After decades of decline, the incidence of cervical cancer is again on the rise, especially in women under age 50. According to the American Cancer Society, about 80,000 women are now diagnosed with cervical cancer each year, but the malignancy is invasive in only 16,000 of these cases. (Invasive cancer may cause unusual vaginal bleeding, a watery discharge, and dull pelvic pain.) The remaining 65,000 have carcinoma in situ, an asymptomatic preinvasive condition. Cervical cancer most commonly develops between the ages of 40 and 55. Its precise cause is unknown, but factors linked to an increased risk include beginning sexual intercourse before the age of 18 and having multiple sex partners; contracting genital warts; and tobacco use. Some studies also suggest that use of oral contraceptives increases risk; others implicate a deficiency of folic acid.

Diagnostic Studies And Procedures

The best means of early detection is a pap smear, which all women should have at least every three years, and more often if they have any of the high risk factors listed above. In a pap test, a sample of cells is collected from the cervix and sent to a laboratory for evaluation. If abnormal cells are detected, colposcopy will usually be done to locate the site of the abnormal cells and biopsy them. This is achieved with the aid of a colposcope, a slender optical instrument with a light at the end to magnify the surface of the cervix and vagina. Fragments of cervix will be removed and studied by a pathologist (punch biopsy) to determine whether the cells show dysplasia, a change in tissue that may develop into carcinoma in situ or more invasive cancer.

Medical Treatments

In some cases of mild dysplasia, no treatment is given, but frequent pap smears and physical examinations are performed. More often, the abnormal tissue is destroyed using one of three methods: a freezing technique called cryosurgery; hot cauterization with an electrical probe; or laser surgery. Treatment of cancer depends upon its stage . Carcinoma in situ is sometimes treated with conization , which usually preserves a woman’s ability to have a baby. In other cases, radiation therapy or a hysterectomy may be advised, especially if a woman has completed her family or is past menopause. More extensive cervical cancer almost always requires surgery, often a radical hysterectomy. This operation may be followed up with radiation therapy. Occasionally, radiation precedes or substitutes for surgery. Radiation can be administered externally in the form of low dose X-rays, or internally as radioactive rods inserted into the vagina and uterus.

Alternative Therapies

While there is no substitute for medical care of cervical cancer, acupuncture, meditation, and other relaxation therapies may be employed to control pain. More controversial is the use of garlic inserted into the vagina. Though it is said to have anticancer properties, it is highly irritating to mucous membranes.

Self Treatment

After cryosurgery, use sanitary napkins, not tampons, to absorb discharge. Plan on at least six weeks to recover fully from a hysterectomy. In the mean time, avoid lifting heavy objects and any other activity that will put a strain on the incision. If constipation is a problem, use a stool softener. Following treatment for cervical cancer, check with your doctor before resuming sexual intercourse, although it is usually safe when healing is complete.

Other Causes of Cervical Symptoms

Polyps, infections, and chronic pelvic inflammatory disease can produce bleeding, pain, and other symptoms similar to those of cervical cancer.

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Cancer is life threatening but it isn’t the end of your life. Discovering that you have cancer can be unnerving and for a second, you might feel hopeless and desolate. However, this is the time when the strength of your character will be tested, when you find out how strong you are. Approaching cancer spiritually has helped many people in combating the disease. Obviously, there are different ways to do this but the following pointers will be helpful –

1. Adopt A Positive Outlook Towards Life – The negative forces stem from our own fears and breed on our insecurities. You have to believe that you can face this, that you are strong and powerful. Hope can be healing and it can help when everything else has failed. Positivity not only benefits your soul but also your body. It acts as a catalyst to attract better things in life.

Live every second like it’s your first and last. You don’t have to be scared of death but this doesn’t mean that you have to give up fighting for life. Your life is yours and you deserve every happy moment you have lived. Be curious and explore, look at things from a fresh point of view and you will attract positivity from all sources.

2. Don’t Feel Sorry – People who say that they don’t have regrets in life are either lying or they have spent their life in a box. Everyone has regrets but the wise ones use those regrets to propel them towards success and positivity. Never feel sorry for what has gone because it is the past and no amount of crying can bring it back. Bad things happen to the best of people but if you believe in the spiritual power of nature, you would realize that everything has a purpose.

