Complication of frontal sinusitis-Not amenable to endoscopic surgery

Endoscopic sinus surgery has brought a change in the concept of treatment of sinus disease. Frontal sinusitis, however, still gives rise to intra and extracranial complication often musked by antibiotic intake. Where endoscopic surgery may fail to completely eradicate disease or even not be feasible due to various anatomic factors and other limitation. It is here that the tried and trusted external approach to the frontal sinus finds a role even today. Four such cases of various complication not amenable to endoscopic sinus surgery are presented here with the view of maintaining the necessity of keeping the external approach within the present day surgical palette when treating complication of frontal sinus disease.     

Advances in minimally invasive surgery in the treatment of colorectal cancer

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the second leading cause of cancer-related death in the USA. Surgery is the primary treatment for most patients with CRC. Over the past 15 years, minimally invasive techniques for colorectal surgery have been developed. There is growing evidence that these techniques have significant advantages in short-term outcomes (e.g., postoperative pain and length of hospital stay) with similar long-term recurrence and overall survival. While transanal local excision has been shown to be inferior to radical resection for early rectal cancer, transanal endoscopic microsurgery (TEM) is a minimally invasive technique that appears to facilitate local excision in appropriate patients. TEM combined with radiotherapy has demonstrated promising early results and is currently being investigated in clinical trials as a potential alternative to radical surgery. We summarize the current literature on these minimally invasive approaches to CRC.     

Role of Minimally Invasive Surgery in Staging of Ovarian Cancer

Since the introduction of laparoscopy and robotic surgery in gynecologic practice in the last several decades, use of these minimally invasive surgical techniques has increased dramatically. The role of minimally invasive surgical techniques continues to expand because they offer reduced intraoperative and postoperative complications, less intraoperative blood loss, and a shorter postoperative recovery. Despite initial concerns about the use of minimally invasive surgery in gynecologic oncology, this approach has been shown to be safe and effective in the management of uterine and cervical cancer, and minimally invasive surgical management of these malignancies is now commonplace. Concerns remain regarding the use of minimally invasive surgery for the staging and management of ovarian cancer, including concerns regarding the adequacy of abdominal exploration and staging with minimally invasive approaches compared to traditional laparotomy and the risks and implications of intra-operative tumor cyst rupture and port-site metastases. However, several case series, retrospective reviews, and case–control studies have demonstrated that minimally invasive surgery is both safe and effective for the staging of borderline ovarian tumors and early-stage epithelial ovarian cancer when performed by a trained gynecologic oncologist. Data to support the role of minimally invasive surgery for advanced epithelial ovarian cancer are scant and use of minimally invasive surgery in this setting is not recommended.     

Endoscopic hypophysectomy

The minimally invasive endoscopic pituitary surgery is performed through the natural nasal pathway without any incisions unlike the conventional microscopic surgery performed via Trans-nasal Trans-sphenoidal upproach. We have tried to compare the clinical implications of these two approaches. In our study, conducted from 1995 to 2004, we started operating pituitary adenomas with conventional Trans nasal Trans-sphenoidal microscopic approach and later used the endoscopic assisted approach and then endoscopic. Close and long period of follow up was maintained. In our experience of 9 years, adopting the endoscope not only eliminates the need for nasal packing, but also heightens the surgeons’ visualization of pituitary tumors, thus no external incision, no nasal packing and overnight stay with no complications.     

Endoscopic Transseptal Approach to Frontal Sinus Disease

This paper describes an endoscopic transseptal approach to identify and access the frontal sinus and reviews the clinical cases. Between May 2004 and July 2010, endoscopic modified Lothrop procedure (EMLP) with transseptal approach was performed on sixteen patients. The indications for EMLP were complicated frontal sinusitis or cyst, revision surgery for failed frontal sinusotomy or Lynch procedure, or trauma cases. The first step of this procedure was to open a window in the bilateral anterior portion of the middle turbinates and nasal septum. The nasal septum, which could be observed through the window, should be the landmark of the midline during the surgery. A drill bur was raised up just behind the nasal bone along the midline of the nose. After the bilateral frontal sinuses and their posterior walls were confirmed, the interfrontal septum was removed superiorly. We reviewed the clinical records of patients who underwent the EMLP with transseptal approach. We have managed sixteen patients in this fashion. Neither intracranial nor orbital complications were encountered during or after surgery. Endoscopic transseptal frontal sinus surgery is simple to perform, and does not cause severe complications.     

