OBJECTIVE To determine whether preoperative psychological depression and/or serotonin transporter gene polymorphism are associated with poor outcomes after the common procedure of laparoscopic cholecystectomy. DESIGN Patients undergoing laparoscopic cholecystectomy were genotyped for the serotonin transporter gene 5-HTTLPR polymorphism and assessed for psychological morbidity before and 6 wee...

BACKGROUND Postoperative serum inflammatory cytokine levels are thought to reflect the magnitude of surgical stress. Cytokine interleukin-6 (IL-6) is an early marker of systemic inflammatory response and tissue damage. This study evaluated levels of IL-6 after open and laparoscopic appendectomy to compare the degree of surgical stress associated with these procedures. METHODS IL-6 levels were...

Gallstone disease is the pathologic state of stones or calculi within the gall bladder lumen and biliary tree. A common digestive disorder worldwide, worldwide occurrence varies from 6-20%. The definitive management of symptomatic gallstones is surgical. The two surgical approaches are conventional and laparoscopic. Important intraoperative considerations during laparoscopic cholecystectomy inc...

There is continued debate as to the role of laparoscopy in ventral hernia repair, although laparoscopic repair become increasingly popular, its outcomes need further evaluation. For this reason we performed this study comparing open and laparoscopic ventral hernia repair. The main out come measures were operating time, hospital stay, perioperative complication and recurrence rate In this study ...

BACKGROUND Insurance companies often require a mandated medical program (MMP) before bariatric surgery. It is unknown whether MMPs improve weight loss before and after surgery. The purpose of our study was to determine whether MMPs improve pre- and postoperative weight loss at a tertiary care, U.S. academic teaching hospital. METHODS After institutional review board approval, data were collec...

BACKGROUND Renal cell carcinoma (RCC) is a common malignancy of the urinary system with high rates of morbidity and mortality. OBJECTIVES This study aimed to investigate and analyze the clinical efficacy of retroperitoneal laparoscopic partial nephrectomy and laparoscopic radical nephrectomy for the treatment of small RCC. METHODS In this retrospective study of 45 patients with small RCC, t...

BACKGROUND We have continued to develop laparoscopic hepatectomy as a means of surgical therapy for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). METHODS We evaluated the degree of invasiveness and analyzed the outcomes of laparoscopic hepatectomy compared with open hepatectomy for HCC. RESULTS There were notable differences with respect to blood loss and operating time compared with open hepatectomy cas...

BACKGROUND Laparoscopic pyloromyotomy is associated with an increased risk of incomplete myotomy compared with open myotomy. We hypothesized that utilizing ultrasound measured length to direct laparoscopic pyloromyotomy would reduce the risk of incomplete pyloromyotomy without a concomitant increase in the risk of mucosal perforation. METHODS Infants (n=43) with hypertrophic pyloric stenosis ...