Open your eyes and replace the sorry feeling with new things. There are many people who have fought cancer and have emerged victorious. Read about them and share their stories. Believe that you can be one of those people. Your attitude can work wonders on your immunity as well.

3. Get Up And Take Charge – Get out of bed and take your life in your own hands. If you feel the need to change, be that change. If you think that you need a psychotherapist to deal with the problems you are facing, don’t be shy and get one. All the changes in your life can be brought by you only if you take initiative.

4. Keep Your Mind Open – Never give up hope. You have to believe that distance energy healing will work for you and only then will it work well. Keep your mind open for all sorts of treatments because they might just be the thing you need.

This doesn’t mean that you give up on medicine. Your medication and therapy goes on side by side. You can try distance energy healing for cancer and explore the miracles of the human mind yourself. Just keep an open attitude and believe in it, that’s all you need.

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Waking up with swollen gums is not a pleasant experience and before you attribute it to some dental problem, check out if you having the habit of unconsciously grinding your teeth. Yes, bruxism or teeth grinding causes swollen gums and, over a period of time, can cause your teeth to crumble. Horrifying thought, isn’t it? Since it is an unconscious habit, what can you do to get rid of it? Here are 5 effective tips that can help you get rid of this habit and protect your teeth from further damage.

1. Ask Your Dentist For A Mouth Guard – Like your security watchman, a mouth guard for grinding teeth is a plastic cap like device that is fit over your teeth. So, when you grind your teeth, the grinding force gets redistributed and protects your teeth. And, if you are worried about looking weird, then relax. No one will know what you have over your teeth.

2. Give yourself a mouth massage – You give your body massages to relax it. So, why not a massage for your mouth? Strange as a mouth massage sounds, it is one of best ways to relax the jaw muscles and ease away your tensions. One of the reasons for bruxism is stress and massaging you jaw and face can help relax these muscles. Just remember not to rub too hard. Use circular motions gently.

3. Use De-stressing Techniques – Since now you know that stress is one of the major causes of bruxism, try and work it out of your body. Use tried and tested techniques like exercising, listening to music and others to de-stress. You can also meditate to relax your body and mind. When the muscles of your body relax, your jaw will stop the chewing motion.
One of the most effective methods of relaxing your body is to close your eyes and breathe deeply. Then imagine that each part of your body is relaxing.

4. Fulfill Your Physical And Emotional Needs – Is ignoring your physical and emotional needs causing you stress enough to grind your teeth? Well, what are you waiting for? Go and take care of them. Remember, stress will only cause you to grind your teeth more. So you need to effectively work towards fulfilling your needs, whatever they are.

5. Quit Bad Habits – Habits like excessive consumption of alcohol, chewing gums or your pen caps or the back of your pencils, can only get your jaws into the habit of chewing. When they don’t get their regular quota of chewing gums, pens or pencils and others, they will take to grinding teeth, your teeth. Why let your jaws ruin your perfect teeth. Just get rid of bad habits!

Remember that if you don’t work towards stopping teeth grinding, your teeth will soon become a thing of the past instead of this habit. Take care of your stress and follow the tips given about to relax your jaw and facial muscles. Work consciously to stop bruxing.

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Are you one of those people who have shrugged off snoring as something inconsequential? Or are you the loved one staying awake for hours on end because of your snoring partner? No matter which category you fall in, you would realize that snoring is very common and very irksome. It is not only embarrassing in certain cases but can even have serious consequences health wise.

This doesn’t mean that you should run off to get surgery and solve the problem once and for all. Always remember that surgery is the last option and you must give non-surgical options a shot before going further. These non-surgical options include losing weight, not consuming alcohol before you go to sleep, nasal strips et al. Some other useful and proven non-surgical treatments that you may want to try can be found here.

If you have tried them all to no avail, you can go to a sleep clinic and get your sleep evaluation done. Doctors will identify the source of your snoring and suggest remedies according to their findings. Here are some medical treatments you could opt for –

1. Decongestants – If you have any allergy, then your nasal tract can swell and get irritated and the same goes for infection. Your doctor would prescribe that you take a decongestant because you sleep. That will reduce swelling and diminish the snoring eventually. Of course, this is for sudden snoring cases and not for the chronic ones.

