scholarly journals The Exoscope in Neurosurgery: An Overview of the Current Literature of Intraoperative Use in Brain and Spine Surgery

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 223
Author(s):  
Nicola Montemurro ◽  
Alba Scerrati ◽  
Luca Ricciardi ◽  
Gianluca Trevisi

Background: Exoscopes are a safe and effective alternative or adjunct to the existing binocular surgical microscope for brain tumor, skull base surgery, aneurysm clipping and both cervical and lumbar complex spine surgery that probably will open a new era in the field of new tools and techniques in neurosurgery. Methods: A Pubmed and Ovid EMBASE search was performed to identify papers that include surgical experiences with the exoscope in neurosurgery. PRISMA guidelines (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-analyses) were followed. Results: A total of 86 articles and 1711 cases were included and analyzed in this review. Among 86 papers included in this review 74 (86%) were published in the last 5 years. Out of 1711 surgical procedures, 1534 (89.6%) were performed in the operative room, whereas 177 (10.9%) were performed in the laboratory on cadavers. In more detail, 1251 (72.7%) were reported as brain surgeries, whereas 274 (16%) and 9 (0.5%) were reported as spine and peripheral nerve surgeries, respectively. Considering only the clinical series (40 studies and 1328 patients), the overall surgical complication rate was 2.6% during the use of the exoscope. These patients experienced complication profiles similar to those that underwent the same treatments with the OM. The overall switch incidence rate from exoscope to OM during surgery was 5.8%. Conclusions: The exoscope seems to be a safe alternative compared to an operative microscope for the most common brain and spinal procedures, with several advantages that have been reached, such as an easier simplicity of use and a better 3D vision and magnification of the surgical field. Moreover, it offers the opportunity of better interaction with other members of the surgical staff. All these points set the first step for subsequent and short-term changes in the field of neurosurgery and offer new educational possibilities for young neurosurgery and medical students.

2020 ◽  
Vol 04 (03) ◽  
pp. 291-302
Author(s):  
Mariam F. Eskander ◽  
Christopher T. Aquina ◽  
Aslam Ejaz ◽  
Timothy M. Pawlik

AbstractAdvances in the field of surgical oncology have turned metastatic colorectal cancer of the liver from a lethal disease to a chronic disease and have ushered in a new era of multimodal therapy for this challenging illness. A better understanding of tumor behavior and more effective systemic therapy have led to the increased use of neoadjuvant therapy. Surgical resection remains the gold standard for treatment but without the size, distribution, and margin restrictions of the past. Lesions are considered resectable if they can safely be removed with tumor-free margins and a sufficient liver remnant. Minimally invasive liver resections are a safe alternative to open surgery and may offer some advantages. Techniques such as portal vein embolization, association of liver partition with portal vein ligation for staged hepatectomy, and radioembolization can be used to grow the liver remnant and allow for resection. If resection is not possible, nonresectional ablation therapy, including radiofrequency and microwave ablation, can be performed alone or in conjunction with resection. This article presents the most up-to-date literature on resection and ablation, with a discussion of current controversies and future directions.


2021 ◽  
pp. 219256822199478
Author(s):  
Karim Shafi ◽  
Francis Lovecchio ◽  
Maria Sava ◽  
Michael Steinhaus ◽  
Andre Samuel ◽  
...  

Study Design: Retrospective case series. Objective: To report contemporary rates of complications and subsequent surgery after spinal surgery in patients with skeletal dysplasia. Methods: A case series of 25 consecutive patients who underwent spinal surgery between 2007 and 2017 were identified from a single institution’s skeletal dysplasia registry. Patient demographics, medical history, surgical indication, complications, and subsequent surgeries (revisions, extension to adjacent levels, or for pathology at a non-contiguous level) were collected. Charlson comorbidity indices were calculated as a composite measure of overall health. Results: Achondroplasia was the most common skeletal dysplasia (76%) followed by spondyloepiphyseal dysplasia (20%); 1 patient had diastrophic dysplasia (4%). Average patient age was 53.2 ± 14.7 years and most patients were in excellent cardiovascular health (88% Charlson Comorbidity Index 0-4). Mean follow up after the index procedure was 57.4 ± 39.2 months (range). Indications for surgery were mostly for neurologic symptoms. The most commonly performed surgery was a multilevel thoracolumbar decompression without fusion (57%). Complications included durotomy (36%), neurologic complication (12%), and infection requiring irrigation and debridement (8%). Nine patients (36%) underwent a subsequent surgery. Three patients (12%) underwent a procedure at a non-contiguous anatomic zone, 3 (12%) underwent a revision of the previous surgery, and another 3 (12%) required extension of their previous decompression or fusion. Conclusions: Surgical complication rates remain high after spine surgery in patients with skeletal dysplasia, likely attributable to inherent characteristics of the disease. Patients should be counseled on their risk for complication and subsequent surgery.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Anna Tiso ◽  
Maria Crema ◽  
Chiara Verbano