经皮内镜椎板间入路腰椎间盘切除术

Kambin 及 Gellman [1]在1973年首次报道使用脊柱内镜,经皮从后外侧入路摘除压迫神经的椎间盘髓核组织。Yeung [2]发明了 YESS 系统,经后外侧椎间孔入路切除椎间盘髓核组织,成为最早的经皮内镜腰椎间盘切除术（ percutaneous endoscopic lumbar discectomy,PELD ）。YESS （ yeung endoscopic spine system ）脊柱内镜系统的发明及其相应的 YESS 技术为现代经皮腰椎内镜技术的发展奠定了基础。Ruetten 等[3]和 Hoogland 等[4]对 YESS 技术做出了改进,并由此发展为完全内镜技术（ full-endoscopic technique ）及 TESSYS 系统（ transforaminal endoscopic surgical system ）。PELD 以其创伤小,出血少,恢复快等优点,为椎间盘突出患者带来了福音。其微创性、有效性及良好的卫生经济学价值已被国内外众多从事脊柱内镜的学者证实[5]。常使用的是经皮内镜椎间孔入路腰椎间盘切除术（ percutaneous endoscopic transforaminal discectomy, PETD ）,其适应证包括旁中央型、椎间孔型、极外侧型椎间盘突出症。但在经椎间孔入路治疗L5～S1椎间盘突出,尤其是脱垂型及腋下型突出时,高髂嵴、肥大翼化的 L5横突、椎间孔骨性周界的阻挡、背根神经节及由椎间孔出行的神经根限制了工作管道的充分移动,致摘除突出的髓核组织非常困难。为了避免PETD摘除椎间盘髓核组织时遇到的困难,Ruetten 采用经皮内镜椎板间入路腰椎间盘切除术（ percutaneous endoscopic interlaminar discectomy,＆amp;nbsp;PEID ）摘除突出的椎间盘髓核组织[6]。PEID具有手术入路解剖为脊柱外科医生熟悉,术中透视少,不受高髂嵴、椎间孔周界、背根神经节及出行神经根限制等优点[7],其与PETD一起进一步扩大了经皮内镜的手术适应范围。     

Erratum to: Gastric Cancer Surgery: An American Perspective on the Current Options and Standards

Gastric cancer is prevalent globally, particularly in Asian countries such as Japan and Korea. While the prevalence of gastric cancer is not nearly as high in the United States (U.S.) as in Asia, the treatment armamentarium differs widely between regions. The role of surgery for gastric cancer in the U.S. has changed drastically over the last decade. While the natural history of gastric cancer seen in the U.S. markedly differs from that seen in Asia, the U.S. experience with endoscopic and minimally invasive techniques is beginning to parallel those seen in Japan and Korea. Minimally invasive surgery has truly come into the forefront of our surgical armamentarium, and its role, along with robotic and endoscopic approaches, remains to be defined as standard of care. At present, minimally invasive approaches appear to offer oncologically equivalent outcomes compared with standard open gastrectomy when performed by experienced surgeons. Extended lymphadenectomy does not appear to offer benefit with improved survival in our patient population, although sufficient lymph node sampling is imperative for adequate staging. Despite aggressive approaches to surgical resection for cure, the U.S. population tends to present with more advanced disease and have a worse prognosis than our Asian counterparts. Palliation with resection and possibly stent placement should be offered for improved quality of life in late-stage disease.     

Balloon sinuplasty

Balloon sinuplasty is a technique in endoscopic sinus surgery that involves minimally invasive procedures to dilate the obstructed or stenosed anatomical sinus pathways. Procedure is derived from the well-recognized techinique of angioplasty. This article highlights the procedural methods with review of literature and my personal experience in balloon sinupalsty.     

