Publications by authors named "Gregory Scarola"

Purpose: To present updated outcomes after previously describing a novel technique for the robotic repair of parastomal hernias.

Methods: Patients who underwent parastomal hernia repair with a robotic Sugarbaker technique at a tertiary hernia center were identified from an institutional database. The approach involves mesh placement in the intraperitoneal or preperitoneal position after closure of the fascial defect.

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Background: Concurrent panniculectomy with abdominal wall reconstruction (CP-AWR) as a single-stage operation has reported increased complications, but constant quality improvement can improve results. This study describes outcomes for 21 years, impacted by evidence-based-practice changes.

Methods: Prospectively maintained database was reviewed for CP-AWR and separated by surgery date: "early" (2002-2016) and "recent" (2017-2023).

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Introduction: Wound complications (WC) after abdominal wall reconstruction (AWR) are associated with increased cost, recurrence, and mesh infection. Operative closing protocols (CP) have been studied in other surgical disciplines but not in AWR. Our aim was to study the effect of a CP on WC after AWR.

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Background: Open parastomal hernia repairs (OPHR) are complex with high recurrence rates and no clear optimal technique. This report summarizes long-term OPHR outcomes at a high-volume hernia center.

Methods: OPHRs were identified from a prospectively maintained institutional database.

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Background: Conflicting literature suggests that larger defects in abdominal wall reconstruction both increase the risk of recurrence and have no impact on recurrence. In our prior work, hernias with defect areas ≥100 cm were associated with increased discomfort, operative time, and length of stay but not recurrence or reoperation. Our goal was to determine if defect size, even in giant hernias, would impact recurrence after mesh repair with complete fascial closure.

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Background: Inguinal hernia repair is one of the most common surgical procedures in the world. Each repair technique, open, laparoscopic, and robotic, has its advantages and advocates. Prior studies have compared 2 techniques, but there are little data comparing all 3 approaches with long-term follow-up.

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Introduction: Beta-lactam prophylaxis is the first-line preoperative antibiotic in open abdominal wall reconstruction. However, of the 11% patients reporting a penicillin allergy (PA), most receive second-line, non-β-lactam prophylaxis. Previously, abdominal wall reconstruction research from our institution demonstrated increased wound complications, readmissions, and reoperations with non-β-lactam prophylaxis.

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Introduction: The choice of biologic compared with synthetic mesh in abdominal wall reconstruction remains controversial, especially in Centers for Disease Control and Prevention class 1 and 2 wounds. This study evaluated wound complications and hernia recurrence with a 2:1 propensity-matched sample and extended follow-up.

Methods And Procedures: A prospectively maintained abdominal wall reconstruction database was queried for patients undergoing open abdominal wall reconstruction using biologic or synthetic mesh in Centers for Disease Control and Prevention class 1 and 2 wounds.

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Importance: Artificial intelligence (AI) has permeated academia, especially OpenAI Chat Generative Pretrained Transformer (ChatGPT), a large language model. However, little has been reported on its use in medical research.

Objective: To assess a chatbot's capability to generate and grade medical research abstracts.

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Introduction: Prostate cancer (PCa) is the most diagnosed noncutaneous malignancy and second leading-cause of cancer death in men, yet screening is decreasing. As PCa screening has become controversial, socioeconomic disparities in PCa diagnosis and outcomes widen. This study was designed to determine the current disparities influencing PCa diagnosis in Charlotte, NC.

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Purpose: To present a novel technique of preperitoneal cross-over for eTEP VHR.

Methods: Patients who underwent robotic eTEP with mesh utilizing a preperitoneal cross over technique were identified using a single-institution hernia database. This novel technique involves minimally invasive access to the retro-rectus space on one side with midline cross over into the preperitoneal space on the contralateral side.

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Introduction: Active smoking is related to wound and respiratory complications following abdominal wall reconstruction (AWR), but no AWR studies directly compare outcomes of abstinent-smokers (AS), fulfilling four-weeks of smoking cessation, to non-smokers (NS).

Methods: Prospectively maintained institutional database was queried for all AWR between 2012 and 2019. AS and NS were included.

