Smart Artificial Soft Tissue - Application to a Hybrid Simulator for Training of Laryngeal Pacemaker Implantation.

Surgical simulators are safe and evolving educational tools for developing surgical skills. In particular, virtual and hybrid simulators are preferred due to their detailedness, customization and evaluation capabilities. To accelerate the revolution of a novel class of hybrid simulators, a Smart Artificial Soft Tissue is presented here, that determines the relative position of conductive surgical instruments in artificial soft tissue by inverse resistance mappings without the need for a fixed reference point.

Electromyography of the posterior cricoarytenoid muscles: a consensus guideline.

Purpose: Since the introduction of transcutaneous-transcricoidal needle approaches, electromyography (EMG) of the posterior cricoarytenoid muscle (PCA) became easier to perform and teach. Among the Neurolaryngology working group of the European Laryngological Society, several centers have adopted PCA EMG as part of their routine EMG workup in vocal fold immobility collectively gathering long-term experience. The purpose is to give an update and an extension to already existing guidelines on laryngeal EMG with specific regard to PCA EMG.

Modified vacuum-assisted closure (EndoVAC) therapy for treatment of pharyngocutaneous fistula: Case series and a review of the literature.

Background: Pharyngocutaneous fistula is a potential life-threatening complication following head and neck surgery. There is only limited evidence about the efficacy of vacuum-assisted closure (VAC) therapy and endoscopic vacuum-assisted closure (EndoVAC) therapy for the treatment of pharyngocutaneous fistulas.

Methods: In this article, we report on a consecutive case series of six male patients with pharyngocutaneous fistula treated with a modified outside-in EndoVAC technique.

Objectivation of laryngeal electromyography (LEMG) data: turn number vs. qualitative analysis.

Purpose: This paper describes a first attempt to quantify LEMG data based on turn number calculation. The results obtained for both healthy and ailing thyroarytenoid (TA) muscles of patients with unilateral vocal fold immobility (UVFI) were compared with the respective qualitative evaluation concerning volitional activity to determine whether the two types of analyses deliver similar results.

Methods: LEMG data obtained from 44 adults with UVFI were considered for the study.