BACKGROUND Nearly 20 years ago it was shown that patients are exposed to unnecessary preoperative testing that is both costly and has associated morbidity. To determine whether such unnecessary testing persists, we performed internal and external surveys to quantify the incidence of unnecessary preoperative testing and to identify strategies for reduction. METHODS The medical records of 1000 ...

Aim of this study was to evaluate level of analgesia and hemodynamic response to spinal anesthesia obtained by administering 15 mg 0.5% isobaric bupivacaine at L2-3 vs. L3-4 interspace for inguinal herniorrhaphy, since studies comparing analgesia and hemodynamic response at the L2-3 vs. L3-4 interspaces are lacking. In a prospective, randomized clinical study that encountered 72 patients underg...

Ventral herniation in horses is most frequently seen in the form of incisional hernias after colic surgery (Gibson et al. 1989; van der Velden and Klein 1994) and in pregnant mares (Kawcak and Stashak 1995), but may also occur after trauma (Hilbert et al. 1978; Hanson and Todhunter 1986). In the latter category, there may be a perforation of the skin, but after blunt trauma this is most often n...

Study selection Selected studies were controlled trials (published studies or abstracts) that compared the Shouldice technique with 1 or more other hernia repair methods. Data extraction Data were extracted on patient characteristics, comparability of study groups, hernia type, number of patients, method of randomisation, operative technique, follow-up methods, and outcomes. The information was...