Optimizing Transitions of Care and Enhancing Surgical Education on Acute Care Surgery: A Multi-Institutional Survey Study.

Objective: Critically ill and injured patients are routinely managed on the Trauma and Acute Care Surgery (ACS) service and receive care from numerous residents during hospital admission. The Clinical Learning Environment Review (CLER) program established by the ACGME identified variability in resident transitions of care (TC) while observing quality care and patient safety concerns. The aim of our multi-institutional study was to review surgical trainees' impressions of a specialty-specific handoff format in order to optimize patient care and enhance surgical education on the ACS service.

Case series: Five pediatric germ cell/sex cord stroma tumors.

•This report consists of five pediatric tumors of ovarian cell lineage.•These unusual, interesting tumors challenge both surgeon and oncologist.•Some appear malignant, seemingly require chemotherapy, but behave with benignity.

Delayed laparoscopic repair of a traumatic flank hernia: A case report and review of the literature.

Introduction: The traumatic abdominal wall hernia is a rare injury typically due to a high-energy blunt trauma mechanism. There is a lack of consensus on the appropriate management of these patients.

Presentation Of The Case: A 43-year-old male was evaluated for a left flank bulge eight months after a motorcycle collision.

Triple-Negative Breast Cancer: A Comparison of Race and Survival.

Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) is an aggressive subtype of breast cancer with a high prevalence in blacks. South Carolina demographically has a high percentage of blacks. This study examines survival and recurrence associated with TNBC in black and white women.

Case series with literature review: Surgical approach to megarectum and/or megasigmoid in children with unremitting constipation.

Background: The role of surgery in treating children with functional constipation (FC) is controversial, because of the efficacy of bowel management programs. This case series is comprised of failures: 43 children, spanning 25 years' practice, who had megarectosigmoid (MRS) and unremitting constipation.

Purpose: To determine whether these children were helped by surgery, and to contribute to formulating a standard of care for children with megarectum (MR) and/or redundancy of the sigmoid colon (MS) who fail medical management.

Non-traumatic perforation of common hepatic duct: Case report and review of literature HP.

Introduction: Non-traumatic biliary perforation other than the gallbladder is extremely rare and most commonly seen in children in association with congenital biliary anomalies. We present a rare case of choledocholithiasis that progressed to spontaneous perforation of the common hepatic duct probably from ischemic necrosis caused by impaction of large biliary stones.

Casereport: A 62-year-old female presented with diarrhea and jaundice.

Laparoscopic Free Omental Flap for Craniofacial Reconstruction: A Video Article Demonstrating Operative Technique and Surgical Applications.

The omental flap is a well described pedicled flap for surgical reconstruction of multiple body locations. As a laparoscopically harvested free flap, the omentum offers a minimally invasive solution to many reconstructive problems including extremity and head and neck wounds. This video article highlights the operative technique involved in flap harvest and inset for a cranial defect.

The evolution of an integrated ultrasound curriculum (iUSC) for medical students: 9-year experience.

Interest in ultrasound education in medical schools has increased dramatically in recent years as reflected in a marked increase in publications on the topic and growing attendance at international meetings on ultrasound education. In 2006, the University of South Carolina School of Medicine introduced an integrated ultrasound curriculum (iUSC) across all years of medical school. That curriculum has evolved significantly over the 9 years.

The role of adipose tissue-associated macrophages and T lymphocytes in the pathogenesis of inflammatory bowel disease.

Inflammatory bowel diseases (IBDs) are chronic inflammatory disorders of the gastrointestinal tract that affect more than 3 million people worldwide, but the pathological etiology is still unknown. The overall purpose of our investigations was to elucidate the possibility of pathological causes of IBD, and therefore, we determined the difference of inflammatory cytokine profiles in adipose tissue macrophages (ATMs) and T lymphocytes (ATTs) obtained near active lesions of IBD; investigated whether the alteration in ATM activation induces genes involved in collagen formation; and evaluated the effects of fatty acid oxidation inhibitors on factors involved in inflammation and collagen production by ATMs in IBD. Adipose tissues (ATs) were collected near active lesions and also at the margin of resected segments of the bowel from IBD patients with ulcerative colitis (UC) and CD (n=14/group).

Human satellite progenitor cells for use in myofascial repair: isolation and characterization.

Current use of prosthetic meshes and implants for myofascial reconstruction has been associated with infectious complications, long-term failure, and dissatisfying cosmetic results. Our laboratory has developed a small animal model for ventral hernia repair, which uses progenitor cells isolated from a skeletal muscle biopsy. In the model, progenitor cells are expanded in vitro, seeded onto a nonimmunogenic, novel aligned scaffold of bovine collagen and placed into the defect as a living adjuvant to the innate repair mechanism.

Symptomatic splenomegaly in polycythemia vera: a review of the indications for splenectomy and perioperative considerations.

Polycythemia vera is a condition that surgeons do not commonly encounter. Advances in medical management have largely led to avoidance of surgical intervention in most patients. Indications and timing of splenectomy have been the subject of debate since the disease was first described in the late 19th century.

Laparoscopic-assisted percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy: its role in providing enteric access when percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy is not possible.

Percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy (PEG) replaced open surgical gastrostomy (OSG) as the preferred method for enteric access soon after its introduction in 1980. Since that time, laparoscopic gastrostomy (LG), percutaneous radiologic gastrostomy (PRG), and laparoscopic-assisted PEG (LAPEG) have been introduced. PEG and PRG have been found to be over 95 per cent successful, convenient, economical, and associated with less morbidity than OSG.