Project description:BackgroundThe impact of smoking on spinal surgery has been studied extensively, but few investigations have focused on minimally invasive surgery (MIS) of the spine and the difference between complication rates in smokers and non-smokers. We evaluated whether a history of at least one pack-year preoperatively could be used to predict adverse peri- and postoperative outcomes in patients undergoing minimally invasive fusion procedures of the lumbar spine. In a prospective study, we assessed the clinical effectiveness of MIS in an unselected population of 187 patients.MethodsWe evaluated perioperative and postoperative complication rates in MIS fusion techniques of the lumbar spine in smoking and non-smoking patients. MIS fusion was performed using interbody fusion procedures and/or posterolateral fusion alone.ResultsSmokers were significantly younger than non-smokers. We did not encounter infection at the site of surgery or severe wound healing disorder in smokers. We registered no difference between the smoking and non-smoking groups with regard to peri- or postoperative complication rate, blood loss, or length of stay in hospital. We found a significant influence of smoking (p = 0.049) on the overall perioperative complication rate.ConclusionMIS fusion techniques seem to be a suitable tool for treating degenerative spinal disorders in smokers.
Project description:Study Design Retrospective case series. Objective Ankylosing spondylitis (AS) and diffuse idiopathic skeletal hyperostosis (DISH) are two related diseases that significantly increase the risk of unstable spinal fractures from seemingly trivial trauma. Given the older age and higher surgical risk profile of most of these patients, minimally invasive (MIS) approaches to the treatment of such fractures may reduce operative risk and physiologic stress. Methods Eleven consecutive patients with hyperextension thoracolumbar injuries and a diagnosis of AS or DISH admitted to a single level I trauma center between June 2009 and June 2014 were retrospectively reviewed. All patients were treated with MIS stabilization. In addition, the patients were administered the Oswestry Disability Index and EuroQol-5D surveys to evaluate patient-reported outcomes regarding disability and health-related quality of life, respectively. Results Of the 11 patients, 10 were alive at the time of review. The mean follow-up time was 28 months. The average age was 77 years old with a mean body mass index of 34. All patients had severe systemic disease, American Society of Anesthesiologists grade III, with multiple medical comorbidities. Seven segments on average were included in the operative construct. There were no instrumentation failures or nonunions requiring revision surgery. The average postoperative Oswestry disability index was 21.5% (range: 0 to 34%), corresponding to low to moderate disability, and the average EuroQol-5D utility score was 0.77 (range: 0.60 to 1), a similar average postoperative utility value to those published in the literature on elective surgery for degenerative lumbar conditions. Conclusions MIS stabilization, when used on patients with good preoperative neurologic status, can successfully manage spinal fractures in patients with AS and DISH and preserve a favorable postoperative quality of life with limited disability.
Project description:Background:The purpose of this study was to analyze the training in relation to practice patterns of surgeons in Asia who perform lumbar endoscopic spinal surgery in comparison to surgeons the world over. The authors solicited responses to an online survey sent to spine surgeons. Methods:Pearson Chi-Square measures, Kappa statistics, and linear regression analysis of agreement or disagreement were performed by analyzing the distribution of variances of responses in relation to surgeons' training using statistical package SPSS Version 25.0. Results:A total of 430 surgeons accessed the survey. The completion rate was 67.4%. Analyzing the responses of 292 surveys submitted by 97 neurosurgeons (33.2%), 161 orthopaedic surgeons (55.1%), and 34 surgeons of other postgraduate training (11.6%) showed that only 14.0% (41/292) of surgeons had completed a fellowship. Ninety-one of the 292 respondents were from Asian countries/regions. A statistically significantly higher percentage of Asian surgeons (96.7%) compared to non-Asian surgeons (81.6%) indicated that they perform modern minimally invasive (MIS) and endoscopic spinal (ES) surgery (P=0.001). Spinal endoscopy was employed by 70.3% of Asian versus 55.2% of non-Asian surgeons (P=0.015). Endoscopic decompression techniques requiring advanced training was employed nearly twice as high by the Asian surgeons than by non-Asian. Conclusions:Training requirements for MIS and ES surgery and implementation of privileges vary in different parts of the world. While industry-sponsored weekend cadaver workshops have remained the mainstay of training aspiring endoscopic spinal surgeons in North America and Europe leaving many of them to become autodidacts.