Hand-assisted laparoscopic surgery for cancer

Minimally invasive surgical approaches were designed to enhance quality of care and improve patient outcome by minimizing postoperative pain, shortening hospital stay, reducing costs, and facilitating early return to work and presurgical lifestyle. The hand-assisted laparoscopic approach for resection of cancer is still in its formative stage, and this review places it in proper perspective within the context of minimally invasive surgery currently being performed for both benign and malignant disease. The review also outlines the potential advantages and disadvantages, techniques, and site-specific procedures of hand-assisted laparoscopic surgery for cancer.     

Advances in Rectal Cancer Surgery

Surgical resection is the cornerstone of curative intent therapy for rectal cancer. The introduction of the concept of total mesorectal excision (TME) led to significant decreases in local recurrence. However, TME carries substantial morbidity. The advent of transanal endoscopic techniques, such as transanal endoscopic microsurgery (TEM) and transanal minimally invasive surgery (TAMIS), has allowed patients with early-stage disease to be managed with local excision and avoid the morbidity of TME. Advances in surgery such as laparoscopy, robotic surgery, and transanal approaches have also broadened the options for achieving TME. However, there is significant debate within the literature regarding the optimal approach and oncologic outcomes of these modalities.     

Efficacy of the Modified Endoscopic Frontal Sinus Surgery for Recurrent Chronic Frontal Sinusitis

To modify the endoscopic frontal sinus surgery and improve the therapeutic effect of recurrent chronic frontal sinusitis (RCFS). Eighty-five patients with RCFS were divided into two groups. Endoscopic frontal sinus surgery through an approach of Frontomaxillary Process-Agger Nasi, a modified Draf IIb procedure, was carried out in 51 patients (Group A), and conservative medication was applied in 34 patients as control (Group B). The therapeutic effect was prospectively evaluated with statistically validated measures of sinusitis-specific quality of life, sino-nasal outcome test-20 questionnaire (SNOT-20). Compared with pre-treatment, the average total score of SNOT-20 in RCFS patients was significantly decreased at the time of 6, 12 months after modified endoscopic frontal sinus surgery and medical treatments (p < 0.05). However, the total score of SNOT20 was significantly lower in group A than group B at the same period of the follow-up after treatments (p < 0.05). The overall efficacy evaluated by patients’ self showed that the rate of “much improved” and “improved” was respectively 68.6 and 17.6 % in group A, and significantly better than group B (p < 0.001). Furthermore, the frontal sinus patency rate in group A was 85 %, and significantly higher than group B (p < 0.001). Endoscopic frontal sinus surgery through an approach of Frontomaxillary Process-Agger Nasi, a modified Draf IIb procedure, is an effective procedure to treat the RCFS.     

New technologies in thyroid surgery

Recent technological innovations are facilitating new approaches to surgery of the thyroid gland, including minimally invasive approaches that have the added advantage of allowing the surgeon to avoid drains, thus enabling outpatient surgery. Laryngeal nerve monitoring may be a useful adjunct in identification of the recurrent laryngeal nerve, particularly for the low-volume endocrine surgeon. Endoscopic surgical techniques allow improved visualization and permit thyroidectomy to be performed through small incisions, often less than 3 cm, which may improve cosmetic outcomes. Finally, surgical robotics, with the promise of further enhanced visualization and surgical dexterity better than that possible with traditional endoscopic approaches, may have future applications to thyroid surgery.     

