Hybrid NOTES transvaginal intraperitoneal onlay mesh in abdominal wall hernias: an alternative to traditional laparoscopic procedures.

INTRODUCTION: Abdominal wall hernias are increasingly treated by laparoscopic placement of an intraperitoneal onlay mesh (IPOM). We present an alternative technique for women: the laparoscopic-assisted transvaginal IPOM. METHODS: Before surgery, all patients underwent a gynecological examination. The patients agreed to IPOM repair via a transvaginal approach, and written informed consent for surgery was obtained. Pneumoperitoneum was established with a Veress needle at the umbilicus. This access was subsequently dilated to 5 mm (VersaStep), and a 5-mm laparoscope was inserted. Under laparoscopic view, the transvaginal trocars (12-mm VersaStep and 5-mm flexible accesses) were safely inserted after lifting the uterus with a uterus manipulator. After preparation of the falciform ligament, the ligamentum teres and the preperitoneal fat, a lightweight composite mesh was introduced through the transvaginal access and fixed with absorbable tacks using the double-crown technique. RESULTS: From September 2011 to December 2012, we performed six laparoscopic-assisted transvaginal IPOM procedures (one epigastric, three umbilical, two combined epigastric and umbilical hernias; all were primary hernias). In the initial phase, only patients with small or medium primary abdominal wall hernia were selected (max. 3 cm diameter). Median hospital stay was 3 days (range 2-6 days). One minor complication occurred perioperatively (second-degree skin burn to the labia majora). At 1-year follow-up, we identified one recurrence in a high-risk patient with a body mass index higher than 35 kg/m(2). No infection and no mortality were observed. CONCLUSION: Although no final conclusion can be made regarding the presumed non-inferiority of this technique in terms of recurrence and mesh infection compared with traditional laparoscopic IPOM, laparoscopic-assisted transvaginal IPOM is a feasible alternative to treat abdominal wall hernias.

Echinococcus multilocularis: the impact of ionizing radiation on metacestodes.

Alveolar echinococcosis is caused by the metacestode stage of the fox tapeworm Echinococcus multilocularis. Current chemotherapeutical options for the treatment of echinococcosis are not satisfactory, and novel drugs and/or other potential means of therapy are needed. E. multilocularis metacestodes are characterized by almost potentially unlimited growth, and also display other features of cancerous tumours. In this study, we exposed metacestodes that were generated in vitro to 50-100 Gy ionizing irradiation, and subsequently investigated the short-term (10-12 days post-treatment) and long-term (14 weeks post-treatment) effects. We found, that in the short-term, no release of alkaline phosphatase (EmAP) activity as a measure for potentially induced damage and loss of viability could be detected, and that the protein expression pattern and protease activities in vesicle fluids and medium supernatants did not alter dramatically following irradiation. However, irradiation was associated with distinct morphological and ultrastructural alterations in the tissue of metacestodes, affecting most notably cell-cell contacts, mitochondrial shape, glycogen-storage cells and lipid droplet formation. These could be detected already at 10 days following treatment and remained as such also in the long-term. In addition, as determined after 14 weeks of culture, irradiation affected the proliferation and the growth of E. multilocularis metacestodes. Thus, we demonstrate that radiotherapy does not have a clear-cut parasitocidal effect, but can lead to metabolic impairment of E. multilocularis metacestodes, as reflected by the distinct morphological and structural alterations induced by irradiation treatment.

Continuous guided beams of slow and internally cold polar molecules.

We describe the combination of buffer-gas cooling with electrostatic velocity filtering to produce a high-flux continuous guided beam of internally cold and slow polar molecules. In a previous paper (L.D. van Buuren et al., Phys. Rev. Lett., 2009, 102, 033001) we presented results on density and state purity for guided beams of ammonia and formaldehyde using an optimized set-up. Here we describe in more detail the technical aspects of the cryogenic source, its operation, and the optimization experiments that we performed to obtain the best performance. The versatility of the source is demonstrated by the production of guided beams of different molecular species.