Five Years, Two Surgeons, and over 500 Bariatric Procedures: What Have We Learned?

BACKGROUND: Bariatric surgery has become an increasingly popular method for weight loss and mitigation of co-morbidities in the obese population. Like any field, there is a desire to standardize and accelerate the postoperative period while maintaining safe outcomes. METHODS: All laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomies (LSG) and gastric bypasses (LGB) were performed over a 5-year period were logged along with several aspects of postoperative care. Trends were followed in aspects of postoperative care over years as well as any documentation of complications or re-admissions. RESULTS: A total of 545 LSGs and LBPs were performed between 2012 and 2016. Improvements were noted in nearly every field over time, including faster Foley removal, decreased length of hospital stay, decreased use of patient controlled analgesics (PCAs), and faster advancement of diet. There was also an abandonment of utilization of the ICU and step down setting for these patients, leading to significant decreases in hospital cost. There was no change in complications, re-operations, or re-admission in this time period. CONCLUSIONS: The surgeons involved in this project have built a busy bariatric surgery practice, while continually evolving the postoperative algorithm. Nearly every aspect of postoperative care has been deescalated while decreasing length of stay and cost to the hospital. All of this has been obtained without incurring any increase in complications, re-operations, or re-admissions. The authors of this paper hope to use this article as a launching point for a formal advanced recovery pathway for bariatric surgery at their institution and others.

Double Pigtail Stent Insertion for Healing of Leaks Following Roux-en-Y Gastric Bypass. Our Experience (with Videos).

BACKGROUND: Roux-en-Y gastric bypass (RYGB) is complicated by a leak in 0-4.3% of cases. Treatment by fully covered stents has been reported to be associated with some life-threatening complications. We report our experience of insertion of double pigtail stents. METHODS: Thirty-three patients (20M, 43 years-20/65), presenting with a leak at an average of 10 days after RYGB (4-35), were treated by double pigtail stent insertion and a nasojejunal feeding tube. Sixty percent of these patients had undergone surgical drainage prior to stenting for control of sepsis. Thirty leaks were located at the top of staple line and three at the gastro-jejunal anastomosis. At a 4-weekly follow-up, ablation or re-stenting was performed depending on status of fistula closure and patients were placed on normal diet. RESULTS: At the first follow-up, 10/33 fistulae healed, one patient presented with clinical failure (3%) and needed surgery, and 22/33were re-stented. Twenty-one out of these 22 developed a secondary sub-clinical gastro-gastric fistula and one, instead, developed complex (gastro-gastric, gastro-colic) fistula. All (22) primary fistulae healed following four more weeks of treatment. Average treatment duration was of 61 days (28-99). Thirty-two patients (97%) at a follow-up of 1-33 months are asymptomatic. CONCLUSIONS: Leaks following RYGB can be successfully and safely managed by double pigtail stents. Upper gastric staple line leaks are responsible for the formation of a secondary sub-clinic gastro-gastric fistula which needs no additional treatment.

[Early results after peripheral vascular replacement with biosynthetic collagen prosthesis in cases of graft infection]. / Frühergebnisse nach peripherem Gefäßersatz mit einer biosynthetischen Kollagenprothese bei Protheseninfektionen.

INTRODUCTION: Vascular graft infection in peripheral bypass surgery represents a highly significant risk with regard to limb loss and morbidity. In the absence of autologous superficial veins, finding a suitable replacement material can be difficult. Silver-coated polyester grafts, homografts, or use of deep veins can pose additional risks. Use of a biosynthetic collagen prosthesis on a Dacron matrix ("Omniflow-II®") was investigated as an alternative method, and the cost-effectiveness was evaluated. MATERIALS AND METHODS: From December 2010 to December 2011, eight patients with clinical symptoms of vascular graft infection, confirmed by imaging, were treated. Graft function or acute graft failure due to the infection was necessary for enrollment in the study. Infected material was removed, microbiological specimens taken and, in the absence of superficial veins, an "Omniflow-II®" prosthesis was implanted in an orthotopic position. Patients were followed up to evaluate their outcome, and the cost-effectiveness of the procedure was also analysed. RESULTS: The technical feasibility of the procedure was assessed in all cases. Pathogens were detected in five of eight cases. After a mean follow-up of 8 months, seven of eight patients showed that they were clinically cured of infection. Primary patency was 63%, secondary patency was 75%, and prevalence of limb salvage was 88%. One patient had to undergo limb amputation to avoid sepsis, and another unsuccessfully underwent thrombectomy after 12 months. Four PET-CT follow-up studies showed a reduction of uptake in the affected area. To generate adequate revenue by using this technique, specialised knowledge of the diagnosis-related group system is necessary. DISCUSSION: Treatment of vascular graft infections in peripheral bypass surgery in the absence of endogenous material necessitates the use of infection-resistant materials. The present study showed promising results using a collagen-biosynthetic prosthesis. Due to a lack of long-term results, the graft should be used only after detailed informed consent is obtained from the patient. The expenses incurred by using the biosynthetic graft should be covered adequately by revenues from these patients.

