OBJECTIVES Minor intraoperative bleeding during laparoscopy poses a significant challenge to the minimally invasive urologist. We report on our improvement of the previously reported laparoscopic cigarette sponge with absorbable materials. METHODS The sponge was constructed from a strip of absorbable gelatin sponge wrapped in oxidized regenerated cellulose and secured with absorbable suture. ...

BACKGROUND Despite the well-established role of sex on the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury risk, its effects on ACL surgical outcomes remain controversial. This is particularly critical when developing novel surgical techniques to treat the injury because there are limited data existing on how these procedures will respond in each sex. One such approach is bridge-enhanced ACL repair, in...

A male patient had a bilateral laparoscopic inguinal hernia repair in 2012. The right-sided hernia was treated with a permanent mesh, and the left-sided hernia received an absorbable mesh. The absorbable TIGR mesh has been proved to be completely absorbed and replaced by new connective tissue after 3 years in sheep. The patient was therefore followed for 3 years by annual magnetic resonance ima...

Introduction: Recent studies have introduced the groundwork for a new treatment option for anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) ruptures: bioenhanced ACL repair(1). Briefly, this procedure is a primary suture repair of the ACL augmented by the implantation of a collagenous biomaterial soaked with platelet-rich plasma into the ACL defect along with a “suture stent” to initially protect the healing l...

BACKGROUND The closure of the abdomen after median laparotomy is still a matter of debate among surgeons. Further well designed and performed randomised controlled trials determining the optimal method of abdominal fascial closure are needed. DESIGN This is a three armed, multi-centre, intra-operatively randomised, controlled, patient blinded trial. Over 20 surgical departments will enrol 600...

In a controlled, randomized trial in 45 cataract operations a new synthetic absorbable suture (8-0 monofilament Vicryl, made by Ethicon), was compared with monofilament nylon or virgin silk normally used. There was a higher incidence of early complications-hyphaema, shallow anterior chamber, and choroidal detachment (15-4 per cent v. 0 per cent)-with the absorbable suture. But these differences...