BACKGROUND The literature is replete with evaluations of failed surgery, illustrating a 9.5%-25% reoperation rate. Speculated causes of post lumbar surgery syndrome include epidural fibrosis, acquired stenosis, recurrent disc herniation, sacroiliac joint pain, and facet joint pain among other causes. METHODS Patients (n = 120) were randomly assigned to two groups with a 2-year follow-up. Grou...

BACKGROUND Clinical guidelines are a constructive response to the reality that practicing physicians require assistance in assimilating and applying the exponentially expanding, often contradictory, body of medical knowledge. They attempt to define practices that meet the needs of most patients under most circumstances. Ideally, specific clinical recommendations contained within practice guidel...

BACKGROUND Prior cardiac surgery, especially the presence of coronary artery bypass grafts, is thought to preclude percutaneous epicardial access (EpiAcc) and, therefore, mapping and ablation. We evaluated the feasibility and safety of EpiAcc in patients with a prior cardiac operation. METHODS AND RESULTS We retrospectively analyzed all patients who underwent EpiAcc for ablation for ventricul...

BACKGROUND Lumbar foraminal spinal stenosis (LFSS) is a narrowing of the bony exit of a nerve root, which causes mechanical compression of spinal nerve roots. Low back pain and/or leg pain, and possibly neurogenic claudication, may result due to mechanical neural compression. Transforaminal epidural steroid injections (TFESIs) are commonly used for treating LFSS. Patients refractory to TFESIs m...

BACKGROUND Postoperative adhesions are common after surgery and can cause small-bowel obstruction (SBO) and require adhesiolysis. The impact that laparoscopy and other surgical advances have had on rates of SBO and adhesiolysis remains controversial. This study examines trends in discharges from US hospitals for SBO and adhesiolysis from 1988 to 2007. METHODS We performed an analysis of secul...

To determine the prevalence of Asherman's syndrome in the south of Iran and assess the safety and efficacy of hysteroscopic adhesiolysis in restoration of menstrual function and fertility, a prospective study was done from 1997 to 1999. Among 2300 couples with infertility referring to the infertility clinic of a Shiraz University hospital, 30 patients were proven to have Asherman's syndrome...