[Current developments and perspectives on the diagnosis and treatment of urinary incontinence and genital prolapse in women]. / Aktuelle Entwicklungen und Perspektiven in der Diagnostik und Therapie von Harninkontinenz und Genitalsenkung der Frau.

As a key area of gynaecology, urogynaecology has undergone impressive changes in the past few years. Together with the high prevalence of functional pelvic floor disorders, modern anaesthesia procedures and the introduction of new, innovative minimally invasive operation techniques have led to a dramatic increase in the number of operations for incontinence and prolapses. The increasingly subtle diagnostic options, such as, e. g., 2D and 3D sonography of the pelvic floor provide unambiguous findings and facilitate decision making. Tension-free vaginal slings in retro-pubic, trans-obturator or single-incision techniques show a high success rate with few complications and have almost completely replaced the more invasive abdominal surgical techniques for the operative management of stress incontinence. Especially for recurrent prolapse the use of alloplastic nets leads to a markedly improved anatomic and functional outcome. In spite of the euphoria about modern operation techniques and novel net materials, in-depth knowledge of pelvic floor anatomy, sufficient surgical experience and unequivocal guideline-conform indications are mandatory for satisfactory treatment outcomes. The afflicted women must be informed in detail about alternative procedures and more emphasis should be placed on conservative therapy. Novel surgical techniques should be monitored by registers or clinical trials. The professional society is called upon to improve the training curricula for pelvic floor surgery.

The learning curve in revision cholesteatoma surgery.

OBJECTIVE: To review the results of revision surgery for cholesteatoma. STUDY DESIGN: Retrospective review of patient's records. SETTING: Tertiary referral center. PATIENTS: A retrospective study of patients operated for acquired middle ear cholesteatoma during the period 1990-2002 was performed. A total of 758 patients were divided into two groups according to surgical experience, and followed during short-term and long-term period. The cholesteatoma was divided according to location, age of patients, status of auditory ossicles, and bilaterality of disease. INTERVENTIONS: The patients were treated with single canal wall up or wall down, according to the propagation of disease and condition of middle ear. The indications for the reoperations were: recurrent or residual cholesteatoma, resuppuration, and AB gap more than 20 dB. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Type of surgical therapy, localization of cholesteatoma, age of patients, revisions, bilaterality of disease, damage of auditory ossicles and learning curve were analyzed. RESULTS: The number of revision operations was reduced in the second period (from totally 24.3% to 16.4%). Closed technique gave a significantly lower rate of failure. For attic cholesteatoma, adults, bilateral disease, and ossicular damage the rate of revisions was significantly lower with surgical experience. CONCLUSION: Surgical experience was important for reduction of reoperation rate for attic and sinus cholesteatoma, adults, bilateral cholesteatoma, and when closed technique is used.

Cleft Surgery Service at National Orthopaedic Hospital Enugu: impact of free treatment programme.

INTRODUCTION: Previous reports on free surgeries have tended to focus on the numbers of patients treated. Little has been documented on the impact on training hence this report. Such grants should positively impact training, patient outcome and volume of patients. METHODS: A retrospective review of all cleft surgeries carried out two years before and after the commencement of free surgical treatment at the hospital (from November 2004 to October 2008) was undertaken. The demographics were studied for both primary and revisional surgeries. The primary surgeons were noted. Excluded from the study are procedures to remove sutures. Simple arithmetic analysis was used. RESULTS: Seventy-three cleft procedures had been carried out before, while 168 procedures were carried out after October 2006. Eight patients aged over 15 years had lip repairs before while 42 patients over 15 years had lip repair after commencement. Fourteen procedures were carried out by three trainee surgeons before; while 29 procedures were carried out by nine trainees after October 2006. In 2005 an average of four procedures a month were undertaken; this increased by 2008 to eight. CONCLUSION: Free treatment positively impacts patient turnout and training, and are encouraged to improve the quality of healthcare in the country.

