Impact of trauma center designation in pediatric renal trauma: National Trauma Data Bank analysis.

Introduction: The pediatric kidney is the most common urinary tract organ injured in blunt abdominal trauma. Trauma care in the United States has been established into a hierarchical system verified by the American College of Surgeons (ACS). Literature evaluating management of pediatric renal trauma across trauma tier designations is scarce.

Best practices for performing experimental surgery in swine.

The authors have extensive experience in surgery, anesthesia, and perioperative care in both miniature and domestic swine in the research setting. This manuscript describes the techniques that have been developed over the last four decades while developing porcine surgical models and their use in translational research. Swine are conditioned and socialized during a seven-day period prior to entering into a survival surgical protocol.

Sequential activation of ground pads reduces skin heating during radiofrequency ablation: initial in vivo porcine results.

Purpose: Radiofrequency (RF) ablation is a common treatment modality for inoperable liver cancer. Skin burns below ground pads during RF ablations are increasingly prevalent, hindering the development of higher-power RF generators capable of creating larger ablation zones.

Materials And Methods: 9 RF ablations (n=4 simultaneous, n=5 sequential) were performed with 300 W for 12 min via two internally cooled cluster electrodes placed in the gluteus maximus of domestic swine.

Sequential activation of ground pads reduces skin heating during radiofrequency tumor ablation: in vivo porcine results.

Skin burns below ground pads during monopolar RF ablation are increasingly prevalent, thereby hindering the development of higher power RF generators capable of creating larger tumor ablation zones in combination with multiple or new applicators. Our goal was to evaluate reduction in skin temperatures via additional ground pads in an in vivo porcine model. Three ground pads placed on the animal's abdomen were activated either simultaneously or sequentially, where activation timing was adjusted to equilibrate skin temperature below each pad.

Public statement: guidelines for the assessment and management of pain in rodents and rabbits.

The ACLAM Analgesia Task Force was appointed by ACLAM President Diane Gaertner in 2003. The charge to the Task Force was to develop guidelines that could be used by veterinarians, scientists and IACUCs in helping to provide appropriate assessment and management of pain in rodents, with the understanding that ultimately the clinical veterinarian on site at the institution must make decisions relevant to a specific animal or animals and/or protocol. The guidelines were not to be developed as, and should not be used as, requirements.

Preparation of swine for the laboratory.

Swine are an important model in many areas of biomedical research. These animals have been used predominantly as preclinical models involving surgical and interventional protocols. The systems most commonly studied include cardiovascular, integumentary, digestive, and urological.

Vascular access port (VAP) usage in large animal species.

Intravascular catheterization access for injection and sampling is one of the most common experimental surgical procedures. The vascular access port (VAP) was developed as an alternative to externalization of catheters. A VAP typically is implanted subcutaneously, with an attached catheter that is tunneled to a blood vessel for chronic catheterization.