Laparoscopic cholecystectomy in children: lessons learned from the first 100 patients.

BACKGROUND/PURPOSE: Laparoscopic cholecystectomy is a very common operation in adults but is relatively infrequently required in children. A retrospective review of 100 consecutive infants and children undergoing laparoscopic cholecystectomies from 1990 to 1998 was performed to see what lessons have been learned from this relatively large population of pediatric patients. RESULTS: The patients ranged in age from 25 to 230 months, with a mean of 105 months. Only 19 patients had hemolytic disease as the etiology for their cholelithiasis. Two patients had biliary dyskinesia. Seventy-eight patients underwent an elective operation. Twenty-two children required urgent hospitalization because of complications from their cholelithiasis: acute cholecystitis (n = 7), jaundice and pain (n = 6), gallstone pancreatitis (n = 5), acute biliary colic (n = 4). All 6 patients who presented with jaundice underwent endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP) before their laparoscopic cholecystectomy. Two patients required laparoscopic choledochal exploration. The operating time and postoperative hospitalization were significantly longer (P = .0005) in the complicated group when compared with the elective patients. No significant complications such as the need for reoperation, injury to the choledocuhus or to other viscera, bile leak, or retained choledocholithiasis occurred. CONCLUSIONS: Laparoscopic cholecystectomy is a safe, effective procedure in children for removal of the gallbladder. The exact role of routine cholangiography and ERCP remains unclear.     

Surgeon-performed ultrasound: its use in clinical practice.

OBJECTIVE: To highlight areas where surgeon-performed ultrasound (US) is an effective diagnostic and therapeutic tool. SUMMARY BACKGROUND DATA: The success of US in trauma and technologic advances have enhanced the interest and ability of surgeons to perform their own US examinations. METHODS: General surgeons perform US examinations of the thyroid gland, breast, gastrointestinal tract, peritoneal cavity (laparoscopy), and vascular system. Essentials of these examinations are discussed and a plan for educating surgical residents in US is outlined. RESULTS: Focused assessment for the sonographic examination of the trauma patient, or FAST, is replacing central venous pressure measurements to detect hemopericardium and diagnostic peritoneal lavage to detect hemoperitoneum. Bedside US can be used to detect a pleural effusion so well in critically ill patients that lateral decubitus x-rays are rarely needed. US-directed biopsy of breast lesions is a common office procedure. Laparoscopic US allows tumor staging without formal celiotomy, and many hepatic and pancreatic surgical procedures include US as an adjunct. Endoscopic and endorectal US have added a new dimension to the assessment of many gastrointestinal lesions. Color flow duplex imaging and endoluminal US have significantly expanded the diagnostic and therapeutic aspects of vascular imaging. The training program developed at Emory University and Grady Memorial Hospital is offered as a model for educating surgical residents in US techniques. CONCLUSIONS: US is a valuable addition to the general surgeon's diagnostic armamentarium and is rapidly becoming an integral part of the surgeon's clinical practice.     

Surgeon-performed ultrasound for pneumothorax in the trauma suite

BACKGROUND: Surgeon-performed ultrasound has become ubiquitous in the trauma suite. Initial reports suggest that sonography may be used for the detection of pneumothorax. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of sonography to rule out the presence of a pneumothorax in the trauma population. METHODS: A prospective analysis of 328 consecutive trauma patients at an American College of Surgeons-verified Level I trauma center was undertaken. Thoracic ultrasound was performed before chest radiography. The presence or absence of a "sliding-lung" sign or "comet-tail" artifact was recorded. RESULTS: Of 328 evaluations, there were 312 true-negatives, 12 true-positives, 1 false-negative, 1 false-positive, and 2 exclusions. Specificity, negative predictive value, and accuracy were 99.7%, 99.7%, and 99.4%, respectively. CONCLUSION: Ultrasound is a reliable modality for the diagnosis of pneumothorax in the injured patient. This modality may serve as an adjunct or precursor to routine chest radiography in the evaluation of injured patients.     

Surgical correction of pectus carinatum: lessons learned from 260 patients

Background

Patients with pectus carinatum (PC) frequently experience physiologic symptoms, which are often overlooked by physicians. Sparse data have been published regarding the indications for correction of PC and the newer techniques of surgical repair.

