Popliteal artery trauma in a rural level I trauma center.

Popliteal vascular trauma has historically been an urban phenomenon. We hypothesized that rural popliteal artery injury would result more often from blunt mechanisms of injury (MOI), have a longer time to operation, and result in a higher amputation rate. We retrospectively reviewed all cases of popliteal artery injury from December 1994 to May 2001 at our rural trauma center.

Computer-assisted laparoscopic splenectomy with the da Vinci surgical robot.

Laparoscopic splenectomy has become the standard of care for the surgical treatment of idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura (ITP). The minimally invasive approach to splenic disorders such as ITP clearly results in the same benefits to the patients as have been demonstrated with the laparoscopic cholecystectomy techniques. New technologies in minimally invasive surgery have resulted in the development of robotic devises that assist the surgeon during the procedures.

Early experience with telemanipulative robot-assisted laparoscopic cholecystectomy using da Vinci.

In the past decade, robot-assisted surgery has become increasingly used to assist in minimally invasive surgical procedures. In this article we review the evolution of robotic devices, from the first use of an industrial robot for stereotactic biopsies to pioneering work with robots used for hip and prostate surgery, to the development of robotic guidance systems that enabled solo endoscopic surgery, to telemanipulative surgery with master-servant computer-enhanced robotic devices. In addition, we review our early experience with da Vinci Robotic Surgical Systems (Intuitive Surgical, Inc.

Robotic-assisted adrenalectomy for adrenal incidentaloma: case and review of the technique.

An incidental left adrenal mass was found in a patient during an evaluation for mediastinal widening. The patient had no symptoms attributable to adrenal excess. Preoperative biochemical screening was negative for a functioning medullary or cortical adrenal tumor.