Opioid Medication Use in the Surgical Patient: An Assessment of Prescribing Patterns and Use.

Background: With the epidemic of prescription opioid abuse in the US, rates of opioid-related unintentional deaths have risen dramatically. However, few data exist comparing postoperative opioid prescriptions with patient use. We sought to better elucidate this relationship in surgical patients.

Efficacy of laparoscopic antireflux surgery in patients with Barrett's esophagus.

Background: Laparoscopic antireflux surgery (LARS) corrects significant physiologic and anatomic abnormalities in patients with gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD); however, debate exists whether LARS prevents recurrent symptoms and malignant transformation in patients with Barrett's esophagus (BE). This study compared clinical outcomes after LARS in patients with and without BE.

Methods: From 1994 to 2001, 448 patients who underwent LARS were studied.

Adrenalectomy for familial pheochromocytoma in the laparoscopic era.

Objective: To report the results of treatment of patients with familial pheochromocytomas in the laparoscopic era.

Summary Background Data: The optimal surgical management of pheochromocytomas that arise in familial neoplasia syndromes may be complicated by bilateral involvement and associated endocrinopathies.

Methods: Twenty-one patients with familial pheochromocytomas (15 with multiple endocrine neoplasia [MEN] 2A, 4 with MEN 2B, 1 each with von Hippel-Lindau and neurofibromatosis type 1) underwent adrenalectomy between December 1993 and July 2001.