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Article Synopsis
  • Zenker's diverticulum (ZD) is a condition that used to be treated through a big surgery but now can be treated with a smaller procedure called flexible endoscopic cricopharyngomyotomy (FEC).
  • In a study of 30 patients, they compared small diverticula (under 1.5 cm) and medium diverticula and found that the results were similar in both groups.
  • FEC had a very high success rate of 96.7%, especially for smaller diverticula, and there were no major complications after the procedure.
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Health disparities are pervasive in surgical care. Particularly racial and socioeconomic inequalities have been demonstrated in emergency general surgery outcomes, but less so in elective abdominal wall reconstruction (AWR). The goal of this study was to evaluate the disparities in referrals to a tertiary hernia center.

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Background: Deep learning models (DLMs) using preoperative computed tomography (CT) imaging have shown promise in predicting outcomes following abdominal wall reconstruction (AWR), including component separation, wound complications, and pulmonary failure. This study aimed to apply these methods in predicting hernia recurrence and to evaluate if incorporating additional clinical data would improve the DLM's predictive ability.

Methods: Patients were identified from a prospectively maintained single-institution database.

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Introduction: Early after its adoption, minimally invasive surgery had limited usefulness in emergent cases. However, with improvements in equipment, techniques, and skills, laparoscopy in complex and emergency operations expanded substantially. This study aimed to examine the trend of laparoscopy in incarcerated or strangulated ventral hernia repair (VHR) over time.

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An analysis of ACS-NSQIP open ventral hernia repair (OVHR) data (2017-2019) was performed. Respiratory failure (RF) occurred in 643 patients (1%) and not in 63,213 (99%) (nRF). Respiratory failure patients were older (63.

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Introduction: Peroral endoscopic myotomy (POEM) is a minimally invasive endoscopic option for management of achalasia. Adequate distal myotomy is necessary for relief of symptoms, but when too long may also increase risk of reflux. The objective of this study is to evaluate clinical outcomes after POEM and final length of gastric myotomy using impedance planimetry (EndoFLIP).

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Background: End-tidal carbon dioxide (ETCO) has previously shown promise as a predictor of shock severity and mortality in trauma. ETCO monitoring is non-invasive, real-time, and readily available in prehospital settings, but the temporal relationship of ETCO to systemic oxygen transport has not been thoroughly investigated in the context of hemorrhagic shock.

Methods: A validated porcine model of hemorrhagic shock and resuscitation was used in male Yorkshire swine (N ​= ​7).

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Background: With an aging population, the utility of surgery in elderly patients, particularly octogenarians, is of increasing interest. The goal of this study was to analyze outcomes of octogenarians versus non-octogenarians undergoing paraesophageal hernia repair (PEHR).

Methods: The Nationwide Readmission Database was queried for patients > 18 years old who underwent PEHR from 2016 to 2018.

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Background: Quality of life (QOL) has become a key outcome measure following ventral hernia repair (VHR), but recurrent and primary VHR have not been compared in this context previously.

Methods: The International Hernia Mesh Registry (2008-2019) was used to identify patients with QOL data scored by the Carolinas Comfort Scale preoperatively and postoperatively at 1 year.

Results: Repairs were performed in 227 recurrent and 1,122 primary VHs.

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Introduction: Our aim was to define the national incidence of enterotomy (ENT) during minimally invasive ventral hernia repair (MIS-VHR) and evaluate impact on short-term outcomes.

Methods: The 2016-2018 Nationwide Readmissions Database was queried using ICD-10 codes for MIS-VHR and enterotomy. All patients had 3-months follow-up.

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Background: The significant decrease in elective surgery during the COVID-19 pandemic prompted fears that there would be an increase in emergency or urgent operations for certain disease states. The impact of COVID-19 on ventral hernia repair is unknown. This study aimed to compare volumes of elective and nonelective ventral hernia repairs performed pre-COVID-19 with those performed during the COVID-19 pandemic.

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Background: Non-white patients have been shown to have higher rates of emergent VHR, though no study to date has characterized these disparities over time.

Methods: National Surgical Quality Improvement Program (NSQIP) database was queried for VHR patients between 2008 and 2019. White, black, and hispanic patients were included for analysis.

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