Methods

Since 1970, 260 (89% males) symptomatic patients with PC with a mean severity index of 1.81 underwent open surgical correction at the University of California, Los Angeles, Medical Center by 1 surgeon. All patients had experienced dyspnea, reduced endurance, and tachypnea with exertion. Asthmatic symptoms were noted by 22%. The mean age at operation was 18.2 years. Asymmetric protrusion was present in 126 (48%) patients. Combined protrusion of the upper chest and depression of the lower chest was present in 17 patients. Varying degrees of depression on one or both sides of the lower chest was present in 36%. Repair of recurrent PC deformities was performed on 16 patients. Progressively, less costal cartilage was resected over the 37-year period, with the last 181 patients having only short segments excised from both ends of deformed cartilages with suture reattachment. Transverse sternal osteotomy was used on all, and 242 (93%) had a support strut anterior to the sternum for 6 months.

Results

Exercise induced dyspnea, and reduced endurance was improved in all patients within 3 to 6 months after repair. Need for repair of recurrent deformities and resection of mild residual cartilage protrusion was reduced more than 3-fold when less extensive cartilage resection with wire reattachment was used. Postoperative complications in the last 181 patients were minor and less frequent, pain was less severe, hospitalization was shorter (mean, 2.6 days), and postoperative results were better than when more extensive repairs were used in previous years. With a mean overall follow-up of 6.2 years, 97.4% of all patients reported a very good or excellent result.

Conclusions

In this largest reported series of PC repair, progressively less extensive open techniques have resulted in low morbidity, mild pain, short hospital stay, and very good physiologic and cosmetic results.     

Robotic-assisted pedicle screw placement: lessons learned from the first 102 patients

Introduction

Surgeons’ interest in image and/or robotic guidance for spinal implant placement is increasing. This technology is continually improving and may be particularly useful in patients with challenging anatomy. Only through careful clinical evaluation can its successful applications, limitations, and areas for improvement be defined. This study evaluates the outcomes of robotic-assisted screw placement in a consecutive series of 102 patients.

Methods

Data were recorded from technical notes and operative records created immediately following each surgery case, in which the robotic system was used to guide pedicle screw placement. All cases were performed at the same hospital by a single surgeon. The majority of patients had spinal deformity and/or previous spine surgery. Each planned screw placement was classified as: (1) successful/accurately placed screw using robotic guidance; (2) screw malpositioned using robot; (3) use of robot aborted and screw placed manually; (4) planned screw not placed as screw deemed non essential for construct stability. Data from each case were reviewed by two independent researchers to indentify the diagnosis, number of attempted robotic guided screw placements and the outcome of the attempted placement as well as complications or reasons for non-placement.

Results

Robotic-guided screw placement was successfully used in 95 out of 102 patients. In those 95 patients, 949 screws (87.5 % of 1,085 planned screws) were successfully implanted. Eleven screws (1.0 %) placed using the robotic system were misplaced (all presumably due to “skiving” of the drill bit or trocar off the side of the facet). Robotic guidance was aborted and 110 screws (10.1 %) were manually placed, generally due to poor registration and/or technical trajectory issues. Fifteen screws (1.4 %) were not placed after intraoperative determination that the screw was not essential for construct stability. The robot was not used as planned in seven patients, one due to severe deformity, one due to very high body mass index, one due to extremely poor bone quality, one due to registration difficulty caused by previously placed loosened hardware, one due to difficulty with platform mounting and two due to device technical issues.

Conclusion

Of the 960 screws that were implanted using the robot, 949 (98.9 %) were successfully and accurately implanted and 11 (1.1 %) were malpositioned, despite the fact that the majority of patients had significant spinal deformities and/or previous spine surgeries. “Tool skiving” was thought to be the inciting issue with the misplaced screws. Intraoperative anteroposterior and oblique fluoroscopic imaging for registration is critical and was the limiting issue in four of the seven aborted cases.     

Laparoscopic incisional and ventral hernioplasty: lessons learned from 200 patients

Our first 100 patients and our second 100 patients who underwent a laparoscopic repair of incisional and ventral hernias were compared and evaluated. This analysis revealed that the second group was approximately 9 years older with more comorbid medical conditions. In all, 15% were incarcerated hernias, and 21% were recurrent. Seven operations were converted to the open repair because of adhesions in five patients and either a small or large bowel injury in two patients. There were no complications related to enterotomy. Older and more infirm patients in the second group did not significantly affect outcomes. The average size of the hernia defects was 111 cm². The average size of the prosthesis was 257.5 cm². Larger prostheses were used in the second group. With more experience, the recurrence rates have declined from 9% to 4%. The etiology of these recurrences differed in these two groups of patients. Removal of the prosthetic due to infection was a predictable recurrence in two patients. A new hernia below the original hernia has caused us to repair the entire incision that had the initial hernia. Only one technical failure was noted, due to fracture of the suture during transfascial placement and clamping of the suture. It is not recommended to grasp any suture that remains in the patient during this hernioplasty. Recurrences were reduced because of the use of an increased overlap of the biomaterial and the use of dual methods of fixation (tacks and transfascial sutures).     

