A Retrospective Analysis of Intervention for Testicular Torsion: Searching for a Hallmark of High Reliability.

Unlabelled: Consistent delivery of high-quality care is a marker of health-care system reliability. Although clinically abstracted outcome databases have revolutionized surgical quality improvement efforts for many high-volume procedures, their utility in aiding the improvement of time-sensitive processes is less clear. The purpose of this study was to determine whether process measures surrounding the delivery of timely surgical care could delineate the variability in the outcome of patients with testicular torsion.

Iatrogenic Radial Artery Injuries: Variable Injury Patterns, Treatment Times, and Outcomes.

The radial artery is commonly accessed for arterial blood sampling, invasive blood pressure monitoring, and vascular access for cardiac catheterization. Iatrogenic radial artery injury is a rare complication with potentially devastating outcomes. The purpose of our study was to identify the timing of these injuries and define a treatment algorithm.

Vascular Tissue Engineering Using Scaffold-Free Prevascular Endothelial-Fibroblast Constructs.

Vascularization remains a substantial limitation to the viability of engineered tissue. By comparing vascularization dynamics of a self-assembled prevascular endothelial-fibroblast model to avascular grafts, we explore the vascularization rate limitations in implants at early time intervals, during which tissue hypoxia begins to affect cell viability. Scaffold-free prevascular endothelial-fibroblast constructs (SPECs) may serve as a modular and reshapable vascular bed in replacement tissues.

External validation of a five-variable clinical prediction rule for identifying children at very low risk for intra-abdominal injury after blunt abdominal trauma.

Background: A clinical prediction rule was previously developed by the Pediatric Surgery Research Collaborative (PedSRC) to identify patients at very low risk for intra-abdominal injury (IAI) and intra-abdominal injury receiving an acute intervention (IAI-I) who could safely avoid abdominal computed tomography (CT) scans after blunt abdominal trauma (BAT). Our objective was to externally validate the rule.

Methods: The public-use dataset was obtained from the Pediatric Emergency Care Applied Research Network (PECARN) Intra-abdominal Injury Study.

Microdissection of Primary Renal Tissue Segments and Incorporation with Novel Scaffold-free Construct Technology.

Kidney transplantation is now a mainstream therapy for end-stage renal disease. However, with approximately 96,000 people on the waiting list and only one-fourth of these patients achieving transplantation, there is a dire need for alternatives for those with failing organs. In order to decrease the harmful consequences of dialysis along with the overall healthcare costs it incurs, active investigation is ongoing in search of alternative solutions to organ transplantation.

Acute procedural interventions after pediatric blunt abdominal trauma: A prospective multicenter evaluation.

Background: Pediatric intra-abdominal injuries (IAI) from blunt abdominal trauma (BAT) rarely require emergent intervention. For those children undergoing procedural intervention, our aim was to understand the timing and indications for operation and angiographic embolization.

Methods: We prospectively enrolled children younger than 16 years after BAT at 14 Level I Pediatric Trauma Centers over a 1-year period.

Vascular sequelae of mediastinal fibrosis.

Fibrosing mediastinitis is a condition in which mediastinal fat is replaced by fibrous tissue. Complications may arise due to progressive fibrotic infiltration and compression of major vascular, respiratory, and nervous structures within the mediastinum. We describe 3 similar cases of fibrosing mediastinitis with pulmonary vessel involvement.