INTRODUCTION AND OBJECTIVES There is an increasing need for endocardial pacing and defibrillators leads to be removed. However, the procedure can be complex and it is not risk-free. We reviewed our experience between April 1989 and June 2006 with the percutaneous extraction of leads. METHODS In total, 314 electrodes were extracted from 187 patients. The leads had been implanted over an averag...

Knotted ureteral stent is rare yet tedious complication that might represent a treatment challenge to the endourologist. Only twelve cases of knotted stent have been reported. Different management options have been reported, including simple traction, ureteroscopy, percutaneous removal, and open surgery. In this paper, we present the successful untying of the knot using ureteroscopy with holmiu...

OBJECTIVE To describe the results of vitrectomy in highly myopic eyes affected by a form of posterior vitreous traction termed myopic traction maculopathy (MTM). METHODS In this retrospective case series, 24 highly myopic eyes with MTM underwent vitrectomy and release of vitreoretinal traction without final fluid/gas exchange. Nine eyes (37.5%) received a combined phacovitrectomy. Mean patien...

Seventy-five cases of total retinal detachment complicated by the more advanced grades (grades C and D) of proliferative vitreoretinopathy were treated with scleral buckling, vitrectomy, and air-fluid exchange. The overall reattachment rate was 56%, ranging from 100% in grade C-1 to 26% in grade D-3. The postoperative visual acuity was 6/120 or better in 48% of the 42 eyes in which the retina w...

OBJECTIVES Do various traction techniques significantly change the anatomic position during laparoscopic cholecystectomy? METHODS 16 cadaveric liver specimens were dissected and measurements were taken between structures in the triangle of Calot. Measurements were taken while traction was placed on the infidubilum in the inferolateral, cephalad and anatomic positions. Thermal necrosis data wa...

Advanced treatment capabilities enable cities to augment drinking water supplies with purified wastewater. This image shows treated water feeding into a microfiltration unit, part of the Orange County Groundwater Replenishment System.

Small patches of fingerpad glabrous skin in human subjects were tested in vivo for their biomechanical properties under tangential loading and for large deformations. These conditions included stretching and shearing the skin at a length scale of 0.3mm using an apparatus comprising a pair of piezoelectric benders arranged to increase the stiffness/free deflection tradeoff when compared to ordin...

BACKGROUND Scoliosis is the most debilitating issue in SMA type 2 patients. No evidence confirms the efficacy of Garches braces (GB) to delay definitive spinal fusion. OBJECTIVE Compare orthopedic and pulmonary outcomes in children with SMA type 2 function to management. METHOD We carried out a monocentric retrospective study on 29 SMA type 2 children who had spinal fusion between 1999 and ...

he Brachial plexus constitute afferent motor and efferent sensory nerves supplying the upper extremities. It is situated in a very vulnerable T anatomical position between the neck and shoulder. Injury to this plexus, which is often due to traction, results in various degrees of motor and sensory deficit to the involved upper limb. This results in loss of function and its catastrophic consequen...