Project description:Background: One of the most frequent complications of spinal surgery is accidental dural tears (ADTs). Minimal access surgical techniques (MAST) have been described as a promising approach to minimizing such complications. ADTs have been studied extensively in connection with open spinal surgery, but there is less literature on minimally invasive spinal surgery (MISS). Materials and Methods: We reviewed 187 patients who had undergone degenerative lumbar spinal surgery using minimally invasive spinal fusions techniques. We analyzed the influence of age, Body Mass Index (BMI), smoking, diabetes, and previous surgery on the rate of ADTs in MISS. Results: Twenty-two patients (11.764%) suffered from an ADT. We recommended bed rest for two and a half to 5 days, depending on the type of repair required and the amount of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) leakage. We could not find any statistically significant correlation between ADTs and age (p = 0.34,), BMI (p = 0.92), smoking (p = 0.46), and diabetes (p = 0.71). ADTs were significantly more frequent in cases of previous surgery (p < 0.001). None of the patients developed a transcutaneous CSF leak or post-operative infection. Conclusions: The frequency of ADTs in MISS appears comparable to that encountered when using open surgical techniques. Additionally, MAST produces less dead space along the corridor to the spine. Such reduced dead space may not be enough for pseudomeningocele to occur, cerebrospinal fluid to accumulate, and fistula to form. MAST, therefore, provides a certain amount of protection.
Project description:This article reviews the principles and different techniques used to perform minimally invasive strabismus surgery (MISS). This term is used for strabismus surgeries minimizing tissue disruption. Muscles are not accessed through one large opening, but using several keyhole openings placed where needed for the surgical steps. If necessary, tunnels are created between cuts, which will allow performing additional surgical steps. To keep the keyhole openings small, transconjunctival suturing techniques are used. The cuts are always placed as far away from the limbus as feasible. This will reduce the risk for postoperative corneal complications and it will ensure that all cuts will be covered by the eyelids, minimizing postoperative visibility of surgery and patient discomfort. Benefits from minimizing anatomical disruption between the muscle and the surrounding tissue are a better preservation of muscle function, less swelling, and pain, and more ease to perform reoperations. MISS openings allow to perform all types of strabismus surgeries, namely rectus muscle recessions, resections, plications, reoperations, retroequatorial myopexias, transpositions, oblique muscle recessions, or plications, and adjustable sutures, even in the presence of restricted motility.
Project description:Since their introduction, it has been demonstrated that minimally invasive aortic valve replacement (MIAVR) approaches are safe and effective for the treatment of aortic valve diseases. To date, the main advantage of these approaches is represented by the reduced surgical trauma, with a subsequent reduced complication rate and faster recovery. This makes such approaches an appealing choice also for frail patients [obese, aged, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD)]. The standardization of the minimally invasive techniques, together with the implementation of preoperative workup and anesthesiological intra- and post-operative care, led to an amelioration of surgical results and reduction of surgical times. Moreover, the improvement of surgical technology and the introduction of new devices such as sutureless and rapid deployment (SURD) valves, has helped the achievement of comparable results to traditional surgery. However, transcatheter technologies are nowadays more and more important in the treatment of aortic valve disease, also in low risk patients. For this reason surgeons should put new efforts for further reducing the surgical trauma in the future, even taking inspiration from other disciplines. In this review, we aim to present a review of literature evidences regarding minimally invasive treatment of aortic diseases, also reflecting our personal experience with MIAVR techniques. This review could represent a tool for a well-structured patient assessment and preoperative planning, in order to safely carrying out an MIAVR procedure with satisfactory outcomes.
