Current practice trends in microvascular free flap reconstruction by fellowship-trained otolaryngologists.

Purpose: In the field of head and neck microvascular surgery, there are currently no clear, universally accepted recommendations on the intraoperative, preoperative, and postoperative management of these patients.

Materials And Methods: A 23-question cross-sectional survey was distributed to otolaryngologists who perform microvascular reconstruction. Information about practice setting, fellowship training background, intraoperative practice, postoperative practice, and surgical complications were analyzed.

Pilot Assessment of Immersive Virtual Reality Renal Models as an Educational and Preoperative Planning Tool for Percutaneous Nephrolithotomy.

Background: Percutaneous nephrolithotomy (PCNL) requires the urologist to have detailed knowledge of the stone and its relationship with the renal anatomy. Immersive virtual reality (iVR) provides patient-specific three-dimensional models that might be beneficial in this regard. Our objective is to present the initial experience with iVR in surgeon planning and patient preoperative education for PCNL.

Antibiotic prophylaxis in clean-contaminated head and neck cases with microvascular free flap reconstruction: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

Background: Optimal antibiotic prophylaxis duration in head and neck clean-contaminated free-flap cases is unknown.

Methods: A systematic review/meta-analysis was conducted using PubMed/MEDLINE, Cochrane Library, Web-of-Science, and Scopus databases.

Results: Of the 3755 searched articles, 5 articles were included for a total of 861 patients.

Auricular Split-Thickness Skin Graft for Ear Canal Coverage.

Split-thickness skin graft (STSG) continues to be the preferred means of external auditory canal (EAC) reconstruction. We thus sought to describe our experience using skin from the posterior aspect of the auricle (SPAA) as a donor site in EAC reconstruction. Grafts were, on average, 5 × 10 mm in size and obtained with a No.

Treatment and survival of patients harboring histological variants of glioblastoma.

It is unclear whether the survival difference observed between glioblastoma (GBM), giant cell glioblastoma (gcGBM), and gliosarcoma (GSM) patients is due to differences in tumor histology, patient demographics, and/or treatment regimens. The USA National Cancer Database was utilized to evaluate patients diagnosed with GBM, gcGBM, and GSM between 1998 and 2011. Kaplan-Meier survival estimates and Cox proportional hazards models were utilized to estimate overall survival.

Interspinous device versus laminectomy for lumbar spinal stenosis: a comparative effectiveness study.

Background Context: Currently no studies directly compare effectiveness between interspinous devices (IDs) and laminectomy in lumbar spinal stenosis (LSS) patients.

Purpose: To compare reoperations, complications, and costs between LSS patients undergoing ID placement versus laminectomy.

Study Design: Retrospective comparative study.