Strategic faculty recruitment increases research productivity within an academic university division.

Background: Research is an important mandate for academic surgical divisions. However, there is widespread concern that the current health care climate is leading to a decline in research activity. A University of British Columbia (UBC) academic surgical division attempted to address this concern by strategically recruiting PhD research scientists to prioritize research and develop collaborative research programs.

Perioperative analysis of laparoscopic versus open liver resection.

Background: Over the past decade there has been an increasing trend toward minimally invasive liver surgery. Initially limited by technical challenges, advances in laparoscopic techniques have rendered this approach safe and feasible. However, as health care costs approach 50% of some provincial budgets, surgical innovation must be justifiable in costs and patient outcomes.

Collagen biomechanics in cerebral arteries and bifurcations assessed by polarizing microscopy.

Collagen is the main matrix protein of the artery wall. We have used the known correlation between collagen birefringence and its mechanical properties to assess the wall structural integrity in brain arteries and their bifurcation regions, which are the sites of formation of saccular aneurysms. Segments of 28 brain arteries, including bifurcations, were pressure fixed and sectioned in one of three orthogonal planes.