Laparoscopic adrenalectomy: lessons learned from 100 consecutive procedures.

One hundred consecutive laparoscopic adrenal procedures for a variety of endocrine disorders were reviewed. There was no mortality, morbidity was 12%, and conversions was 3%. During follow-up, none had recurrence of hormonal excess. Laparoscopic adrenalectomy is the procedure of choice for adrenal removal except in carcinoma or masses > 15 cm. OBJECTIVE: The authors evaluate the effectiveness of laparoscopic adrenalectomy for a variety of endocrine disorders. SUMMARY BACKGROUND DATA: Since the first laparoscopic adrenalectomy was performed in 1992, this approach quickly has been adopted, and increasing numbers are being reported. However, the follow-up period has been too short to evaluate the completeness of these operations. METHODS: One hundred consecutive laparoscopic adrenal procedures from January 1992 until November 1996 were reviewed and followed for adequacy of resection. RESULTS: Eighty-eight patients underwent 97 adrenalectomies and biopsies. The mean age was 46 years (range, 17-84 years). Indications were pheochromocytomas (n = 25), aldosterone-producing adenomas (n = 21), nonfunctional adenomas (n = 20), cortisol-producing adenomas (n = 13), Cushing's disease (n = 8), and others (n = 13). Fifty-five patients had previous abdominal surgery. Mean operative time was 123 minutes (range, 80-360 minutes), and estimated blood loss was 70 mL (range, 20-1300 mL). There was no mortality, and morbidity was encountered in 12% of patients, including three patients in whom venous thrombosis developed with two sustaining pulmonary emboli. During pheochromocytoma removal, hypertension occurred in 56% of patients and hypotension in 52%. There were three conversions to open surgery. The average length of stay has decreased from 3 days (range, 2-19 days) in the first 3 years to 2.4 days (range, 1-6 days) over the past 16 months. During follow-up (range, 1-44 months), two patients had renovascular hypertension and none had recurrence of hormonal excess. CONCLUSION: Laparoscopic adrenalectomy is safe, effective, and decreases hospital stay and wound complications. Prior abdominal surgery is not a contraindication. Pheochromocytomas can be resected safely laparoscopically despite blood pressure variations. Venous thrombosis prophylaxis is mandatory. The laparoscopic approach is the procedure of choice for adrenalectomy except in the case of invasive carcinoma or masses > 15 cm.     

Laparoscopic-assisted approach in rectal cancer patients: lessons learned from >200 patients

Background The applicability of laparoscopic surgery in the treatment of colorectal diseases is still controversial. Early reports on laparoscopic-assisted colectomy in patients with colon cancer suggested that it minimizes surgical trauma, decreases perioperative complications, and leads to a more rapid recovery. To our knowledge, no previous studies have compared the laparoscopic vs the open approach in rectal cancer. The aim of this paper was to assess the results of laparoscopic techniques in patients with rectal cancer.Methods From March 1998 to February 2003, all patients admitted to our unit with adenocarcinoma of the rectum were evaluated for surgery by the laparoscopic approach.Results A total of 220 patients with a mean age of 67.3 years were included in the study. One hundred thirty patients (59%) were treated with neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy. In >75% of the patients, a surgical procedure with sphincter preservation was perfomed. The rate of conversion to the open approach was 20%. Ten patients had intraoperative complications. Fifty-eight patients (26.3%) developed postoperative complications. The length of hospital stay was 6.8 days. The distribution of tumor stages was as follows: stage I, 16.81%; stage II, 33.6%; stage III, 26.36%; stage IV, 19.09%. The mean number of lymph nodes was 13.8. The incidence of local relapse was 5.3%, with a follow-up of 18 months.Conclusion Laparoscopic surgery can be safely performed in patients with adenocarcinoma of the rectum with good short-term results. Randomized controlled trials are needed to confirm these results.     

Laparoscopic adrenalectomy: lessons learned from an initial series of 100 patients

