Robotic-assisted total hip arthroplasty with the Orthodoc/ Robodoc system achieves equal results as compared to a manual technique. However, there was a high number of technical complications directly or indirectly related to the robot.

The effect of unphysiologically high extracellular magnesium concentrations on chondrocytes, induced by the supplementation of magnesium sulfate, was studied using a 3-phase tissue engineering model. The experiments showed that chondrocyte proliferation and redifferentiation, on the gene and protein expression level, are enhanced. A negative influence was found during chondrogenesis where an inhibition of extracellular matrix formation was observed. In addition, a direct impact on chondrocyte metabolism, elevated magnesium concentrations also affected growth factor effectiveness by consecutive influences during chondrogenesis. All observations were dosage dependent. The results of this study indicate that magnesium may be a useful tool for cartilage tissue engineering.

Results show that aging and possibly diverse "trauma" have an impact on modifying the mechanical behavior of pelvic floor tissues. Over time pelvic floor ligaments and vaginal tissues will differentiate and acquire different mechanical behavior, as seen within the literature in older cadavers.

Videoendoscopic thyroidectomy by the dorsal approach is feasible in both human cadavers and patients. It leaves no visible scars. Nodal points are helpful for executing a new operation. The surgical quality score is a complex and objective measure of ability to deal with the procedure. Further clinical studies are required for evaluation of this new procedure.

Therapeutic study, level II.

A comparison of tissue cutting effects in excised cadaver human vocal folds after incisions with three different instruments [scalpel, CO2 laser and the picosecond infrared laser-(PIRL)] was performed. In total, 15 larynges were taken from human cadavers shortly after death. After deep freezing and thawing for the experiment, the vocal folds suspended in the hemilarynx were incised. Histology and environmental scanning electron microscopy (ESEM) analyses were performed. Damage zones after cold instrument cuts ranged from 51 to 135 μm, as compared to 9-28 μm after cutting with the PIRL. It was shown that PIRL incision had smaller zones of tissue coagulation and tissue destruction, when compared with scalpel and CO2 laser cuts. The PIRL technology provides an (almost) atraumatic laser, which offers a quantum jump towards realistic 'micro'-phonosurgery on a factual cellular dimension, almost entirely avoiding coagulation, carbonization, or other ways of major tissue destruction in the vicinity of the intervention area. Although not available for clinical use yet, the new technique appears promising for future clinical applications, so that technical and methodological characteristics as well as tissue experiments seem worthwhile to be communicated at this stage of development.

No abstract

The novel method improves a standard operating procedure in terms of accuracy, operation time for the retrograde drilling procedure, and radiation exposure.