Total Psoas Area is a Measure for Deconditioning in Colorectal Surgery Patients.

Introduction: Physical fitness is an important prognostic indicator for surgical outcomes. An objective measure of deconditioning is needed to determine patient fitness. This study aims to describe a methodology to standardize psoas measurements and correlate them with postoperative outcomes.

Significant morbidity is associated with proximal fecal diversion among high-risk patients who undergo colectomy: A NSQIP analysis.

Background: The value of proximal fecal diversion for patients undergoing colectomies is an ongoing debate. Previous studies have shown a benefit in decreased anastomotic leak rates and mitigation of the morbidity of a leak, especially in high-risk populations. However, more recent data suggests increased morbidity with fecal diversion, creating a complication with an unknown degree of anastomotic leak reduction.

Totally extraperitoneal approach for open complex abdominal wall reconstruction.

Background: Ventral hernia repair is typically performed via a transabdominal approach and the peritoneal cavity is opened and explored. Totally extraperitoneal ventral hernia repair (TEVHR) facilitates dissection of the hernia sac without entering the peritoneal cavity. This study evaluates our experience of TEVHR, addressing technique, decision-making, and outcomes.

Anterior versus Posterior Component Separation: Which Is Better?

In the field of hernia surgery, there have been many advances in techniques that have provided the surgeon with a variety of options to repair the difficult abdominal wall hernia. Regardless of the technique, the ultimate goal was to provide a tension-free repair, which attempts to approximate the midline while returning abdominal wall musculature to its normal anatomic position, thus providing the patient with both a cosmetic and durable result with or without the use of a prosthetic reinforcement. Component separation techniques have been widely popularized as techniques to repair complex hernias and are frequently categorized based upon the anatomic location of the myofascial release.

Disease Ontology: a backbone for disease semantic integration.

The Disease Ontology (DO) database (http://disease-ontology.org) represents a comprehensive knowledge base of 8043 inherited, developmental and acquired human diseases (DO version 3, revision 2510). The DO web browser has been designed for speed, efficiency and robustness through the use of a graph database.