PurposeThe paper aims at enriching the knowledge of the application of lean management (LM) in emergency department (ED), structuring the methodology for implementing LM projects and summarizing the relevant dimensions of LM adoption in ED.Design/methodology/approachIn accordance with the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) statement, a systematic literature review has been performed, extracting a database of 34 papers. To answer the research purpose, a descriptive and content analyses have been carried out.FindingsThe descriptive analysis demonstrates that the dealt topic is worldwide emerging and multidisciplinary as it arouses interest by medical and engineering communities. Despite the heterogeneity in the adopted methodology, a framework can be grasped from the literature review. It points out the phases and activities, the tools and techniques and the enablers to be considered for guiding the developing of LM project in ED.Originality/valueThis paper provides a comprehensive overview on how to adopt LM in ED, contributing to fill in the gap emerged in the literature. From a practical perspective, this paper provides healthcare managers with a synthesis of the best managerial practices and guidelines in developing a LM project in ED.


2020 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 329-339
Author(s):  
James Randolph Onggo ◽  
Mithun Nambiar ◽  
Jason Derry Onggo ◽  
Guan Tay ◽  
Parminder J Singh ◽  
...  

Abstract Osteonecrosis of the femoral head (ONFH) is a debilitating disease that can cause deformity and collapse of the femoral head, thus leading to the development of degenerative joint disease that can incapacitate the patient with pain and reduction in hip mobility. This study aims to determine the safety and efficacy of tantalum rod insertion in the treatment of ONFH with a minimum follow-up period of 1 year. A multi-database search was performed according to Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta-Analyses guidelines. Data from studies assessing the clinical and radiological outcomes as well as complications of tantalum rod insertion in the treatment of ONFH with a minimum follow-up period of 1 year were extracted and analyzed. Ten studies were included in this meta-analysis, consisting of 550 hips. There was a statistically significant increase in HHS (MD = 30.35, 95% CI: 20.60–40.10, P < 0.001) at final follow-up versus pre-operative scores. The weighted pooled proportion (PP) of radiographic progression of ONFH was 0.221 (95% CI: 0.148–0.316), while that of progression into femoral head collapse was 0.102 (95% CI: 0.062–0.162). Conversion to total hip arthroplasty (THA) had a PP of 0.158 (95% CI: 0.107–0.227) with a mean weighted period of 32.4 months (95% CI: 24.9–39.9 months). Subgroup analysis of conversion to THA when tantalum rods were used in conjunction with bone grafting (PP = 0.150, 95% CI: 0.092–0.235) showed a marginal risk reduction than when compared with subgroup analysis of tantalum rods being used alone (PP = 0.154, 95% CI: 0.078–0.282). Tantalum rod is a safe alternative option to the current joint-preserving procedures available in the treatment of ONFH. However, more studies are needed to investigate and identify the most appropriate patients who would benefit most and the synergistic effect brought on by the use of complementary biological augmentation of bone grafting or stem cells with tantalum rods.


2020 ◽  
Vol 19 (4) ◽  
pp. 461-470
Author(s):  
Xiaoyao Fan ◽  
Maxwell S Durtschi ◽  
Chen Li ◽  
Linton T Evans ◽  
Songbai Ji ◽  
...  

