Heller, Stephanie

Abstract Background Single-stage management of choledocholithiasis with intraoperative cholangiography (IOC) and concomitant common bile duct exploration (CBDE) is supported by reduced length of stay, fewer anesthetic events, and high stone-clearance rates. However, broad adoption is limited by surgeon experience and the technical demands of transcystic exploration. The fourth-generation da Vinci 5 (DV5) surgical platform (Intuitive Surgical, Sunnyvale, CA) integrates a native Telepresence module that enables a remote expert to view the operative field and the surgeon console feed in real time and to communicate with the operating surgeon through bidirectional audio and video. We describe what we believe to be the first reported use of DV5 Telepresence to assist intraoperative decision-making and execution during robotic CBDE for choledocholithiasis discovered on IOC. Methods A surgeon with early experience in common bile duct exploration while performing a robotic cholecystectomy with routine fluoroscopic IOC encountered a filling defect at the distal common bile duct consistent with an obstructing stone. A DV5 Telepresence session was activated, connecting an experienced surgeon in common bile duct exploration. The picture-in-picture (PiP) feature on the surgeon console displayed the intraoperative view and the live fluoroscopic image simultaneously, allowing both surgeons to review the cholangiogram in real time. Verbal-only guidance was provided through bidirectional audio while the operating surgeon performed transcystic flushing, balloon sweep, and sphincteroplasty. Results Total Telepresence connection time was 19 minutes. Complete duct clearance was achieved during the index operation, confirmed by completion cholangiogram. The patient was discharged from the post-anesthesia care unit with no complications. The PiP feature was identified as the technical enabler that allowed simultaneous interpretation of the cholangiogram and operative anatomy without exiting the console or duplicating monitors. Conclusions Native robotic Telepresence on the DV5 is feasible, safe, and clinically useful for time-sensitive intraoperative consultation during CBDE. By collapsing the latency between identification of choledocholithiasis and expert-guided definitive management, this approach may broaden access to single-stage biliary clearance for surgeons earlier in their learning curve and warrants prospective evaluation. This feature may allow for surgical advice/mentoring in a variety of settings/cases.

Background and Objectives: There are many well-described approaches to symptomatic ventral hernia management; however, there remains a significant patient population with limited options for a durable ventral hernia repair with a reasonable risk of infection and recurrence. Drawing from the orthopedic literature, we changed our approach to this clinical problem and developed a palliative ventral hernioplasty pathway. Materials and Methods: A retrospective review (2017–2019) of patients’ palliative ventral hernioplasty was performed. Results: In total, 43 patients included, with a female preponderance of 24 (58.6%) and a mean age 61.5 ± 11.5 years. The mean BMI was 38.1 kg/m2 (IQR: 25.4–62), and 28 patients (65.1%) had a history of prior wound/mesh infection. Urgent repair was performed in 14 patients. Overall polypropylene prosthetic was implanted in 26 patients, and bioprosthetic/absorbable mesh was used in the remaining. The mean surface area of the implanted mesh was 561 cm2. The most common wound complications identified were skin separation (30.2%) and seroma formation (48.8%). Hernia recurrence occurred in four (9.3%) patients, with a mean follow-up of 24.1 months (9–37). Three patients had central lightweight mesh rupture and one had a recurrence (bioprosthetic mesh); all were subsequently repaired. Conclusions: Despite the small number of patients, our palliative ventral hernia repair pathway offers durable repair with an acceptable risk of recurrence and mesh infection in patients who would otherwise be considered nonoperative.

ABSTRACT Background: Damage-associated molecular patterns (DAMPs) stimulate endothelial syndecan-1 shedding and neutrophil extracellular traps (NET) formation. The role of NETs in trauma and trauma-induced hypercoagulability is unknown. We hypothesized that trauma patients with accelerated thrombin generation would have increased NETosis and syndecan-1 levels. Methods: In this pilot study, we analyzed 50 citrated plasma samples from 30 trauma patients at 0 h (n = 22) and 6 h (n = 28) from time of injury (TOI) and 21 samples from healthy volunteers, for a total of 71 samples included in analysis. Thrombin generation was quantified using calibrated automated thrombogram (CAT) and reported as lag time (LT), peak height (PH), and time to peak (ttPeak). Nucleosome calibrated (H3NUC) and free histone standardized (H3Free) ELISAs were used to quantify NETs. Syndecan-1 levels were quantified by ELISA. Results are presented as median [interquartile range] and Spearman rank correlations. Results: Plasma levels of H3NUC were increased in trauma patients as compared with healthy volunteers both at 0 h (89.8 ng/mL [35.4, 180.3]; 18.1 ng/mL [7.8, 37.4], P = 0.002) and at 6 h (86.5 ng/mL [19.2, 612.6]; 18.1 ng/mL [7.8, 37.4], P = 0.003) from TOI. H3Free levels were increased in trauma patients at 0 h (5.74 ng/mL [3.19, 8.76]; 1.61 ng/mL [0.66, 3.50], P = 0.002) and 6 h (5.52 ng/mL [1.46, 11.37]; 1.61 ng/mL [0.66, 3.50], P = 0.006). Syndecan-1 levels were greater in trauma patients (4.53 ng/mL [3.28, 6.28]; 2.40 ng/mL [1.66, 3.20], P < 0.001) only at 6 h from TOI. H3Free and syndecan-1 levels positively correlated both at 0 h (0.376, P = 0.013) and 6 h (0.583, P < 0.001) from TOI. H3NUC levels and syndecan-1 levels were positively correlated at 6 h from TOI (0.293, P = 0.041). TtPeak correlated inversely to H3 NUC (−0.358, P = 0.012) and syndecan-1 levels (−0.298, P = 0.038) at 6 h from TOI. Conclusions: Our pilot study demonstrates that trauma patients have increased NETosis, measured by H3NUC and H3Free levels, increased syndecan-1 shedding, and accelerated thrombin generation kinetics early after injury.

Endovascular repair has become the first line of treatment in most patients with blunt aortic injury. The most common mechanism is deceleration injury affecting the aortic isthmus distal to the origin of the left subclavian artery. Injuries of the distal thoracic aorta are uncommon. We report the case of a 25-year-old male patient who presented with paraplegia and distal thoracic aortic pseudoaneurysm associated with severe thoracolumbar vertebral fracture and displacement after a motocross accident. Endovascular repair was performed using total percutaneous technique and conformable C-TAG thoracic stent-graft (WL Gore, Flagstaff, AZ). Following stent-graft placement and angiographic confirmation of absence of endoleak, thoracolumbar spinal fixation was performed in the same operative procedure. This case illustrates a multispecialty approach to complex aortic and vertebral injury and the high conformability of newer thoracic stent-grafts to adapt to tortuous anatomy.