Gunther Tulip Filter Strut Penetration: Benign Long-Term Follow-up.

Purpose: To describe the natural history of Gunther Tulip filter (GTF) strut penetration based on the computed tomography (CT)-documented distance penetrated over time and any clinical manifestations.

Materials And Methods: The records of 203 patients (mean age, 59.1 years; 59.

Safety and efficacy of the Gunther Tulip retrievable vena cava filter: midterm outcomes.

Purpose: To evaluate of the medium-term integrity, efficacy, and complication rate associated with the Gunther Tulip vena cava filter.

Methods: A retrospective study was performed of 369 consecutive patients who had infrarenal Gunther Tulip inferior vena cava filters placed over a 5-year period. The mean patient age was 61.

Laparoscopic biliary reconstruction.

Background: Biliary reconstruction represents a relatively untested frontier in laparoscopy.

Methods: Retrospective review of all patients who underwent laparoscopic biliary operations at Legacy Health System from 1998 to 2003.

Results: Seven patients underwent laparoscopic biliary reconstruction.

Extended transmediastinal dissection: an alternative to gastroplasty for short esophagus.

Hypothesis: The significance of short esophagus and its impact on failure after laparoscopic Nissen fundoplication are unknown. Although patients with severe esophageal shortening that requires Collis gastroplasty comprise a small percentage of patients undergoing fundoplication, we hypothesize that patients with moderate esophageal shortening requiring extended mediastinal dissection make up a larger subgroup and that extended laparoscopic mediastinal dissection is a good treatment strategy for such patients.

Design And Setting: Retrospective comparative analysis in an academic and private practice-based tertiary referral center.