Systematic review analysis of robotic and transanal approaches in TME surgery- A systematic review of the current literature in regard to challenges in rectal cancer surgery

Several patients' and pathological characteristics in rectal surgery can significantly complicate surgical loco regional tumor clearance. The main factors are obesity, short tumor distance from anal verge, bulky tumors, and narrow pelvis, which have been shown to be associated to poor surgical results in open and laparoscopic approaches. Minimally invasive surgery has the potential to reduce perioperative morbidity with equivalent short- and long-term oncological outcomes compared to conventional open approach. Achilles' heel of laparoscopic approaches is conversion to open surgery. High risk for conversion is evident for patients with bulky and low tumors as well as male gender and narrow pelvis. Hence, patient's characteristics represent challenges in rectal cancer surgery especially in minimally invasive approaches. The available surgical techniques increased remarkably with recently developed and implemented improvements of minimally invasive rectal cancer surgery. The controversial discussions about sense and purpose of these novel approaches are still ongoing in the literature.Herein, we evaluate, if latest technical advances like transanal approach or robotic assisted surgery have the potential to overcome known challenges and pitfalls in rectal cancer surgery in demanding surgical cases and highlight the role of current minimally invasive approaches in rectal cancer surgery.     

Combined Exoscopic and Endoscopic Two-Step Keyhole Approach for Intracranial Meningiomas

The advantages of neuroendoscopic surgery are the wide viewing angle and the freedom of an axis of view with minimal surgical trauma. With the advent of the exoscope, which has similar advantages to endoscopy, such as a small body and ergonomically superior heads-up surgery, it has become possible to add a field of view that is similar to that of microsurgery to endoscopic surgery. By taking advantage of the features of these scopes, we report the usefulness of the minimally invasive combined exoscopic and endoscopic two-step keyhole approach (EEKA) for various types of meningiomas. We reviewed data from 34 consecutive cases of EEKA for various types of intracranial meningiomas compared with that of conventional microsurgery. All of the tumors were resected as planned without severe complications. Significantly better outcome data were obtained in terms of the blood loss and the surgical time in the EEKA group, in addition to the craniotomy size. The well-illuminated fine vision in the deep corners by the endoscope enabled radical resection of the tumors with minimum burden on the patients. This technique has the potential for minimally invasive surgery in intracranial meningioma patients, including the older population.     

Gastric Cancer Surgery: An American Perspective on the Current Options and Standards

Gastric cancer is prevalent globally, particularly in Asian countries such as Japan and Korea. While the prevalence of gastric cancer is not nearly as high in the United States (U.S.) as in Asia, the treatment armamentarium differs widely between regions. The role of surgery for gastric cancer in the U.S. has changed drastically over the last decade. While the natural history of gastric cancer seen in the U.S. markedly differs from that seen in Asia, the U.S. experience with endoscopic and minimally invasive techniques is beginning to parallel those seen in Japan and Korea. Minimally invasive surgery has truly come into the forefront of our surgical armamentarium, and its role, along with robotic and endoscopic approaches, remains to be defined as standard of care. At present, minimally invasive approaches appear to offer oncologically equivalent outcomes compared with standard open gastrectomy when performed by experienced surgeons. Extended lymphadenectomy does not appear to offer benefit with improved survival in our patient population, although sufficient lymph node sampling is imperative for adequate staging. Despite aggressive approaches to surgical resection for cure, the U.S. population tends to present with more advanced disease and have a worse prognosis than our Asian counterparts. Palliation with resection and possibly stent placement should be offered for improved quality of life in late-stage disease.     

Recent advances of robotic surgery and single port laparoscopy in gynecologic oncology

Two innovative approaches in minimally invasive surgery that have been introduced recently are the da Vinci robotic platform and single port laparoscopic surgery (SPLS). Robotic surgery has many advantages such as 3-dimensional view, the wrist like motion of the robotic arm and ergonomically comfortable position for the surgeon. Numerous literatures have demonstrated the feasibility of robotic surgery in gynecologic oncology. However, further research should be performed to demonstrate the superiority of robotic surgery compared to conventional laparoscopy. Additionally, cost reduction of robotic surgery is needed to adopt robotic surgery into gynecologic oncology worldwide. SPLS has several possible benefits including reduced operative complications, reduced postoperative pain, and better cosmetic results compared to conventional laparoscopy. Although several authors have indicated that SPLS is a feasible approach for gynecologic surgery, there have been few reports demonstrating the potential advantages over conventional laparoscopy. Moreover, technical difficulties of SPLS still exist. Therefore, the advantages of a single port approach compared to conventional laparoscope should be evaluated with comparative study, and further technologic development for SPLS is also needed. These two progressive technologies take the lead in the development of MIS and further studies should be performed to evaluate the benefits of robot surgery and SPLS.     

