Robotic Sleeve Gastrectomy Versus Laparoscopic Sleeve Gastrectomy: a Comparative Study with 200 Patients

The da Vinci Surgical System^® has shown its possible indications in obesity surgery. This clinical study aims to elucidate the benefits, potentials, or problems of applying robotic technology for sleeve gastrectomy (SG). Data from 200 patients who underwent SG either performed by laparoscopy or robotic approach were assessed. A review of the data was analyzed with 1-year follow-up. There were 143 female patients. Mean age was 43.6 years. Mean BMI was 48.4 kg/m². Operative time was longer for the robotic SG group (p?<?0.005). The overall leak rate was 3.5 %. Robotic SG is feasible and may be an initial procedure to undergo more complex procedures. Cost issues and operative times will need to be more clearly estimated in the future.     

Lesion mimicking perianal abscess in an immunocompromised patient: Report of a case

INTRODUCTION

Ischiorrectal tumoral masses mimicking perianal abscess and abscess from uncommon microbiological origins have previously been reported.

PRESENTATION OF CASE

Unusual perianal abscess arising from an hematoma in an elderly woman with myelodysplastic syndrome: the patient presented on the emergency with gluteal pain and fever after intramuscular injection of analgesic drug. Physical examination revealed subcutaneous thickening on gluteus and perianal region, without skin changes. Magnetic resonance reported an heterogeneous mass sized 5 cm × 12 cm × 20 cm from gluteus maximus to ischioanal fat under levator ani muscle, through sciatic notch. Debridement of an staphylococceal infected hematoma through a single left lateral gluteus incision, and primary closure was performed. Proctologic examination was normal, so any perianal incision was done. The site infection progressed, so the patient required new surgery with wet cure. The patient contracted nosocomial pneumonia and died due to sepsis.

DISCUSSION

Hematological diseases can yield infectious and bleeding disorders. Intramuscular injections often cause haematomas that can lead to pyomyositis. Pyomyositis requires early debridement and continue cure.

CONCLUSION

Intramuscular administration of drugs should be avoided in patients with thrombocytopenia. Gluteal region is connected to perianal area through the sciatic notch. Usually perianal abscess in immunocompromised patients arise from proctologic origin, but other causes may be taken into account.     

The Application of Beta-Tricalcium Phosphate in Implant Dentistry: A Systematic Evaluation of Clinical Studies

The demand for synthetic graft materials in implant dentistry is rising. This systematic review aims to evaluate the survival rate of dental implants placed simultaneously with bone regeneration procedures using the material β-tricalcium phosphate, one of the most promising synthetic graft materials. The electronic search was conducted in PubMed, Scielo, and the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials. Five randomized clinical trials, one non-randomized controlled clinical trial and four observational studies without control group were include. Implant survival rate and other clinical, radiographic, and histological parameters did not differ from those of implants placed simultaneously with another type of graft material, or placed in blood clots or natural alveolar ridges. Based on the available literature, β-tricalcium phosphate seems to be a promising graft material in implant dentistry. Nevertheless, more randomized clinical trials, with long follow-up periods, preoperative and postoperative CBCT, and histological analysis, are necessary to assess its long-term behavior.     

Helical Structure of the Cardiac Ventricular Anatomy Assessed by Diffusion Tensor Magnetic Resonance Imaging With Multiresolution Tractography

Introduction and objectives

Deeper understanding of the myocardial structure linking the morphology and function of the heart would unravel crucial knowledge for medical and surgical clinical procedures and studies. Several conceptual models of myocardial fiber organization have been proposed but the lack of an automatic and objective methodology prevented an agreement. We sought to deepen this knowledge through advanced computer graphical representations of the myocardial fiber architecture by diffusion tensor magnetic resonance imaging.

Methods

We performed automatic tractography reconstruction of unsegmented diffusion tensor magnetic resonance imaging datasets of canine heart from the public database of the Johns Hopkins University. Full-scale tractographies have been built with 200 seeds and are composed by streamlines computed on the vector field of primary eigenvectors at the diffusion tensor volumes. We also introduced a novel multiscale visualization technique in order to obtain a simplified tractography. This methodology retains the main geometric features of the fiber tracts, making it easier to decipher the main properties of the architectural organization of the heart.

Results

Output analysis of our tractographic representations showed exact correlation with low-level details of myocardial architecture, but also with the more abstract conceptualization of a continuous helical ventricular myocardial fiber array.

Conclusions

Objective analysis of myocardial architecture by an automated method, including the entire myocardium and using several 3-dimensional levels of complexity, reveals a continuous helical myocardial fiber arrangement of both right and left ventricles, supporting the anatomical model of the helical ventricular myocardial band described by F. Torrent-Guasp.