Through voluntary participation in Emory's clinical trials, Atlantans are privy to a host of experimental agents that have yet to be approved by the Food and Drug Administration. They also are studying the effectiveness of vaccines for preventing conditions such as prostate cancer, breast cancer, AIDS and other infectious diseases such as tuberculosis and hepatitis. Among other goals, the study is examining the protective role a low fat diet may have in preventing or delaying heart disease and breast cancer in older women, particularly African-Americans. Within the past few years, surgeons there have used dissolving plates to restructure children's skulls, tiny metal coils to bolster brain aneurysms before they rupture, viewing wands to guide pediatric brain surgery, special heart valves to improve cardiac function, intraocular lens to improve the focus of the eye after cataract surgery and cochlear implants to improve hearing in the nearly deaf. Neurosurgeons are working closely with neurologists to calm the tremor of Parkinson's disease and to put a halt to certain epileptic seizures.
Doctors are now able to transplant eight nonfunctioning organs.
More and more, surgeons are replacing scalpels with lasers to treat disorders ranging from eye disease in premature newborns, to gallstones to tonsillectomy. They also are using scalpels to make much smaller, less invasive incisions during procedures like endoscopic plastic surgery. Medical school faculty actually developed or helped refine some of these techniques and are considered leaders in their fields. Emory plastic and reconstructive surgeons continue to train surgeons from around the world in the use of the tools they helped design for endoscopic cosmetic surgery. Emory doctors are probably best known for developing balloon angioplasty, a less invasive procedure for treating coronary artery disease than bypass surgery.