In the old days, one could refine surgical technique with just sutures and a board of styrofoam. Now, in order to learn laparoscopy, interns and residents have to use super-expensive simulators to which most hospitals don’t even have access. So even though laparoscopy is known to offer many advantages over open procedures, many surgeons still […]

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Finding it increasingly difficult to figure out the latest high-tech gadgets at Best Buy? Dr. Thomas Krummel has little sympathy for you. In the annual Karl Storz Lecture, Dr. Krummel addressed the problem of surgeons innovating in an increasingly technological world. 

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Surgeons don’t usually spend too much time worrying about the closure of trocar site incisions, but if the name of your game is speed, or if you find that patients wake up just a bit too quickly during suturing, then NeatStitch is your tool.
The device is inserted in the trocar, and then two blunt needles […]

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In an earlier post, we explored one combination of robotics and NOTES that involved deploying da Vinci instrumentation through transvaginal and transcolonic trocars.
At the NOTES symposium at SAGES today, Dr. Dmitry Oleynikov of the University of Nebraska Medical Center upped the technological ante even further, debuting a new mini robot that is contained entirely within the […]

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Everyone was seated quietly in dark suits. Pictures of loved ones flashed on giant screens while speakers recalled their best characteristics and the good times they shared.
Wait, did you think we were talking about a memorial service?

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We’ll be reporting live from the SAGES Scientific Session on Friday and Saturday, with frequent updates containing photos and videos from the conference floor. If you won’t be able to attend this year, keeping checking OPNOTES for all the important news and updates.
If you’re planning to go, send us a tip at editor (at) opnotes.com […]

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Drs. Mark Talamini and Santiago Horgan at UC San Diego announced today that they have successfully performed the first NOTES appendectomy in the United States. Although details are still forthcoming, the press release notes that the team used USGI Medical’s EndoSurgical system. The patient was quoted as saying, “A day after surgery, I have a little […]

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On March 30th, OpNotes will host the 18th edition of surgeXperiences, a biweekly round-up of the latest musings and happenings in the surgical blogosphere. So if you read (or, for that matter, write) a particularly interesting post, please wing it our way and we’ll consider it for inclusion. In the meanwhile, why not check out […]

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Okay, this is funny. From The Onion’s hilarious news parody channel:

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According to Harper’s index the two most frequent workplace complaints are:
1. The office is too cold.
2. The office is too hot.
If you (a) agree with either of these statements, and (b) do not mind looking like a doofus*, then we recommend picking up either the Shafer Surgeon Cooling System (now with an add-on to cool […]

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