Laparoendoscopic single-site minor hepatectomy for liver tumors.

Background: Laparoscopic liver surgery is gaining increasing acceptance worldwide, but its frontiers are constantly challenged. Laparoendoscopic single-site surgery (LESS) has been performed for various organs, but the feasibility of LESS hepatectomies has yet to be explored fully.

Methods: From May 2010 to March 2011, seven patients underwent LESS minor hepatectomies.

Highly sensitive amperometric detection of bilirubin using enzyme and gold nanoparticles on sol-gel film modified electrode.

We describe the development of a simple and highly sensitive electrochemical (amperometric) sensing of bilirubin based on bilirubin oxidase (BOx) incorporated into the gold nanoparticles (AuNPs). This nanoelectrode platform with self-assembled enzyme is highly sensitive toward the electrochemical oxidation of bilirubin and increased the bilirubin concentration linearly from 1 to 5000 μM with a correlation coefficient of 0.9960, and an apparent Michaelis constant (K(M,app)) of 44 ± 0.

Laparoscopic cholecystectomy for acute cholecystitis: safe implementation of successful strategies to reduce conversion rates.

Introduction: A higher rate of conversion to open surgery is a well-known problem in patients with acute cholecystitis undergoing laparoscopic cholecystectomy. The aim of this study is to analyze factors which may impact on conversion rates, and to analyze our outcomes following implementation of a departmental strategy in reducing conversion rates.

Materials And Methods: 122 patients with acute cholecystitis were considered for laparoscopic cholecystectomy from July 2003 to July 2007.