Implementation of Robotic Surgery in a Pediatric Hospital: Lessons Learned.

Background: Since the late 1980s, minimally invasive surgery (MIS) has been one of the fastest growing approaches for surgical procedures. However, its development has reached a plateau. One of the reasons is the difficulty to operate on more complex cases, such as neonatal procedures.

Perioperative spleen embolization as a useful tool in laparoscopic splenectomy for simple and massive splenomegaly in children: a prospective study.

Objective: The purpose of this prospective study is to evaluate the efficiency of perioperative spleen embolization prior to laparoscopic splenectomy indicated for hypersplenism.

Methods: We conducted a prospective study exploring a technique combining ultra-selective perioperative embolization and splenectomy. Between January 2008 and March 2013, 16 splenectomies were performed in children suffering from hypersplenism due to varying hematologic diseases.

Post-necrotising enterocolitis pseudo-obstruction treated with Cisapride.

We report on one patient in whom segmental colic intestinal pseudo-obstruction (IPO) following the surgical treatment of a grade III necrotising enterocolitis (NEC) was responsible for a severe failure to thrive. Further intestinal resection in an already short gut was avoided by using Cisapride, a new intestinal prokinetic agent (1 mg/kg/d in 4 doses, orally), which dramatically improved the symptoms and allowed weight gain and intestinal adaptation. After 6 months, Cisapride was withdrawn.

Gallbladder volvulus: a case report.

Gallbladder volvulus, a rare disease generally affecting older aged women, is generally due to an abnormal anatomical fixation of the gallbladder. As clinical and radiological signs are poor the diagnosis is generally made at laparotomy. The prognosis is excellent when early surgical treatment is performed.

Similar effect of caerulein on intracranial self-stimulation in vagotomized and non-vagotomized rats.

Electrical stimulation eliciting self-stimulation behavior from postero-lateral hypothalamic implanted electrode was controlled by factors that control normal feeding. In this idea, lateral hypothalamic stimulation possessed an appetite whetting property and this is experienced as rewarding. The octapeptide cholecystokinin, a gut hormone, has been experimented upon to produce the complete behavioral sequence of satiety in rats.