2. CPAP – CPAP stands for Continuous Positive Airway Pressure and is a commonly used device to counteract snoring. It’s basically a mask that covers your nose and has a high pressure that keeps your airway free and clean while you sleep. This mask is connected to a tube which, in turn, is connected to a machine that is the size of a shoe box.

It is very safe and takes care of all your obstructions, no matter which area they are localized to.

3. Surgery – If all else fails, only then should you turn towards surgery. This is because there are many risks associated with it and even after that, there is no guarantee. The following surgical options could be explored –

• Somnoplasty and Coblation Chanelling – Somnoplasty uses low radiofrequency waves to reduce excess tissue which your body would later reabsorb. It is a quick, relatively painless and bloodless procedure. Coblation Chanelling uses the same radiofrequency energy. The only difference is that it uses both shrinking and heating of tissue to clear airways.

• Uvulopalathopharyngoplasty – This can be done with or without laser where excessive soft palate and uvula is removed so that the airway gets expanded. However, laser removal requires multiple sessions.

• Nasal Surgery – Some people have a deviated septum and a simple nasal surgery can correct that by removing blockage and obstructions from your nose. This would stop that snoring.

There are many other surgical options like injection of sclerosing liquid amongst others. You should always remember that even after surgery, snoring is known to return. Also, surgeries are known to be ineffective but once done, they cannot be reversed. So, always be careful before you choose surgery.

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Dentistry now offers you four different dental implants from which you can choose. If you have to remove a tooth or if you break it, your dentist can now replace it with a new denture with the help of implant dentistry. These implants vary in the time they require to heal and the techniques that dentists use to place them in your mouth. Here is a brief outline of the four types of dental implants –

1. Endosteal Implant

This is the most frequently used dental implant and the most popular one as well. But be sure that you’re getting it done only by any experienced Woodland Hills dentists. You will require a strong bone structure for this surgery. The surgery has two steps –

• Step 1

Your dentist will first drill a hole into your gum and insert the implant. He will then stitch the area and you will have to rest it for at least six months.

• Step 2

Once the first stage of healing is complete, the dentist will again open the area. He will now fix a crown on this implant and again let it rest for a while. With time, your bone will fuse with the metal implant and secure it.

2. Subperiosteal Implant

If you do not have a strong bone structure or if your jaws are worn out, then this is implant is best for you. The jawbone doesn’t have enough width or height to hold the metal implant tightly, therefore the implant placed on the bone is so designed to support it.

This process requires only one surgery, where a CT scan is done to determine the type of implant that would work. A computerized image of the implant is made and then the area, where the implant is to be placed, is cut open by your dentist. An implant, similar to the model, is inserted with a metal base that distributes the weight and makes it secure.

Then the crown is placed on top of the implant. It is often placed on a second surgery to allow the area to heal first.

3. Plate Form Implant

This implant will suit you if you have a narrow bone structure. The surgery involves placing a thin, narrow metal structure inside the gum after cutting the jawbone open. The dentist then seals the area till it heals. After a period of few months, when it completely heals, he places the crown.

4. Dental Supports

These implants are for people who have to replace their teeth or take them out. If you take out an entire set of teeth, you will have to replace them with artificial dentures. Intramucosal implants involve a series of implants connected with a rod. Ramus Framed implant uses a heavy piece of metal. This is implanted in your gums and supports your dentures. It is flexible. Both these implants are removable.

There are various different methods and implants to improve your dental health. Consult a dentist and find out which method is suitable for you.

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It is so frustrating to come back home after a hard day’s work with a backache only to find that no one understands the reason for the ache. You visit your doctor and he cannot see the pain. You are told that it is a part of ageing and you need surgery to cure it, which is risky. All these are myths and these myths have been debunked here.

1. Backache Is A Myth – If your doctor cannot see it or understand the cause of the pain, it does not mean that the pain is a myth. The pain is very real. People rarely understand that for those suffering from back pain, the pain is excruciating at times.

2. Backache is a part of Ageing – Backache is not a part of ageing. Any one from a teenager to a 70 year old can have this problem.

3. Backache Is Pain In The Lower Back – If you believe this myth, then you couldn’t be further from the truth. Pain in any part of the back, upper or lower is backache. Sometimes, it spreads to you legs and arms and in more severe cases, causes numbness.