经皮完全内镜下脊柱手术技术的发展与现状

现代经皮内镜下脊柱手术技术的发展是建立在Yeung发明的YESS （ yeung endoscopic spine system ）脊柱内镜系统及YESS技术基础之上的。Ruetten，Hoogland等在YESS脊柱内镜系统基础上进行改进，并提出完全内镜技术（ full-endoscopic technique ）及TESSYS （ transforaminal endoscopic surgical system ）等概念。但这些脊柱内镜系统都是使用带工作通道的硬杆状内镜在持续生理盐水灌洗下进行的微创脊柱手术，只是手术技术上不断改进以适应更复杂的病例，所以都可以称为完全内镜下手术技术。目前主要用于颈、腰椎间盘突出症、颈椎管狭窄症、腰椎管狭窄症及慢性腰痛等疾病的治疗。     

Recent advances in colorectal cancer surgery

Recent advances in colorectal cancer surgery have been made in improving the cure rate after surgery, the preservation of postoperative function, and the development of minimally invasive procedures. Indication for wide lymph node dissection in rectal cancer surgery is now limited to a smaller number of cases. Functional outcome is being improved thanks to the introduction of autonomic nerve preserving operations as well as the increasing number of sphincter preserving operations. Laparoscopic colectomy for cancer has been practiced for 7-8 years, and the advantages and disadvantages of this procedure are being clarified. Transanal endoscopic microsurgery (TEM) is a minimally invasive surgery for rectal tumors in early stages. The procedure is now overtaking the posterior surgical approach, which is used less and less in recent years. Future goals in colorectal cancer surgery are further improvements in the cure rate and the functional results. Minimally invasive surgery may become the established procedure after a careful assessment of its cure rate compared to the open surgical procedure.     

Strategies for gastric cancer in the modern era

Gastric cancer is one of the most common neoplasms in Japan, and it is also the second leading cause of cancer-related deaths worldwide. Nowadays, infection with Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) is a known risk factor for the development of gastric cancer. Therefore, gastric cancer should be considered as an infectious disease, and in fact, prophylactic eradication of H. pylori may prevent the development of metachronous gastric carcinoma. Before the role of H. pylori was understood, a different approach was used. Recently even after the cancer has developed, some newer therapeutic approaches have been pursued. These newer treatments have been summarized as "minimally invasive therapies" and use endoscopic or laparoscopic techniques. In addition, robotic approaches are being developed that seem to hold a great potential to change the surgical approach. Since basic understanding and treatment of the disease have both changed significantly over the last decade, we present a review of current advances in gastric cancer research and therapy.     

微创食管癌切除术进展

随着食管手术技术的不断发展,很多国外的肿瘤中心相继开展了旨在减少食管癌手术并发症和死亡率的食管微创手术技术。本文综述了微创食管癌手术的概念、手术方式、淋巴结清扫状况、并发症和死亡率,以及术后的生存质量的情况。目前怎样界定小创伤或微创仍然是一个非常困难的事情,也就是说食管微创手术目前还没有一个统一的标准,但是很多的资料表明食管微创外科有着很多的优势。在手术入路方面,越来越多的进行食管微创手术的医生采取了与当前开放Ivor-Lewis 手术相似的方式,并获得了与开放手术相当甚至更好的淋巴结清扫。食管微创手术的术后生存质量的评价好于开放手术。在手术的并发症与死亡率方面与目前的开放手术相同。考虑到食管微创手术目前仍处于起步阶段,随着技术的不断完善,微创手术将获得更好的效果。当今的食管外科正在向着微创、彻底清扫的方向发展,可以预见在不远的将来,食管外科必将加入微创外科行列。