Publications by authors named "Lorenz W"

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).

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

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.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

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.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

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.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

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.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

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.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

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.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

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.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

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.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

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.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
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.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

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.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Pregnancy is associated with an increased risk of pulmonary aspiration during general anaesthesia, but the incidence of this complication is not well defined.

Methods: We performed a retrospective database review in a tertiary care university hospital to determine the incidence of pulmonary aspiration in pregnant patients undergoing endotracheal intubation, with and without Rapid Sequence Induction (RSI), as well as face-mask ventilation and supraglottic airway devices. We included Patients in the 2 or 3 trimester of pregnancy and immediate postpartum undergoing surgical procedures.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Flank and lumbar hernias (FLH) are challenging to repair. This study aimed to establish a reproducible management strategy and analyze elective flank and lumbar repair (FLHR) outcomes from a single institution.

Methods: A prospective analysis using a hernia-specific database was performed examining patients undergoing open FLHR between 2004 and 2021.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

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.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

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.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Freestanding emergency departments (FSEDs) have generated improved hospital metrics, including decreased ED wait times and increased patient selection. Patient outcomes and process safety have not been evaluated. This study investigates the safety of FSED virtual triage in the emergency general surgery (EGS) patient population.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

  A provisional checklist and a synopsis of published records and localities (occurrence data) in Ethiopia for ground and tiger beetles are presented. The checklist comprises 878 species, of which 313 (ca. 36%) are endemic or potentially endemic (i.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Skeletal muscle differentiation is an essential process in embryonic development as well as regeneration and repair throughout the lifespan. It is well-known that dietary fat intake impacts biological and physiological function in skeletal muscle, however, understanding of the contribution of nutritional factors in skeletal muscle differentiation is limited. Therefore, the objective of the current study was to evaluate the effects of free fatty acids (FFAs) on skeletal muscle differentiation in vitro.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Changes in public attitudes toward “authorities” in general, as well as shifts in medical practice toward participative models of diagnosis and treatment, imply fundamental transformations in the patient−doctor relationship. However, consistency in reciprocal role expectations cannot be assumed, and this study reveals significant discrepancies in attitudes and behaviors in primary health consultations. Methods: We conducted a study in the tri-lingual northeastern Italian region of South Tyrol to determine whether perceptions of the patient’s role were congruent or differed.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Nursing homes (NHs) have been among the care settings most affected by both the virus itself and collateral damage through infection protection and control measures (IPC). However, there is a paucity of research regarding disaster response and preparedness of these institutions. The present study aimed to analyze disaster response and management and to develop prospective strategies for disaster management in NHs.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Previous morphological and histological data are supplemented with molecular and ultrastructural data for a Henneguya sp. isolated from farm-raised channel catfish Ictalurus punctatus in Mississippi, USA. Myxospores were cryptic, encapsulated within a thin layer of epithelium in the gill lamellae with spore measurements consistent with the original description of Henneguya postexilis Minchew, 1977.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF