Surgery

SIMON GAGNE was unhappy. As a consistent healthy scratch, really for the first time in his NHL career, Gagne called his agent to discuss his options. Gagne decided to sit on it, rather than approach Kings general manager Dean Lombardi to request a trade. Maybe things would turn around, he hoped. So, when Lombardi and former Flyer, now Kings assistant GM Ron Hextall summoned him from the locker room for a chat on Tuesday afternoon in California, Gagne was not surprised. "When they told me the place," Gagne said, "that's when I was really excited.

C. Everett Koop, 96, a courageous and brilliant pediatric surgeon who pioneered techniques for operating on newborn babies and became an outspoken surgeon general on issues from smoking to AIDS, died Monday in New Hampshire. Dr. Koop was one of the first surgeons to devote a career to treating children. In 35 years at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, he established the first neonatal intensive-care unit in the nation and won global renown for performing operations - such as the separation of conjoined twins - that had rarely, if ever, been done.

AMID FRUSTRATION, Andrej Meszaros tried to put on a smile after the Flyers' pregame skate Monday morning. More than 4 weeks removed from dislocating his left shoulder, Meszaros is still not quite ready to return. Meszaros, 27, played 298 consecutive games with Ottawa and Tampa Bay to start his NHL career - but he has hardly been able to stay healthy since first injuring that shoulder in 2009. Meszaros underwent surgery to repair a torn left labrum in March 2009, while with Tampa Bay. Since then, he has had back surgery to repair a herniated disk, rehabbed and played in one playoff game with the Flyers, and then tore his Achilles' tendon over the summer, just before the NHL lockout.

New York Yankees pitcher Phil Hughes could be sidelined for two weeks because of a bulging disk that will be treated with anti-inflammatory medication. "I'm convinced I'll be symptom-free in the next four or five days," Hughes said Wednesday. "I felt like I was kind of ahead of the game with my throwing. I threw a bunch of bullpens before I got here, and, thankfully, it's early enough in spring. It's a setback, but I still have a lot of time to get it right. " Yankees general manager Brian Cashman said it could be two weeks before Hughes could resume throwing off a mound.

CHICAGO - Hip replacements are slightly more likely to fail in women than in men, according to one of the largest studies of its kind in U.S. patients. The risk of the implants failing is low, but women were 29 percent more likely than men to need a repeat surgery within the first three years. The message for women considering hip replacement surgery remains unclear. It's not known which models of hip implants perform best in women, even though women make up the majority of the more than 400,000 Americans who have full or partial hip replacements each year to ease the pain and loss of mobility caused by arthritis or injuries.

Folic acid and autism risk Mothers who took folic acid supplements around the time they became pregnant were less likely to have children with an autism spectrum disorder, a new study found. Researchers in Norway examined records of more than 85,000 children born there between 1999 and 2009 to check for an autism diagnosis. They also looked at surveys of their mothers to see how much folic acid they were consuming in the month before they became pregnant and during the first eight weeks of pregnancy, a critical period of brain development.

A decision on whether NHL players will head to the 2014 Sochi Olympics isn't likely this week, but a first day of discussions went well. Talks between the NHL, the NHL players' association, and officials from the International Ice Hockey Federation and the International Olympic Committee stretched into Thursday night as the parties worked toward getting NHL players back to the Olympics for a fifth straight time. There are obstacles in the process, but the sides will get back together on Friday to talk some more.

CARACAS, Venezuela - Sixty-seven days after Venezuelans last saw him, President Hugo Chavez reappeared Friday, when government officials televised photographs of him recuperating in Cuba with two of his daughters at his side. The images were the first evidence presented to Venezuelans that Chavez, who was last seen Dec. 10 when he boarded a plane to Cuba for a fourth surgery to remove cancerous tissue, was alive and convalescing. In the photos, Chavez smiles from a hospital bed while flanked by daughters Maria Gabriela and Rosa Virginia.

OTTAWA SENATORS defenseman Erik Karlsson had season-ending surgery to repair his left Achilles after the tendon was cut by a skate blade during a game against the Pittsburgh Penguins. Senators general manager Bryan Murray said Thursday the surgery went well. He also said 70 percent of the tendon was cut. "It was a clean cut and recovery is expected to be 100 percent," Murray said. "But it does mean his year finishes at this time. " The Norris Trophy winner last season as the NHL's top defenseman, the 22-year-old Karlsson was cut by the blade of Pittsburgh forward Matt Cooke's skate as the two tangled along the boards late in the second period Wednesday in Pittsburgh in the Senators' 4-2 loss.

CLEARWATER, Fla. - As is the routine every spring, pitching coach Rich Dubee was asked Thursday which of the Phillies' pitchers had impressed him the most in the first 2 days of camp. Dubee either wasn't necessarily bowled over by any one pitcher or simply didn't want to show his hand. The manager, on the other hand, didn't bother putting on a poker face. When Mike Adams' name came up in the daily press gathering with Dubee and Charlie Manuel, the manager's eyebrows rose with excitement.