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October 7, 2012 Spinal Elements, a small and growing company, had long made plates, screws and other technology used in spinal surgeries. But its new Hero Allograft was the first product it ever made from the tissue — in this case the bones — of a donated human cadaver.

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September 26, 2012 There are a lot more older people with worn-out knees, and the rate at which those people get knees replaced has gone way up in the last 20 years, too.

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July 30, 2012 About 1 in 500 people has a concave chest wall, a condition known as pectus excavatum, or sunken chest. A new experimental procedure could provide an alternative to painful and invasive surgeries for children.

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July 18, 2012 A study of more than 700 men with prostate cancer found no difference in rates of death among men who had their prostates surgically removed compared to those who didn't. The findings suggest that men with low-risk cancers could forgo surgery.

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July 2, 2012 Some of the 100,000 people who have donated a kidney in the past six decades say the donation has left them with debilitating health and financial problems. And they say the health care system doesn't do enough to document their cases or issue them sufficient warnings.

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June 27, 2012 A piece of fruit can be a terrific stand-in for a patient during doctors' surgical training. And while there are high-tech simulators on the market, one researcher believes skills crucial to minimally invasive surgery might be better taught with something as simple as a clementine.

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On All Things ConsideredPlaylist

April 30, 2012 There were robots everywhere at the USA Science and Engineering Festival in Washington this past weekend. Robots shot baskets. There was a wheeled R2-D2 robot at the CIA's booth. And then there were surgical robots that let future doctors — and patients — try their hand at tasks requiring pinpoint accuracy.

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April 6, 2012 A team of researchers in the U.K. say antibiotics might be an effective alternative in uncomplicated cases of acute appendicitis. But there's concern that symptoms may show up later.

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March 19, 2012 Shavings of metal can flake off of the artificial joints and cause serious pain and medical problems in the hip. About a half-million Americans have this type of implant, and though most patients won't have a problem, one doctor called the failure rate "unacceptably high."

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February 20, 2012 KQEDPediatric surgeons often have to improvise the tools of their trade, because surgical instruments are not often designed specifically for children. Some surgeons are teaming up with engineers to try to change this.

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January 6, 2012 More hospitals are watching and waiting instead of operating on some patients with gunshot or stab wounds, a new study finds. Exploratory surgery, long the norm in such cases, may be safely skipped some of the time.

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December 13, 2011 KHNAdolescents covered by Medicaid may have an easier time getting weight-loss surgery paid for. The surgery costs upwards of $20,000 and it's not entirely clear which adolescents would benefit most from it.

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July 22, 2011 Veterinarians used a wheel from a local hardware store to replace a tortoise's amputate limb.

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