In situ simulation-based team training for post-cardiac surgical emergency chest reopen in the intensive care unit.

Emergency chest reopen of the post cardiac surgical patient in the intensive care unit is a high-stakes but infrequent procedure which requires a high-level team response and a unique skill set. We evaluated the impact on knowledge and confidence of team-based chest reopen training using a patient simulator compared with standard video-based training. We evaluated 49 medical and nursing participants before and after training using a multiple choice questions test and a questionnaire of self-reported confidence in performing or assisting with emergency reopen. Both video- and simulation-based training significantly improved results in objective and subjective domains. Although the post-test scores did not differ between the groups for either the objective (P = 0.28) or the subjective measures (P = 0.92), the simulation-based training produced a numerically larger improvement in both domains. In a multiple choice question out of 10, participants improved by a mean of 1.9 marks with manikin-based training compared to 0.9 with video training (P = 0.03). On a questionnaire out of 20 assessing subjective levels of confidence, scores improved by 3.9 with manikin training compared to 1.2 with video training (P = 0.002). Simulation-based training appeared to be at least as effective as video-based training in improving both knowledge and confidence in post cardiac surgical emergency resternotomy.

Approach to endoscopic extraperitoneal radical prostatectomy (EERPE): the impact of previous laparoscopic experience on the learning curve.

BACKGROUND: We report our approach regarding the technique of endoscopic extraperitoneal radical prostatectomy (EERPE) and analyze the learning curve of two surgeons after thorough technical training under expert monitoring. The purpose of this study was to investigate the influence of expert monitoring on the surgical outcome and whether previous laparoscopic experience influences the surgeon's learning curve. METHODS: EERPE was performed on 120 consecutive patients by two surgeons with different experience in laparoscopy. An analysis and comparison of their learning curve was made. RESULTS: Median operation time: 200 (110-415) minutes. COMPLICATIONS: no conversion, blood transfusion (1.7%), rectal injury (3.3%). Median catheterisation time: 6 (5-45) days. Histopathological data: 55% pT2, 45% pT3 with a positive surgical margin rate of 6.1% and 46%, respectively. After 12 months, 78% of the patients were continent, 22% used 1 or more pad. Potency rate with or without PDE-5-inhibitors was 66% with bilateral and 31% with unilateral nerve-sparing, respectively. Operation time was the only parameter to differ significantly between the two surgeons. CONCLUSION: EERPE can be learned within a short teaching phase. Previous laparoscopic experience is reflected by shorter operation times, not by lower complication rates or superior early oncological data.

Formación quirúrgica con simuladores en centros de entrenamiento / Surgical training with simulators in training centers

El desarrollo de nuevos procedimientos endoscópicos e intervenciones quirúrgicas mínimamente invasivas cuestiona los medios y la metodología utilizada hasta el momento. Las mayores exigencias de seguridad por parte del paciente, el crecimiento del gasto sanitario y la reducción del tiempo disponible para la formación justifican la proliferación de centros con personal acreditado en los que se puedan adquirir los conocimientos y las habilidades quirúrgicas necesarias para la incorporación controlada de estas técnicas. Tanto para el aprendizaje de la endoscopia digestiva como para las técnicas con abordaje laparoscópico hay disponibles en el mercado modelos de simuladores más o menos dinámicos, virtuales, con vísceras, mixtos e incluso se puede recurrir a animales vivos. Así se consigue incorporar a la actividad clínica las diferentes técnicas con eficacia, seguridad y coste razonable, además de permitir una evaluación y un seguimiento de las capacidades adquiridas (AU)

The development of new endoscopic procedures and minimally-invasive surgical interventions has led the methodology used to date to be questioned. Greater demand for safety by patients, the growth of the health budget and the reduced time available for training have led to the proliferation of centers with accredited personnel in which the knowledge and surgical skills necessary for the controlled incorporation of these techniques can be acquired. Simulators are available for the learning of both digestive endoscopy and laparoscopic techniques. These simulators are more or less dynamic, virtual, with viscera or mixed; even live animals can be used. Thus, the various techniques can be incorporated into clinical practice safely and effectively and at a reasonable cost. Simulators also allow evaluation and follow-up of the skills acquired (AU)