LINX®, a novel treatment for patients with refractory asthma complicated by gastroesophageal reflux disease: a case report.

Background: Gastroesophageal reflux disease is one of the most common comorbidities in patients with asthma. Gastroesophageal reflux disease can be linked to difficult-to-control asthma. Current management includes gastric acid suppression therapy and surgical antireflux procedures.

Robotic cholecystectomy and resident education: the UC Davis experience.

Introduction: The popularity of robotic surgery highlights the need for strategies to integrate this technique into surgical education. We present 5 year data for robotic cholecystectomy (RC) as a model for training residents.

Methods: Data were collected on all RC over 66 months.

Single-site robotic cholecystectomy in a broadly inclusive patient population: a prospective study.

Objectives: To describe our initial experience with single-site robotic cholecystectomy (SSRC) and its applicability to a broad segment of patients.

Background: At the initiation of our study, there were only 3 published reports on SSRC. These initial studies had limited inclusion criteria.

Comparison of robotic and laparoendoscopic single-site surgery systems in a suturing and knot tying task.

Background: Laparoendoscopic single-site (LESS) surgery has been established for various procedures. Shortcomings of LESS surgery include loss of triangulation, instrument collisions, and poor ergonomics, making advanced laparoscopic tasks especially challenging. We compared a LESS system with a robotic single-site surgery platform in performance of a suturing and knot-tying task under clinically simulated conditions.

Increased soluble leptin receptor levels in morbidly obese patients with insulin resistance and nonalcoholic fatty liver disease.

The adipocyte hormone, leptin has been demonstrated to have profibrogenic actions in vitro and in animal models. However, no correlation was found between plasma leptin levels and fibrosis stage in humans. Thus, our aim was to study whether soluble leptin receptor (SLR) or free leptin index (FLI; calculated as the ratio of leptin to SLR), may correlate better with the features of metabolic syndrome and with the histological grade and stage of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD)/nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH).

3-D telestration: a teaching tool for robotic surgery.

Background: Telestration is an important teaching tool in minimally invasive surgery (MIS). While robotic surgery offers the added benefit of three-dimensional (3-D) visualization, telestration technology does not currently exist for this modality. This project aimed to develop a video algorithm to accurately translate a mentor's two-dimensional (2-D) telestration into a 3-D telestration in the da Vinci visual field.

Robotic cholecystectomy: learning curve, advantages, and limitations.

Background: Robotic cholecystectomy is safe, feasible procedure. Initial studies showed significant set up time and operating time but no clear clinical advantage of the robotic involvement. We have investigated the learning curve, advantages and limitation of the procedure.