Despite advances in surgical technique and prosthetic technologies, the risks for recurrence and infection are high following the repair of incisional ventral hernias. High-quality data suggest that all ventral hernia repairs should be reinforced with prosthetic repair materials. The current standard for reinforced hernia repair is synthetic mesh, which can reduce the risk for recurrence in man...

BACKGROUND Atrioventricular septal defect (AVSD) accounts for up to 3 % of congenital cardiac defects, which is routinely repaired via median sternotomy. Minimally invasive approach such as endoscopic or robotic assisted repair for AVSD has not been reported in the literature. With the experience with robotic mitral valve surgery and congenital defect repair, we initiated robotic AVSD repair in...

OBJECTIVES The goal of this study was to compare survival between transcatheter mitral valve (MV) repair using MitraClip system (Abbott Vascular, Santa Clara, California), MV-surgery, and conservative treatment in high-surgical-risk patients symptomatic with severe mitral valve regurgitation (MR). BACKGROUND Up to 50% of patients with symptomatic severe MR are denied for surgery due to high p...

Motivated by the quasi-renewal approach in the preceding chapters which emphasized the importance of improved repairs during warranty, in contrast to a replacement, the present chapter analyzes the impact of degree of repair for second-hand products employing quasi-renewal processes. In general, the significant factors which contribute to warranty cost analysis of second-hand systems are age, u...

Recently, surgical outcomes of repair of tetralogy of Fallot (TOF) have improved. For patients with TOF older than 3 months, primary repair has been advocated regardless of symptoms. However, a surgical approach to symptomatic TOF in neonates or very young infants remains elusive. Traditionally, there have been two surgical options for these patients: primary repair versus an initial aortopulmo...

There is a need for a surgical mesh that can be used in general surgical procedures for reinforcement or repair of soft tissue. Collagen based surgical meshes may possess the appropriate qualities. In this study, the potential of a collagen product BioBlanket Surgical Mesh to facilitate soft tissue repair in an ovine fascial defect model in vivo was evaluated. BioBlanket Surgical Mesh facilitat...