Journal of the American College of Surgeons
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Hepatic resection for metastatic colorectal cancer provides excellent longterm results in a substantial proportion of patients. Although various prognostic risk factors have been identified, there has been no dependable staging or prognostic scoring system for metastatic hepatic tumors. ⋯ The proposed risk-score grading predicted the survival differences extremely well. Estimated survival as determined by the Cox proportional hazards model was similar to that determined by the Kaplan-Meier method. Verification and further improvements of the proposed system are awaited by other centers or international collaborative studies.
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The purpose of this study was to evaluate the hypothesis that awake and alert blunt trauma patients with Glasgow Coma Scores of 14 or 15 (regardless of blood ethanol level or other injuries sustained) can be effectively evaluated with clinical examination without radiographic evaluation of the cervical spine. ⋯ 1) Clinical examination of the neck can reliably rule out significant cervical spine injury in the awake and alert blunt trauma patient. Addition of lateral c-spine x-ray does not improve the sensitivity of clinical examination in the diagnosis of significant cervical spine injury. 2) Elevated ethanol level is not a contraindication to the use of clinical examination as the screening tool for cervical spine injury. Level of consciousness, as determined by Glasgow Coma Score, is a more effective criterion to dictate a screening method for cervical spine injury.
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The Focused Assessment for the Sonographic Examination of the Trauma patient (FAST) sequentially surveys for the presence or absence of blood in dependent abdominal regions including the right upper quadrant, left upper quadrant, and the pelvis. But it does not readily identify intraparenchymal or retroperitoneal injuries, and a CT scan of the abdomen may be needed to reduce the incidence of missed injuries. We hypothesized that select patients who are considered high risk for occult injuries should undergo a CT scan of the abdomen when the FAST is negative so that occult injuries can be detected. ⋯ Based on these preliminary data, we conclude that patients with pelvic ring-type fractures should have CT scans of the abdomen because of the higher yield for occult injuries.
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Comparative Study
Measuring and developing suturing technique with a virtual reality surgical simulator.
We have developed an interactive virtual reality (VR) surgical simulator for the training and assessment of suturing technique. The surgical simulator is comprised of surgical tools with force feedback, a 3-dimensional graphics visual display of the simulated surgical field, physics-based computer simulations of the tissues and tools, and software to measure and evaluate the trainee's performance. ⋯ Data indicate differences between surgeon and nonsurgeon performance and in improvement in performance with training. One possible explanation for the superior performance of the surgeons is that their suturing skills applied well to the simulated suturing task. Additional research is required to confirm or deny the similarity between actual and simulated surgical tasks and the relevance of virtual reality surgical simulation to surgical skill assessment and training.
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Selective shunting during carotid endarterectomy is widely performed, but the optimal approach for predicting when a shunt is unnecessary remains uncertain. We evaluated the ability of preoperative cerebral angiography to predict when carotid endarterectomy could be safely performed without a shunt. ⋯ In the presence of cross-filling from the contralateral carotid artery, shunt insertion was uniformly unnecessary. In addition, routine shunting of patients with previous ipsilateral strokes or contralateral carotid occlusion was not always necessary. Stump pressures were less sensitive than angiographic criteria in determining when a shunt was unnecessary. Evaluation of cross-filling from the contralateral carotid artery on preoperative angiography can predict with certainty which patients will not require a shunt.