Development of a Low-Cost, High-Fidelity, Reusable Model to Simulate Clamshell Thoracotomy.

Objective: Clamshell thoracotomy (CST) is an emergency procedure performed during traumatic cardiac arrest. Emergency physicians and surgeons are expected to perform this procedure in the Emergency Department. However, the procedure has a low occurrence rate, therefore physicians are often poorly prepared.

Is simulation useful in preparing doctors-to-be for patient death: A narrative review.

Clinical and communication skills involved in managing patient death are essential for medical practitioners, yet these skills are often neglected in undergraduate medical education. We aim to review current reported evidence of simulation-based education on medical students' preparedness and performance toward patient death. A narrative review of the literature on simulation-based education for medical students on patient death was conducted.

Making the most of a Morbidity and Mortality meeting.

Background: Morbidity and Mortality meetings (M&Ms) are a fundamental element of surgical practice. However, there has been little investigation into best practices, to maximise education and improvement outcomes.

Objective: Create a new, evidence-based M&M methodology, that facilitates standardised analysis of errors in a non-judgemental fashion, and highlights areas for improvement.

Traumatic damage to the liver capsule: an unusual cause of small bowel obstruction.

A 61-year-old man presented to the emergency department with severe abdominal pain. Three months prior to presentation, he had sustained blunt trauma to his right side while cycling, but had not sought medical attention. On admission, a CT scan showed small bowel obstruction (SBO) and he underwent an emergency open laparotomy.

A phantom pig abdomen as an alternative for testing robotic surgical systems: our experience.

The use of animals for testing and validating new medical devices and surgical techniques has raised ethical issues for a long time. Following the introduction of the Three Rs principle, significant efforts have been made to achieve a reduction in the numbers of animals used in testing. Nevertheless, the number of large animals used for testing purposes is still too high.

Diagnostic laparoscopy through deep inguinal ring: a literature-based review on the forgotten approach to visualize the abdominal cavity during emergency and elective groin hernia repair.

Objective: To systematically review the published literature on the role of diagnostic laparoscopy through deep inguinal ring (DL-DR) during groin hernia repair.

Methods: Standard electronic databases were searched reporting article in any language on the role of DL-DR during groin hernia repair regardless of the age and sex of patients.

Results: Thirty-one articles on 5745 patients undergoing DL-DR during groin hernia repair were retrieved from the electronic databases.

Colonic rupture in a patient on combination chemotherapy for metastasized carcinoma of the esophagogastric junction. Case report and review of the literature.

Background: Cecal perforation due to neutropenic colitis is a known and described side effect of many chemotherapy regimens. We present a case of a patient with gastric adenocarcinoma who developed spontaneous cecal perforation during chemotherapy without the classic pattern of typhlitis.

Case Report: A 58-year-old woman was on chemotherapy for an adenocarcinoma of the gastric junction, when she developed a cecal perforation.

[Current trends of artificial enteral nutrition in acute pancreatitis].

During recent years, there has been considerable debate as to the nutritional supply that needs to be established for a patient with acute pancreatitis. The main problem is still infection of the pancreatic necrosis, which has a decisive bearing on the indication for surgery and is the main cause of mortality. Infection stems from bacterial translocation from the patient's gut.

[Influence of enteral nutrition on cytokine response in resective liver surgery].

Postoperative infectious complications are nowadays a major problem in liver surgery. Better surgical outcomes with a consequent reduction in treatment and hospitalisation costs are a primary objective. The aim of this prospective, randomised study was to evaluate the cytokine response during and after portal clamping in patients undergoing liver resection and continuously fed with enteral nutrition as compared to patients receiving parenteral nutritional support.