Surgical Video Review of Warm Ischemia Time during Laparoscopic Partial Nephrectomy and Impact on Positive Surgical Margins and Postoperative Complications

Introduction: A surgical video review is an emerging tool for quality improvement, especially in complex surgeries such as laparoscopic partial nephrectomy (LPN). Assessing and measuring the warm ischemia time (WIT) during LPN by dividing it into the time used for resection (ResT), time used for reconstruction (RecT) and intermediate time (IntT) has not been performed before. This study aimed to analyze the factors that can influence all these surgical times and assess their impact on positive surgical margins (PSM) and complication rates. Methods: We evaluated 36 surgical video recordings from patients who underwent LPN and measured WIT, ResT, RecT and IntT with a stopwatch. Factors such as tumor characteristics and surgeon experience were also recorded. SPSS software was used to identify the predictor factors for all these surgical times and to correlate the ResT with PSM and RecT with the complication rate. Results: We recorded a mean WIT of 887 seconds. The mean ResT, RecT and IntT were 240 (27.2% of WIT), 473 (52.6% of WIT) and 173 s (20.2% of WIT), respectively. We found a moderate correlation between the WIT (p = 0.030), IntT and the R.E.N.A.L. score (p = 0.019). The surgeon with less than 100 LPN had significantly longer WIT, ResT, and RecT values, with means of 977 (p = 0.015), 268 (p = 0.019) and 530 seconds (p = 0.015), respectively. No correlation was found between ResT and PSM (p = 0.418);however, a strong correlation was found between RecT and the probability of developing complications (p = 0.012). Conclusion: The surgeon’s experience influences WIT, ResT, and RecT, but not IntT, which depends on tumor complexity. RecT affects the probability of developing complications. IntT represents a fifth of the WIT and efforts to reduce the WIT should focus on reducing the IntT for complex tumors, by improving surgical planning.

Pure transvaginal natural orifice transluminal endoscopic surgery right hemicolectomy for colon cancer:A case report

BACKGROUND Pure natural orifice transluminal endoscopic surgery(NOTES)for colorectal cancer is a complex procedure and rarely used in clinical practice because of the ethical concerns and technical challenges,including loss of triangulation,in-line orientation,and instrument collision.Transvaginal(v)NOTES,however,can overcome these technical challenges.We report a case of pure vNOTES right hemicolectomy for colon cancer,attached with surgical video.CASE SUMMARY A 65-year-old woman with a 2-year history of intermittent diarrhea was diagnosed with ascending colon adenocarcinoma by colonoscopy and biopsy.Pure vNOTES right hemicolectomy was performed with complete mesocolic excision by well-experienced surgeons.The operative time was 200 min and the estimated blood loss was 30 mL.No intraoperative or postoperative complications occurred within 30 d after the surgery.The visual analog scale pain score on postoperative day 1 was 1 and dropped to 0 on postoperative days 2 and 3.The patient was discharged at postoperative day 6.The pathologic specimen had sufficient clear resection margins and 14 negative harvested lymph nodes.CONCLUSION vNOTES right hemicolectomy,performed by well-experienced surgeons,overcomes the technical challenges of pure NOTES and may be feasible for colon cancer.

Evaluation of an interactive virtual surgical rotation during the COVID-19 pandemic

Objective:To evaluate medical student and attending surgeon experiences with a novel interactive virtual Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery(OHNS)medical student elective during the COVID-19 pandemic.Study Design:A virtual OHNS elective was created,with three components:(1)interactive virtual operating room(OR)experience using live-stream video-conferencing,(2)telehealth clinic,(3)virtual didactics.Setting:OHNS Department at the University of Pennsylvania(May 2020 to June 2020).Methods:Six medical students from the University of Pennsylvania;five attending otolaryngologists.Two surveys were designed and distributed to participating medical students and attending surgeons.Surveys included 5-point Likert scale items,with 1 indicating"not at all"and 5 indicating"very much so".Results:Response rate was 100%for both surveys.Students on average rated the educational value of the telehealth experience as 4.2±1.2,and the virtual OR experience as 4.0±0.6.Most students(n=5,83%)indicated that they had enough exposure to faculty they met on this rotation to ask for a letter of recommendation(LOR)for residency if needed,while attending surgeons had an average response of 3.0±1.0 when asked how comfortable they would feel writing a LOR for a student they met through the rotation.A majority of students(n=4,67%)felt they connected enough with faculty during the rotation to ask for mentorship.Half the students(n=5,50%)indicated that the rotation allowed them to evaluate the department's culture either"extremely well"or"somewhat well".Conclusions:Overall,participating students described this innovative virtual surgical rotation as an educationally and professionally valuable experience.With the continued suspension of visiting student rotations due to the COVID-19 pandemic,this virtual model may have continued relevance to medical education.