Annals of internal medicine
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Use of robot-assisted surgery has increased dramatically since its advent in the 1980s, and nearly all surgical subspecialties have adopted it. However, whether it has advantages compared with laparoscopy or open surgery is unknown. ⋯ None. (PROSPERO: CRD42020182027).
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Historical Article
The Reign of the Ventilator: Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome, COVID-19, and Technological Imperatives in Intensive Care.
In the early phase of the COVID-19 pandemic, a dispute arose as to whether the disease caused a typical or atypical version of acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS). This essay recounts the emergence of ARDS and places it in the context of the technological transformation of modern hospital care-particularly the emergence of intensive care after the 1952 Copenhagen polio epidemic. The polio epidemic seemed to show the value of manual positive-pressure ventilation, leading to the proliferation of mechanical ventilators and the expansion of intensive care units in the 1960s. ⋯ Moreover, the imperative to understand and treat ARDS with mechanical ventilation set the stage for the early confusion about whether patients with COVID-19 should receive mechanical ventilation. This history offers many crucial lessons about how new technologies can lead to new and valuable therapies but can also subtly shape and constrain medical thinking. Moreover, ventilators not only changed how respiratory disorders were conceived; they also brought new forms of respiratory illness into existence.