FIGHTING HEART DISEASE The American Academy of Pediatrics announced today its new recommendation that doctors consider giving cholesterol medication to obese children as young as 8, if they already have too much LDL "bad" cholesterol and high blood pressure. The academy also recommended that children drink 1% or 2% low-fat milk, not whole milk for children from [...]...

Innovations are only gradually changing the art of bone repair. Joints creak. Hips give out. Backaches become unendurable. Who ya gonna call? Not a superstar doctor. Instead, a reliable orthopedic expert. Orthopedic surgeons don't get the glory that goes to heart surgeons and brain surgeons, but people depend on them when age or injury makes movement painful. Innovations, as befits [...]...

Despite their popularity, joint replacements haven't improved much in recent years, veteran orthopedic surgeon Dr. Harry Skinner told a recent meeting of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers in Irvine. Knee replacements are tops in the orthopedic world, with about 529,000 performed annually in the United States at an overall cost of $3.2 billion. Hip replacements [...]...

Orthopedic infections are tough to get rid off, says Dr. Harry Skinner, a medical textbook author and veteran of 12 years as chairman of the Department of Orthopedic Surgery at the UCI School of Medicine. Currently at St. Jude Medical Center in Fullerton, he made these remarks to a recent meeting of the American Society of [...]...

Several local orthopedic companies focus on spinal repair devices, including Interventional Spine of Irvine, Allez Spine of Irvine, and VertiFlex of San Clemente. Interventional Spine makes two implants that doctors can attach via minimally invasive surgery to strengthen the lower spine. The company's Perpos system, which is in use in Europe and the United States, uses screws [...]...