Surgical instruments are not only illustrative of the changes in operative therapy, but may well serve as a framework around which can be built a representation of the development of medical culture. This, in an abbreviated form, Dr. Thompson has done, using the collection of which he is curator in the Royal College of Surgeons of England as a nucleus. This material, which was particularly rich...

The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health received a health hazard evaluation request from West Virginia University Hospital, Morgantown, to evaluate noise exposures from surgical instruments in the OR. Four surgical technologists, four RNs, and one surgeon wore noise dosimeters to measure full-shift personal noise exposures during two days while they performed typical daily act...

Unassisted hand surgery is being undertaken by necessity for both elective and emergency cases, due to hospital resource restrictions. The authors outline the principles of local anesthesia, surgeon-controlled tourniquet techniques, and a number of new instruments which allow a surgeon to work in comfort and safety, unassisted. The traditional surgical instruments designed for the days when tra...

Real-time 3D ultrasound (US) has become a promising new tool for guiding surgical procedures [1]. In particular, minimally invasive applications within a beating heart are now possible because of US's high tissue/blood contrast and a temporal resolution capable of capturing fast-moving cardiac structures [2]. Intra-cardiac beating heart procedures present new challenges such as limited workspac...

The oldest library in Istria (Croatia) is located in the Franciscan Monastery of Pazin, with a rich fund of worthy old books. Our attention was attracted by the book "Chirurgie" written by the German physician, surgeon and anatomist Lorenz Heister in the first half of the 18th century. This worthy book is relatively scanty known in Croatian history of surgery. By studying the contents of the bo...

Several studies in the last years demonstrated the better surgical outcome of laparoscopic approach to adrenal gland. Laparoscopic surgery is more difficult to learn and requires different psychomotor skills than open surgery, especially with regard to complex maneuvers requiring precision and dexterity. The development of robotic platform with three-dimensional vision and increased degrees of ...

Background: 3D printing is an additive manufacturing process allowing the creation of solid objects directly from computer aided design (CAD). Design and fabrication of 3D printed surgical instruments has previously been performed with results indicating relevance to real surgical procedures. This study expands on previous work and investigates the feasibility of performing a cadaveric inguinal...

BACKGROUND In 2006 there were an estimated 645,000 people in Amhara, Ethiopia, with trachomatous trichiasis (TT) who needed surgery. Despite an extensive integrated eye care worker training programme (IECW) and robust support for TT surgical services, productivity has not reached targets. We investigated why surgeon productivity was below target. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS Confidential in...

Minimally invasive surgery (MIS) challenges the surgeon’s skills due to his separation from the operation area which can be reached with long instruments only. Therefore, the surgeon loses access to the manipulation forces inside the patient. This reduces his dexterity when performing the operation. A new compact and lightweight robot for MIS is presented which allows for the measurement of man...

PURPOSE Laparoscopic colectomy has been reported as a safe and oncologically similar operation to open colectomy. A number of expensive surgical instruments are necessary for the procedure which should be applied if it is cost-effective for the patient and the health system in general. The purpose of the current study was the economic evaluation of laparoscopic compared to open colectomy for th...