To evaluate the feasibility and potential benefits of hand-assisted laparoscopic surgery with the HandPort System, a new device.
In hand-assisted laparoscopic surgery, the surgeon inserts a hand into ...the abdomen while pneumoperitoneum is maintained. The hand assists laparoscopic instruments and is helpful in complex laparoscopic cases.
A prospective nonrandomized study was initiated with the participation of 10 laparoscopic surgical centers. Surgeons were free to test the device in any situation where they expected a potential advantage over conventional laparoscopy.
Sixty-eight patients were entered in the study. Operations included colorectal procedures (sigmoidectomy, right colectomy, resection rectopexy), splenectomy for splenomegaly, living-related donor nephrectomy, gastric banding for morbid obesity, partial gastrectomy, and various other procedures. Mean incision size for the HandPort was 7.4 cm. Most surgeons (78%) preferred to insert their nondominant hand into the abdomen. Pneumoperitoneum was generally maintained at 14 mmHg, and only one patient required conversion to open surgery as a result of an unmanageable air leak. Hand fatigue during surgery was noted in 20.6%.
The hand-assisted technique appeared to be useful in minimally invasive colorectal surgery, splenectomy for splenomegaly, living-related donor nephrectomy, and procedures considered too complex for a laparoscopic approach. This approach provides excellent means to explore, to retract safely, and to apply immediate hemostasis when needed. Although the data presented here reflect the authors' initial experience, they compare favorably with series of similar procedures performed purely laparoscopically.
Objective:
To improve communication and decision making between specialists, multidisciplinary teams (MDTs) were introduced with the premise they would improve cancer care for patients. Minimal ...evidence exists on MDT functionality. We investigated MDT members’ views on barriers to optimal functioning and explored their suggestions for improvements.
Materials and methods:
Twenty urology MDT members from seven hospitals including surgeons, oncologists, pathologists, radiologists and clinical nurse specialists took part in a semi-structured interview study. Interviews focused on information presentation, case discussion, factors affecting the multidisciplinary team meeting (MDM) and potential improvements. Interviews were transcribed and analysed through emergent theme analysis.
Results:
Factors negatively influencing the MDMs included insufficient time to prepare cases so that enough information is available to make appropriate decisions; absence of the clinician in charge or not knowing the patient; and lack of a systematic approach to case discussion. Recommendations included protected time for case preparation, focusing on performance and comorbidities of the patient, standardising the MDT meeting and improving case selection.
Conclusions:
MDTs in urology have contributed to advances in cancer care but there is significant scope for further improvement. Implementing recommendations from team members on the front line may help drive quality in this sensitive domain.
Food preference after Roux-en-Y gastric bypass surgery Ashrafian, Hutan, MBBS, MRCS; Bueter, Marco, MD; Ahmed, Kamran, MBBS, MRCS(Ed) ...
Journal of the American College of Surgeons,
2009, Letnik:
209, Številka:
3
Journal Article
To capture 3D shape variation of the levator ani during straining with open access MR imaging.
Optimal scan-planning based on statistical shape modeling is developed for recovering the entire 3D ...structure of the levator ani from a limited number of 2D imaging planes. Statistical shape modeling ensures optimum material correspondence, and Subspace Reprojection is used to identify the optimum orientation of the imaging plans. The accuracy of the method in using limited 2D imaging planes to instantiate the dynamic structure of the levator ani is assessed with data acquired from 10 asymptomatic subjects.
Leave-one-out analysis was performed whereby a model based on a training set consisting of all but one surface was used to instantiate the dynamic surface structure from the corresponding optimal planes. The mean surface distance error for the proposed Subspace Reprojection method is 3.989 +/- 0.790 mm, which is significantly smaller than other approaches.
Surfaces of the levator ani may be instantiated using a limited number of imaging planes as well as a statistical shape model based on a training set of subjects. The proposed technique offers a new way forward for studying dynamic shape changes of 3D structures where complete volumetric imaging is prohibited by the inherent temporal resolution of the scanning technique.
The short-term results of postanal repair for idiopathic fecal incontinence are satisfactory but data on long-term outcome are lacking. This study was carried out to document the short-term and ...long-term results of this operation and to determine whether preoperative tests predict long-term outcome.
Thirty-six patients (33 females; mean age, 57 years) with major idiopathic fecal incontinence operated on by one surgeon were studied. Patients had resting and voluntary contraction anal pressures and pudendal nerve terminal motor latencies (PNTML) measured preoperatively. Symptoms were evaluated at 6 months after operation and again at a median of 25 (range, 6-72) months in all 36 patients. Symptoms were classified as: Group C, no improvement or worse; Group B, minor improvement; and Group A, marked improvement in comparison to the patient's preoperative symptoms. Seventeen patients had postoperative physiology performed.
At 6 months there were 6 (17 percent) patients in Group C, 12 (33 percent) in Group B, and 18 (50 percent) in Group A. At final follow-up there were 17 (47 percent) in Group C, 9 (25 percent) in Group B, and 10 (28 percent) in Group A. Comparison of the preoperative data in the final outcome groups showed (mean +/- SE): Groups A and B vs. Group C--resting pressure, 24.6 +/- 6 cm H2O vs. 40.5 +/- 12.2 (P = 0.2), voluntary contraction pressure, 23.7 +/- 5.7 vs. 11.8 +/- 3.6 (P = 0.09), and PNTML, 3.2 +/- 0.75 mS vs. 3.3 +/- 0.99 (P = 0.8). Mean differences between post-operative and preoperative results were: resting pressure, 28 +/- 8.2 cm H2O (P = 0.003); voluntary contraction pressure, 19.5 +/- 6.7 (P = 0.01); and PNTML, -0.3 +/- 0.29 mS (P = 0.3).
At 6 months 83 percent of patients had obtained some benefit from postanal repair but only 53 percent maintained this improvement with only 28 percent being markedly better. There was a trend toward a more favorable outcome in patients with greater squeezing pressures preoperatively but other tests were not of long-term predictive value.
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