Comparing the accuracy of the da Vinci Xi and da Vinci Si for image guidance and automation.

Background: Current laparoscopic surgical robots are teleoperated, which requires high fidelity differential motions but does not require absolute accuracy. Emerging applications, including image guidance and automation, require absolute accuracy. The absolute accuracy of the da Vinci Xi robot has not yet been characterized or compared to the Si system, which is now being phased out.

Preliminary Porcine In Vivo Evaluation of a Telerobotic System for Transurethral Bladder Tumor Resection and Surveillance.

Introduction: Transurethral resection of bladder tumors (TURBTs) can be a challenging procedure, primarily due to limitations in tooltip dexterity, visualization, and lack of tissue depth information. A transurethral robotic system was developed to revolutionize TURBTs by addressing some of these limitations. The results of three pilot in vivo porcine studies using the novel robotic system are presented and potential improvements are proposed based on experimental observations.

TPX2 as a prognostic indicator and potential therapeutic target in clear cell renal cell carcinoma.

Objectives: Our aims were to determine if targeting protein for Xklp2 (TPX2) is correlated with clear cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC) histology and oncologic outcomes using The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) and an institutional tissue microarray (TMA).

Methods: Clinicopathological data obtained from the TCGA consisted of 415 samples diagnosed with ccRCC. A TMA was constructed from tumors of 207 patients who underwent radical nephrectomy for ccRCC.

Ectopic Ureteral Insertion into the Seminal Vesicle Causing Recurrent Epididymitis in a 24-Year-Old.

A 24-year-old male was found to have recurrent epididymitis secondary to ectopic ureteral insertion to the seminal vesicle. His ipsilateral kidney was atrophic and ectopic in the pelvis, suggesting a complex failure of embryological development. He was successfully treated with robot-assisted laparoscopic nephroureterectomy.

Kidney deformation and intraprocedural registration: a study of elements of image-guided kidney surgery.

Introduction: Central to any image-guided surgical procedure is the alignment of image and physical coordinate spaces, or registration. We explored the task of registration in the kidney through in vivo and ex vivo porcine animal models and a human study of minimally invasive kidney surgery.

Methods: A set of (n = 6) ex vivo porcine kidney models was utilized to study the effect of perfusion and loss of turgor caused by incision.

Analysis of 24-hour urine parameters as it relates to age of onset of cystine stone formation.

Introduction: Cystinuria is an inherited disorder characterized by the impaired reabsorption of the dibasic amino acid, cystine, in the proximal tubule of the nephron. Cystine stones most frequently occur in the first through third decades of life with a decreased incidence in old age. We hypothesize that patients presenting with first stone event at an older age would have more favorable 24-hour urine parameters compared with those patients who present early.