4. Backache Occurs For A Specific Reason – No! It does not always occur for a specific reason. Sometimes, the reason may be due to lifting heavy loads or injury but it can be sitting for too long, bad posture or even genetic problem. A truck driver has as much chance of getting a teenager. Most people do not know the reason for this.

5. All types of Backaches Can Be Treated – Despite various treatments, sometimes, the backache never goes away. Since it is a debilitating condition, you can do your part to make it more comfortable for the person. Since the activity becomes limited in extreme cases, the person goes into depression.

6. Backache Can be cured with Surgery – Surgery is not always an option and in 5-% of the cases, it does not work. The reason for this is that at times, there is nothing tobe operated on and even the surgeon cannot guarantee results.

7. Backache Must Be treated with narcotics – Narcotics are not essential for treating backache. Sometimes, the condition is not severe enough to warrant the use of narcotics. Simple pain killers can take care of the problem but only your doctor knows best.

There are so many backache myths that it is difficult to address all of them. You are the best person to decide how severe the pain is. Don’t go by myths and use common sense to deal with it. Go to a doctor and ask him to prescribe medicines to deal with the pain.

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You must have come across blue or purple colored scrawls displayed on the legs, especially on grown-ups. Well, they aren’t weird zigzag lines, they are veins! But if you take a closer look at it, you will realize that it is not similar to the veins on the inside of your wrist or elbow and that you do not see them on yourself at a young age. Why? Because those are grown-up veins termed as varicose veins.

What are Varicose veins?

Varicose veins are usually swollen, twisted veins which is visible to the eye just under the surface of the skin. They generally occur in the leg, but can also end up forming in other parts of your body. Although it is a common condition and normally cause few visible signs and symptoms but it can be curbed with regular moderate rate of exercise but only to the extent until it doesn’t cause you any physical pain.

Some steps are listed below so as to help you prevent the development of new varicose veins:

• Walking

This is the simplest form of exercise that you can take up. The more you walk, the more will be the movement in your legs, which in turn will pump up the flow of blood circulation to your legs. So skip that elevator and opt to walk those stairs which you have been ignoring since long. Also make sure you go for brisk walking instead of hiring a cab to travel short distance.

• Lying exercise

Place an exercise mat and lie on your back and slowly lift one leg from the leg and replace it on the other side. Repeat the same for about three sets of 12 leg lifts. After this, bring the lifted leg on your chest and lower it back to the floor. Continuing this exercise for at least a minute will unblock any clotted blood to start circulating.

• Standing exercise

Get yourself walking on your tiptoes, gradually followed by on your heels. Make sure you place your toes on the step thus allowing your heels to hold back your back and then slowly raise yourself on your tiptoes. Support yourself on the wall if necessary. It is recommended to repeat this for at least 30 times in a day.

• Pedaling

Lie flat on your back on the floor. Then place your hands to your sides and it causes any strain then place them beneath your buttocks. Gradually begin lifting up your legs above from the floor and begin pedaling them just like how you would pedal a bicycle. There will be an increase in the blood circulation, depending upon how much you lift up your legs. Endure this exercise till you can totally feel the blood circulating through your legs.

Some of the ways to prevent varicose veins, according to the Harvard University and Massachusetts General Hospital is to maintain a healthy diet, avoid crossing your legs, keeping a watch over your weight, cutting down on the usage of high heels and too tight fitting clothes. Do not hesitate to consult vein doctors if the varicose pain becomes too painful and get a timely treatment for the same.

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Chances are that you must have already noticed that there has been a significant increase in the number of people getting their medical treatments done in Mexico. From heart surgeries and cosmetic surgeries to dental, orthopaedic and weight loss treatments, people are looking at Mexico as a one-stop-solution to all their medical requirements. If you are wondering why Mexico is in the top list of everyone in need of good medical facilities, here are some of the reasons.

Reasons Why Mexico is Becoming a Preferred Medical Destination

• State of-the-art new hospitals are amongst the world’s best – The medical infrastructure in Mexico matches the best available medical facilities in the world.

• Low cost of high quality and reliable treatment – The treatment cost in Mexico is very less as compared to that of USA or Canada.