Abstract BACKGROUND Image guidance in open spinal surgery is compromised by changes in spinal alignment between preoperative images and surgical positioning. We evaluated registration of stereo-views of the surgical field to compensate for vertebral alignment changes. OBJECTIVE To assess accuracy and efficiency of an optically tracked hand-held stereovision (HHS) system to acquire images of the exposed spine during surgery. METHODS Standard midline posterior approach exposed L1 to L6 in 6 cadaver porcine spines. Fiducial markers were placed on each vertebra as “ground truth” locations. Spines were positioned supine with accentuated lordosis, and preoperative computed tomography (pCT) was acquired. Spines were re-positioned in a neutral prone posture, and locations of fiducials were acquired with a tracked stylus. Intraoperative stereovision (iSV) images were acquired and 3-dimensional (3D) surfaces of the exposed spine were reconstructed. HHS accuracy was assessed in terms of distances between reconstructed fiducial marker locations and their tracked counterparts. Level-wise registrations aligned pCT with iSV to account for changes in spine posture. Accuracy of updated computed tomography (uCT) was assessed using fiducial markers and other landmarks. RESULTS Acquisition time for each image pair was <1 s. Mean reconstruction time was <1 s for each image pair using batch processing, and mean accuracy was 1.2 ± 0.6 mm across 6 cases. Mean errors of uCT were 3.1 ± 0.7 and 2.0 ± 0.5 mm on the dorsal and ventral sides, respectively. CONCLUSION Results suggest that a portable HHS system offers potential to acquire accurate image data from the surgical field to facilitate surgical navigation during open spine surgery.


2020 ◽  
pp. 219256822090681 ◽  
Author(s):  
Muthu Sathish ◽  
Ramakrishnan Eswar

Study Design: Systematic review. Objectives: To assess the methodological quality of systematic reviews and meta-analyses in spine surgery over the past 2 decades. Materials and Methods: We conducted independent and in duplicate systematic review of the published systematic reviews and meta-analyses between 2000 and 2019 from PubMed Central and Cochrane Database pertaining to spine surgery involving surgical intervention. We searched bibliographies to identify additional relevant studies. Methodological quality was evaluated with AMSTAR score and graded with AMSTAR 2 criteria. Results: A total of 96 reviews met the eligibility criteria, with mean AMSTAR score of 7.51 (SD = 1.98). Based on AMSTAR 2 criteria, 13.5% (n = 13) and 18.7% (n = 18) of the studies had high and moderate level of confidence of results, respectively, without any critical flaws. A total of 29.1% (n = 28) of the studies had at least 1 critical flaw and 38.5% (n = 37) of the studies had more than 1 critical flaw, so that their results have low and critically low confidence, respectively. Failure to analyze the conflict of interest of authors of primary studies included in review and lack of list of excluded studies with justification were the most common critical flaw. Regression analysis demonstrated that studies with funding and studies published in recent years were significantly associated with higher methodological quality. Conclusion: Despite improvement in methodological quality of systematic reviews and meta-analyses in spine surgery in current decade, a substantial proportion continue to show critical flaws. With increasing number of review articles in spine surgery, stringent measures must be taken to adhere to methodological quality by following PRISMA and AMSTAR guidelines to attain higher standards of evidence in published literature.


2002 ◽  
Vol 17 (9) ◽  
pp. 103
Author(s):  
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Keyword(s):  

2021 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Branko Popadic ◽  
Florian Scheichel ◽  
Melanie Themesl ◽  
Ingo Decristoforo ◽  
Camillo Sherif ◽  
...  

Abstract Background An incidental dural tear is a well-known complication during spine surgery. A rare consequence is a postoperative nerve root herniation. The purpose of this report is to describe a case of such a herniation with entrapment in the facet gap joint and to present the first MR images of this rare surgical complication. Case presentation We report a case of a patient who underwent lumbar decompression surgery and afterwards suffered a sudden intractable sciatica. Postoperative MRI showed a new facet joint gap effusion. During revision surgery an entrapped nerve root was found in the facet joint gap. In retrospective, the herniated nerve root is visible on postoperative MRI. Conclusion This case report highlights a rare complication during spine surgery. This finding is important as signs suggestive for nerve root herniation can easily be overlooked on MRI. Furthermore, this represents the first MRI documentation of this complication.


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