Articles: surgery.
-
Ziconotide is an N-type calcium channel (NCC) blocking conopeptide, acting primarily at the NCC-rich dorsal horn. Reported here is an early experience with intrathecal ziconotide in a 55-year-old man with chronic pain resulting from failed back surgery. ⋯ The dosing regimen, onset and resolution of adverse events, and improvement on the primary efficacy measure, the Visual Analog Scale of Pain Intensity, are discussed. Overall, the patient responded positively to ziconotide.
-
In image-guided therapy, high-quality preoperative images serve for planning and simulation, and intraoperatively as "background", onto which models of surgical instruments or radiation beams are projected. The link between a preoperative image and intraoperative physical space of the patient is established by image-to-patient registration. In this paper, we present a novel 3-D/2-D registration method. ⋯ For the registration of 3DRX and CT images to X-ray images as few as 2-3 X-ray views were sufficient to obtain approximately 0.4 mm TREs, 7-9 mm capture range, and 80%-90% of successful registrations. To obtain similar results for MR to X-ray registrations, an image, reconstructed from at least 11 X-ray images was required. Reconstructions from more than 11 images had no effect on the registration results.
-
Arch Facial Plast S · Jan 2006
Duration of anesthesia as an indicator of morbidity and mortality in office-based facial plastic surgery: a review of 1200 consecutive cases.
To define whether duration of anesthesia is an indicator of patient morbidity and mortality in facial plastic surgery performed in an accredited office-based surgical facility. ⋯ In an accredited office-based facial plastic surgery facility, anesthesia duration is not an indicator of patient morbidity and mortality. Combined facial plastic surgery procedures, using general anesthesia, can be accomplished safely in the office-based environment, and inpatient care would not have altered morbidity in this study group.
-
A highly individualized stereotactic body radiotherapy (SBRT) strategy was developed to allow a wide spectrum of patients with liver cancer to be treated. This phase I/II study encompasses individualization of immobilization, radiation planning, PTV margin determination, image guidance strategy and prescription dose. Active breathing control breath hold is used to immobilize the liver when feasible. ⋯ Sixty percent of patients were treated with breath hold to immobilize their liver. Intra-fraction reproducibility (sigma) of the liver with repeat breath holds was excellent (1.5 mm); however inter-fraction reproducibility (sigma) was worse (3.4 mm). Image guidance reduced the residual systematic and random setup errors significantly.
-
J Plast Reconstr Aesthet Surg · Jan 2006
Randomised clinical trials in plastic surgery: survey of output and quality of reporting.
Randomised clinical trials (RCTs) are considered the best level of evidence when evaluating interventions. Report quality is often used as a surrogate measure of methodological quality, with poorly reported trials assumed to be poorly conducted. To address this problem the CONsolidated Standards of Reporting Trials (CONSORT) statement was published, encouraging authors to explicitly report certain items of information. ⋯ This study indicates the annual output of plastic surgery RCTs is increasing and a variety of topics are covered. However, reporting of certain key items is inadequate. Awareness of the CONSORT statement and more attention to the quality of reporting may improve matters.