Canadian journal of surgery. Journal canadien de chirurgie
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Review Meta Analysis
Needlescopic versus laparoscopic appendectomy: a systematic review.
Needlescopic appendectomies (NA) have been performed since the 1990s. We sought to systematically analyze trials comparing NA with laparoscopic appendectomies (LA) in the management of appendicitis. ⋯ Needlescopic appendectomy can be a safe and effective procedure for the management of appendicitis. It is comparable to LA in terms of hospital stay and perioperative complications. However, NA is associated with a longer duration of surgery and a higher conversion rate, indicating technical challenges of the procedure. Before recommending routine use of the needlescopic technique for appendectomy, a major multicentre randomized controlled trial is necessary.
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Comparative Study
Comparison of gastrointestinal complications in on-pump versus off-pump coronary artery bypass grafting.
Gastrointestinal (GI) complications following coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG), although infrequent, are associated with significant morbidity and mortality. It has been suggested that systemic inflammatory response plays an important role in these complications. Cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) is well known to cause increased systemic inflammation, and therefore it has been proposed that performing CABG using an off-pump technique could substantially minimize the risk of GI complications. Prolonged CPB duration has been shown to be an independent predictor of GI complications; however, the effect of avoiding CPB altogether through off-pump procedures has not been thoroughly examined. We sought to compare the incidence of GI complications in patients undergoing on-pump and off-pump CABG. ⋯ We found no significant difference in the total number of GI complications between the off-pump and on-pump groups; however, trends could be seen in the types of GI complications that occurred in the 2 groups. Owing to the relatively infrequent occurrence of GI complications, a larger scale study would be beneficial to determine whether the differences observed would be significant.
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Cardiac surgery is frequently associated with prolonged endotracheal intubation. Because oral feeding is an important component of patient recovery after high-risk surgery, we sought to examine the contribution of dysphagia in the recuperation process after prolonged endotracheal intubation. ⋯ Dysphagia is more common in patients with prolonged endotracheal intubation after cardiac surgery than has previously been reported. The duration of postoperative endotracheal intubation is a strong predictor of subsequent dysphagia that both prolongs the return to normal oral feeding and delays subsequent hospital discharge. Patient-or procedure-specific factors are not good predictors. To accelerate discharge of high-risk patients, aggressive nutritional supplementation should pre-empt extubation and swallowing surveillance should follow.
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Large skeletal defects due to postosteomyelitis are uncommon, and they present a challenging reconstructive problem. The aim of our study was to summarize our experience performing a distraction osteogenesis technique using an intramedullary nail and a monolateral external fixator in the reconstruction of massive postosteomyelitis skeletal defects of the femur. ⋯ Our study demonstrates that a distraction osteogenesis technique using an intramedullary nail and a monolateral external fixator is a reliable method for the reconstruction of massive postosteomyelitis skeletal defects.
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Volar instability of the distal radioulnar joint (DRUJ) is uncommon, and there is little written about it. The purpose of this study is to describe a new procedure to treat volar DRUJ instability and to present the outcomes of patients who received this unique surgical repair at a minimum of 1 year follow-up. ⋯ Joint capsular plication for DRUJ has not yet been described in the literature. It is less elaborate in that it does not require a tendon graft with bone tunnels. The results at an average 16.5 months postoperatively are promising.