Medical Student Research Fellowship for Summer 2006

Mentor: Dr. Edward Livingston
Department: Surgery
Room number: E7.126
Mail Code: 9156
Phone number: 214-648-7956
E-mail: edward.livingston@utsouthwestern.edu
Project title: Appendicitis and Appendectomy in the United States

Human subjects IRB approved project number (where applicable):

Animal subjects IRB approved project number (where applicable):

Project Type Patient Based Research

Brief Description of Project:

Appendicitis is a very common disease whose etiology is unknown. Prior work from our group has shown that appendicitis and appendectomy are increasing in frequency. The reason for this is not known. In collaboration with Dr. Robert Haley, we are conducting an epidemiological investigation of appendicitis attempting to better understand the disease. The disease incidence as a function of region, race and age is being studied using 34 years of the National Hospital Discharge Survey. We are also correlating the incidence of appendicitis to various infectious diseases that may be related to the underlying cause of appendicitis.

Previous Research Activities or Publications with Medical Students:

Jordan Miller: (Stanford Undergraduate Student)

Miller JAG, Rege RV, Ko, CY, Livingston EH. Health care access and poverty do not explain the higher cancer mortality in blacks. American Journal of Surgery 188:22-26, 2004.

EH Livingston, JAG Miller, B Coon, RV Rege. Costs And Utilization Of Intraoperative Cholangiography. In Press: Journal of Gastrointestinal Surgery.

Joshua Langert (UTSW Mecical Student)

Livingston, E.H. Langert, J. The Impact of Age and Medicare Status on Bariatric Surgical Outcomes. In Press: Archives of Surgery.

Thomas Lewis (UTSW Medical Student)

Livingston, E.H., Lewis, T., Sarosi, G. Review of the Evidence for Interval Appendectomy In Preparation

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