Hepatic encephalopathy is a spectrum of neurocognitive manifestations often seen in patients with liver injury or rarely in patients with portosystemic shunting without liver injury. It can be divided into minimal (covert) hepatic encephalopathy and overt hepatic encephalopathy, depending on the severity. Patients with hepatic encephalopathy have compromised clinical outcomes, decreased quality...

Robot-assisted annuloplasty using a mitral band has a major issue: suturing is time consuming because knot tying is performed mechanically under endoscopic view. We suture the mitral band to the native valve by running sutures using the V-Loc barbed suture nonabsorbable wound closure device (Covidien, Mansfield, MA) with 3-0 monofilament. This technique allows rapid suturing of the band to the ...

CASE REPORT A 48-year-old woman presented with a sudden right flank pain radiating to her right groin. She was found to have a 5-cm upper pole angiomyolipoma of the right kidney 9 years earlier. Therefore, she had undergone open partial nephrectomy. Violation of the collecting system had been repaired using a 3-0 Vicryl. Tightness had been checked by administrating Indigo carmine through a uret...

Increasing evidence in published reports has suggested that titanium staples may be well tolerated inside the urinary tract. Recently, the Italian Group from Piedmont described an "easy, fast, and reliable" technique of a Y-shaped ileal neobladder that was created during open surgery with nonabsorbable mechanical staples. They observed an acceptable 6% rate of stone formation at a median follow...

Silymarin, a mixture of antihepatotoxic flavonolignans used in the treatment of liver diseases, and lactulose, a nonabsorbable synthetic disaccharide, were investigated to analyze their probable synergic and healing effects in a hepatic cirrhotic rat model. Liver damage was induced by the administration and subsequent withdrawal of thioacetamide. The significant decrease in liver enzymes and ma...

We introduce a modified surgical technique for internal ureteroileal stenting to improve cosmesis in patients undergoing ileal neobladder. Internal ureteric stents are secured to the tip of the urethral catheter with nonabsorbable suture facilitating removal of the stents postoperatively 2 3 weeks along with the urethral catheter. This surgical modification was applied to 21 patients of whom no...

JCO/JANUARY 2003 F devices are increasingly being used for molar distalization in Class II treatment because they eliminate the need for special patient compliance. These appliances fall into two main categories: intra-arch (such as the Distal Jet,* Jones Jig,* and Hilgers Pendulum**) and interarch (such as the Herbst*** and active springs). The spring appliances can be further divided into can...

The purpose of this report is to describe an expanded suture and needle clinical evaluation program jointly designed by hospital representatives of Consorta, Inc. (Rolling Meadows, Illinois), a leading healthcare resource management and group purchasing organization, and United States Surgical/Davis & Geck Sutures (Division of United States Surgical, Norwalk, Connecticut). In this expanded eval...

Dacron suture loops were demonstrated to be inert, consistent carriers in the presence of peracetic acid-based sterilants, whereas black silk sutures had a variable preparation process and interacted with peracetic acid. In addition, Dacron suture loops provided comparable spore loading to black silk suture loops and an HCI resistance of > or = 2 min. These results indicate that black silk sutu...