BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES Laparoscopic greater curve plication is emerging as a weight loss procedure that avoids many of the complications of other surgeries that require gastrointestinal division, amputation, or use of a foreign body. Cost savings and affordability have also been promoted, as plication does not require the use of stapling devices, adjustable gastric bands, or prolonged hospit...

data about the prevalence of communicable and non-communicable diseases, as one of the most important categories of epidemiological data, is used for interpreting health status of communities. this study aims to calculate the prevalence of outpatient diseases through the characterization of outpatient prescriptions. the data used in this study is collected from 1412 prescriptions for various ty...

BACKGROUND Early in the 20th century, thyroid surgery was performed using local anesthetic techniques. When general anesthesia became safer, surgeons started performing thyroidectomy exclusively under general anesthesia. However, recent descriptions of thyroidectomy under local anesthesia claim similar results to thyroidectomy under general anesthesia. Surgery conducted under local anesthesia c...

Children are excellent candidates for outpatient surgery. The typical pediatric surgical patient is in good health and has no serious systemic disorder. Futhermore, most surgical procedures in children are simpler and require less complicated techniques than those performed in adults. From the child's perspective, the two greatest advantages of outpatient surgery are the minimization of parenta...

Outpatient commitment (OPC), a major form of involuntary community-based treatment, has evolved in the United States on a state-by-state basis amidst a storm of controversy. The polarizing debate that has gone on intensely about OPC for the last two decades has all too often been devoid of data. This article reviews the various arguments pro and con about OPC, and then examines the research on ...