Prospective randomized trial of LC+LCBDE vs ERCP/S+LC for common bile duct stone disease.

Objective: To compare outcome parameters for good-risk patients with classic signs, symptoms, and laboratory and abdominal imaging features of cholecystolithiasis and choledocholithiasis randomized to either laparoscopic cholecystectomy plus laparoscopic common bile duct exploration (LC+LCBDE) or endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography sphincterotomy plus laparoscopic cholecystectomy (ERCP/S+LC).

Design: Our study was a prospective trial conducted following written informed consent, with randomization by the serially numbered, opaque envelope technique.

Setting: Our institution is an academic teaching hospital and the central receiving and trauma center for the City and County of San Francisco, California.

Unsedated ultrathin EGD is well accepted when compared with conventional sedated EGD: a multicenter randomized trial.

Background & Aims: In the United States, upper gastrointestinal endoscopy is usually performed using intravenous sedation. Sedation increases the rate of both complications and costs of endoscopy. Unsedated esophagogastroduodenoscopy (EGD) using conventional 8-11-mm endoscopes is an alternative to sedated endoscopy but is generally perceived as unacceptable to many American patients.

Strategies for effective education in a jail setting: the Tuberculosis Prevention Project.

Jails are a unique setting for health education. The Tuberculosis (TB) Prevention Project was designed to improve completion of care for latent TB infection in released inmates. As part of an ongoing clinical trial to improve rates of completion, educators provided TB-focused educational sessions to 1,027 inmates.