• Doctors with much more experience than those in USA – Mexican doctors use more advanced procedures than their US counterparts. They are also known to have some of the most experienced and best surgeons in the world.

• Ease of travel for American and Canadian patients – Both road and air travel is made easy by high frequency of flights and short road distance.

A 2009 study by UCLA researchers and colleagues revealed that almost a million people from California alone go south of the border to seek medical care in Mexico each year. The above mentioned reasons are what make Mexico such a popular place for medical treatments.

While Going to Mexico for Medical Treatment, be mindful of:

• The change in climatic conditions. Give time to your body to adapt to the weather before starting with the treatment. You should be aware of what to eat and what to avoid.

• Your clothing should be according to the Mexican weather. Casual wear, along with sunglasses and sun protect lotions will be helpful to counter Mexican heat.

• Keep your travel and medical documents safe. Your passport and medical history papers are of great importance when in foreign land for a treatment.

• Nuevo Peso (N$) the Mexican currency should be carried along with US dollar, which can be exchanged in the banks or foreign exchange houses at stipulated times in the day.

• Though all the major credit cards are accepted for medical procedures in Mexico, make sure to inform your bank about using it to avoid any fraud while using it in Mexico.

• Be careful with your valuables, cash and jewellery while travelling in Mexico to avoid any thefts or steals.

• If travelling by road, make sure your travel and car insurance is approved and you are aware of the traffic rules of Mexico. You can drive a rented car also; given you have a valid driving license.

A number of medical tourism companies have tie-ups with good hospitals in Mexico and can be useful for anyone planning to visit Mexico for a medical treatment. These medical tourism companies offer great medical treatment packages at affordable prices. So, if you too are looking forward to an excellent medical treatment, do consider the option of making use of the world-class medical facilities available in Mexico!

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There are millions of people throughout the world who have been suffering from chronic pain due to a lot of reasons. A lot of people are just suffering from the pain every single day and they are not finding any relief from the pain that they are going through. Pain is a very big factor in their life due to which they are unable to have a quality of life. These people take a lot of narcotic drugs to relieve their pain and even get injections into their joints but they are unable to manage the pain even after taking so many medications. There are a lot of people who are just so afraid of developing addiction of these narcotic drugs. When it is being asked from the people as to how often they suffer from pain, they just say that they have been suffering through it most of their lives and it has just been like that for them for a very long time and that they just do not know as to what they are going to do in their life.

One of the individual who was going through pain said that his life has just been a living hell and that he can do anything if he is free from pain because he just wanted to get rid of it no matter what. It is like him that a lot of people are suffering from pain and that they just get injections and pills for that but it just does not seem to go away. Since people do not get any benefit from the different therapies that are offered by medicines, they just divert on to the other treatments offered by the different alternative therapies. Lot of people just want to try the herbal remedies so that they are able to find a way out of their misery. There is a new research that is being conducted in which it has shown that there is a new cooling off treatment that can give relief to the millions of people throughout the world that are suffering from arthritis or pain due to nerve damage.

There were recent studies conducted in which the researchers tried to help the pain by cooling off the skin, these individuals were having sprains, joint pains and inflammation and they found that the individuals who were suffering from pain found a pretty good relief with that therapy. It is also interesting to note that the Chinese use the same remedy but in a different way, they use the mint oil that works the same way as cooling off of the skin in the modern way. It has been found that the chemicals that are being used to treat the pain are almost the same kind of chemicals that are present in the mint oil. The active ingredients in the mint oil can kill the pain just as the cooling effect of the skin is going to do with the different chemicals that are being found in the research.

It has been found that the active ingredients that are being used to produce the cooling effect on the skin possess minimal side effects but they are proven to relieve the pain of the sufferers who had been suffering from the pain for long and these individuals were the one who found no pain relief with the pain medications. In the recent studies, the researchers have found the active ingredients in the mint oil, as well as the chemicals used for the cooling off process act on a receptor that has been newly found and that these chemicals bind with this receptor and exert their effects.