Background Laparoscopic adrenalectomy is considered the gold standard for the surgical treatment of adrenal disorders in most centers. This study analyzes the authors’ experience using the lateral intraperitoneal approach with the first 100 patients. In addition to analyzing the authors’ experience, this article aims to contrast it with some published series as an internal quality control. Methods In a 10-year period, 138 laparoscopic adrenalectomies were performed for 100 patients. Demographics, surgical results, complications, and long-term outcomes were analyzed. Results The participants comprised 69 women and 31 men with a mean age of 37 years. The procedures included 24 right, 38 left, and 38 bilateral adrenalectomies. The indications for surgery were Cushing’s disease for 33 patients, pheochromocytoma (4 bilateral) for 23 patients, Cushing’s syndrome for 18 patients, Conn’s syndrome for 16 patients, and incidentaloma for 10 patients. Five procedures were converted to open surgery. Two patients with pheochromocytoma required intraoperative blood transfusion. The mean operative time was 174 min for unilateral adrenalectomies and 302 min for the bilateral procedures. The mean hospital stay was 5 days. Surgical morbidity included an abdominal wall hematoma, a small pneumothorax, and intraabominal bleeding in one patient that required reexploration. There were three operative mortalities not related to the technique. The long-term results showed control of hypercortisolism in all the patients with Cushing’s disease and 82% of the patients with pheochromocytoma. Most of the patients with Conn’s syndrome (91.4%) became normotensive after surgery. Conclusions Laparoscopic adrenalectomy is safe and effective. The complications are mild, and mortality is related more to the patient’s condition than to the surgical technique.     

Image-guided sinus surgery: lessons learned from the first 1000 cases.

OBJECTIVE: To study physician utilization and experience with image-guidance technology for sinus surgery. Study Design and Setting: Retrospective review of the first 1000 image-guided sinus operations performed by 42 surgeons at an academic medical center. RESULTS: Utilization of image-guidance systems showed a dramatic increase in both number of cases performed and surgeons who used this equipment (70.6% and 92.8%, respectively) during the first 2 years of its availability. Surgical volume subsequently decreased by a mean of 9.3% per year, whereas the number of surgeons using this technology plateaued. The majority of surgeons continued to perform image-guided surgery throughout the study period for selected cases. The knowledge base gained from this experience can best be summarized as a series of lessons learned. CONCLUSION: It is likely that the availability and utilization of image-guidance systems for sinus surgery will continue to increase in the future. Physicians who learn to use this new technology must do so with an appreciation for both its potential benefits and pitfalls.     

Surgeon-performed ultrasound in the management of thyroid malignancy

Surgeon-controlled real-time ultrasound (US) is a new adjunct in the management of patients with thyroid malignancy. The introduction of US as a routine evaluation tool has increased the recognition of nonpalpable thyroid cancers and cervical lymph node metastases. We report our experience and the change in management of patients with thyroid cancer due to the use of US. We reviewed the records of all patients undergoing neck operations for thyroid cancer since 2002. US was performed by a surgeon preoperatively in all patients and intraoperatively when non-palpable cervical lymph nodes were present. Suspicious nonpalpable thyroid nodules underwent US-guided fine-needle aspiration (FNA) for cytology. Seventy-two patients underwent operations for thyroid cancer. US influenced the management in 57 per cent (41/72) of patients. US was useful in 1) identification and guidance for the FNA of nonpalpable cancers in 28 per cent (20/72), 2) identification of nonpalpable nodules in the contralateral lobe in 38 per cent (27/72), 3) preoperative diagnosis of nonpalpable metastatic lymph nodes in 24 per cent (17/72), and intraoperative guidance for their excision. Surgeon-performed US changed and enhanced the pre- and intraoperative management in more than half the patients with thyroid cancer.     

Pediatric snakebites: lessons learned from 114 cases

Purpose

Evidence-based guidelines for the treatment of pediatric snakebite injuries are lacking because they occur infrequently in most centers.

Methods

We reviewed our experience treating snakebites from January 1995 through December 2005. Demographic (eg, age, sex, geographic location) and clinical information (eg, location of bite, species of snake, vital signs, laboratories, treatment, hospital length of stay) were obtained.

Results

Over the last decade, we have treated 114 children with confirmed snakebites. Mean age was 7.3 ± 4.2 years (range, 1-17 years), and snakebites were more common in males (n = 68, 60%). All bites occurred on the extremities, and lower extremity bites were more common (n = 71, 62%). Copperheads inflicted the most bite injuries (n = 65, 57%), followed by rattlesnakes (n = 9, 8%) and cottonmouths (n = 7, 6%). The snake was not identified in 33 (29%) cases. Seven (6%) children were treated with Crotalidae antivenin. Of the children treated with antivenin, only 4 met criteria for treatment, and 1 had an anaphylactic reaction. If compartment syndrome was suspected based on neurovascular examination, compartment pressures were measured. Only 2 (1.8%) patients required fasciotomies. Over the last 2 years, we have stopped empiric treatment with antibiotics and have not observed any infectious complications. Average hospital length of stay was 30 ± 25 hours.

Conclusions

Most children bitten by pit vipers can be managed conservatively with analgesics and elevation of the affected extremity. Treatment with Crotalidae antivenin, antibiotics, and fasciotomy is rarely indicated.