Project description:Tricuspid valve disease carries a very unfavorable prognosis when medically treated. Despite that, surgical intervention is still underperformed for tricuspid valve disease due to the reported high morbidity and mortality from a sternotomy approach. This had led to a shift towards maximizing medical therapy for right ventricular failure and, as a result, a more significant delay in surgical referrals with surgical risks when patients are finally referred. Tricuspid valve patients usually have other co-morbidities resulting from their systemic venous congestion and low flow cardiac output. Minimally invasive tricuspid valve surgery provides less tissue injury and, as a result, less trauma during surgery. This provides a hope for both patients and treating doctors to be more open for providing this procedure with less complications. Isolated minimally invasive tricuspid valve surgery is still not performed as widely as expected. This can be partly due to the adverse outcomes historically labelled to tricuspid valve surgery or by the long journey of learning the surgical team would need to commit to with a minimal access approach. In this article we will review the perioperative pathway, and outcomes of isolated minimally invasive tricuspid valve surgery in the available English literature.
Project description:The prevalence of benign prostatic hypertrophy (BPH) causing bothersome lower urinary tract symptoms increases with our ageing population. Treatment of BPH traditionally begins with medical therapy and surgical intervention is then considered for those whose symptoms progress despite treatment. Minimally invasive surgical therapies have been developed as an intermediary in the treatment of BPH with the aim of decreasing the invasiveness of interventions. These therapies also aim to reduce morbidity and dysfunction related to invasive surgical procedures. Multiple treatment options exist in this group including mechanical and thermo-ablative strategies. Emerging therapies utilizing differing technologies range from the established to the experimental. We review the current literature related to these minimally invasive therapies and the evidence of their effectiveness in treating BPH. The role of minimally invasive surgical therapies in the treatment of BPH is still yet to be strongly defined. Given the experimental nature of many of the modalities, further study is required prior to their recommendation as alternatives to invasive surgical therapy. More mature evidence is required for the analysis of durability of effect of these therapies to make robust conclusions of their effectiveness.
Project description:BackgroundLaparoscopic gynaecological surgery is commonly performed under general anaesthesia with endotracheal intubation. In general surgery, locoregional anaesthesia was applied to laparoscopic procedures, increasing minimally invasive surgery advantages.AimsTo assess and compare postoperative pain after laparoscopic adnexal procedures for benign conditions under spinal anaesthesia (SA) versus general anaesthesia (GA). Furthermore, anaesthesiologic, surgical and clinical data were evaluated in both groups.Materials and methodsThis is a prospective cohort study performed in a tertiary level referral centre for minimally invasive gynaecological surgery (Gynaecology and Human Reproduction Physiopathology, University of Bologna). Women scheduled for adnexal laparoscopic surgery for benign conditions between February and May 2019 were assigned to receive either SA or GA with endotracheal intubation. A sample size of 13 women per group was needed to detect a 2-point difference in pain scores.Main findings13 women were enrolled in the SA arm, 15 in the GA arm. In the SA cohort, the most common intraoperative adverse event was shoulder pain, reported by 3/12 women. At 1, 8, 12, 24 and 48 h after surgery pain was significantly lower in the SA arm (p < .05). Patients submitted to SA experienced no need for opioid drugs administration, unlike those receiving GA. Patients' mobilization and return of bowel function were noted significantly earlier in the SA group (p < .05).ConclusionsSA is a feasible, safe and effective anaesthesiologic technique for laparoscopic gynaecological procedures for benign conditions, allowing a better control of postoperative pain. Women undergoing SA achieve earlier mobilization and bowel canalization. During the Covid-19 pandemics, SA could be useful in reducing the need for invasive procedures on respiratory tract.
Project description:The interest in minimally invasive surgery (MIS) has rapidly increased in recent decades and surgeons have adopted minimally invasive techniques due to its reduced invasiveness and numerous advantages for patients. With increased surgical experience and newly developed surgical instruments, MIS has become the preferred approach not only for benign disease but also for oncologic surgery. Recently, robotic systems have been developed to overcome difficulties of standard laparoscopic instruments during complex procedures. Its advantages including three-dimensional images, tremor filtering, motion scaling, articulated instruments, and stable retraction have created the opportunity to use robotic technology in many procedures including cancer surgery. Gastric cancer is one of the most common causes of cancer-related deaths worldwide. While its overall incidence has decreased worldwide, the proportion of early gastric cancer has increased mainly in eastern countries following mass screening programs. The shift in the paradigm of gastric cancer treatment is toward less invasive approaches in order to improve the patient's quality of life while adhering to oncological principles. In this review, we aimed to summarize the operative strategy and current literature in laparoscopic and robotic surgery for gastric cancer.