The mechanism with which the things work with these cooling off chemicals is that there is a known receptor known as TRPM8, which is activated by these chemicals and with the cooling off effect, which is caused by the lowering down of the temperatures, there is inhibition of the pain messages from the place of the pain to the brain and thus this inhibition of the signals causes the individual to not feel pain at all. The researchers believe that the medicine that they will be working on will be just applied to the skin in very small doses and then this will take away the pain from which the individual is suffering. This is going to be wonderful if the people are going to find the relief of pain by just applying the cooling off chemical to the skin and are able to relieve their pain. This way there would be a lot of people who would not have to rely on the pain medications that they had been taking for so long and they would be able to prevent themselves from the dependent effect of these medications.

It is important to note here that the conventional strong medications such as morphine are the effective medications to relieve the chronic pain but when they are taken for long periods of time they just turn out to be ineffective and thus they are just unable to control the pain. The researchers believe and hope that this new therapy to relieve pain is going to be the mainstay of the new frontier to control pain.

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Kidney is one of the major organs of our body. The function of the kidney is to clear the toxic substances from the blood and hence making the blood purified. This purified blood then circulates through the body and returns again to the kidneys where it is being filtered again. It is really important for the kidneys to function properly but when there is any damage or structural deformity or blockage of the renal arteries or veins, then this leads to a host of symptoms. It is really important that if there are symptoms concerning the kidney functions such as pain in the lower flanks, hematuria, dysuria, etc. the individual must report to a doctor to ascertain as to what is the cause of these symptoms. It just greatly helps to manage the situation when diagnosed at an early stage. In this article we are going to discuss the new technique that is being found to treat the blocked arteries that can really prevent the kidneys from dying.

When an artery in the kidney is blocked, the conventional approach to deal with it is to remove the agent that is causing a block in the arteries, angioplasty, as well as stenting. In the recent study it was suggested that with the approach of minimally invasive angioplasty, as well as stenting that is done to restore the blood flow, there can be a suction device placed in the artery to remove the material that is blocking the artery. Of note, the kidney surgery is one of the major operations that the individual has to undergo and it has its complications, but with the minimally invasive approach it was found that after three to six weeks of it, the kidney was almost about or equal to functioning as a normal kidney as would have been achieved with a major surgery, which was an awesome result. The doctors who performed this surgery said that they are very hopeful that this type of kidney surgery is going to bring hopes to a lot of individuals who are going through the kidney damage and this new way of doing angioplasty and stenting would open new avenues of much better results.

The success of this new approach lies in the usage of the suction whose main function is to prevent buildup of the plaque or other materials that are the cause of the blockage of the arteries of the kidneys and ultimately cause severe damage to it. It was also said that with the approach of angioplasty without the use of the suction device that filters out the artery, the results have been very inconsistent.

Just to lay out a brief understanding as to what angioplasty is, it is a procedure in which there is a device like a balloon that is being inserted into the artery and then inflated, which results in the crushing of the fatty deposits inside the arteries that are causing their blockage. With other approaches, there is also a stent that is being inserted into the artery whose function is to keep the artery open or patent so that it just does not collapse back or build any plaques inside. Whereas in this approach the balloon is inflated into the vessel and then the suction system works to pull out all the debris that is causing the blockage out of the artery so that there are no remnants that can further cause the artery to block. In the study there were about 32 patients who took part and were in their late 60s. With this approach it was found that the kidney function was improved in about 50 percent of the patients who underwent through this procedure and the astonishing fact is that there was no individual in whom this procedure had caused any deterioration. The arteries that were narrowed were reopened in all the patients who had undergone this process and the blood pressure of these patients fall from 178 systolic to 158 systolic, whereas the diastolic pressures decreased from 81 to 76.

The experts said that the impairment of the blood flow is common in the individuals who are in their late 60s or 70s and thus this makes these procedures very common. It has also been found through the research data that there are about seven percent of the healthy older Americans who are suffering from narrowing of the renal artery or the narrowing of the main artery going into the kidneys. It was estimated that there would be about 40,000 Americans who would be requiring surgery to treat this condition.

The major complication of the narrowed blood vessels of the kidneys is that it causes high blood pressure and thus it makes the situation a whole lot worse because this can lead to heart attack, stroke or death and therefore it is really important to treat this condition as soon as possible and makes this situation an emergency.
Thus this new approach holds promises that the narrowing or blockage of the arteries is a condition that will be dealt with in a more secure way and to make sure that there will be more secure ways that will surface as the time goes on.

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