spent staring at a screen,” he said, calling the trend deeply troubling for parents and educators. Psychologist...