In the past decade, extensive research on dielectric properties of biological tissues led to characterization of dielectric property discrepancy between the malignant and healthy tissues. Such discrepancy enabled the development of microwave therapeutic and diagnostic technologies. Traditionally, dielectric property measurements of biological tissues is performed with the well-known contact probe (open-ended coaxial probe) technique. However, the technique suffers from limited accuracy and low loss resolution for permittivity and conductivity measurements, respectively. Therefore, despite the inherent dielectric property discrepancy, a rigorous measurement routine with open-ended coaxial probes is required for accurate differentiation of malignant and healthy tissues. In this paper, we propose to eliminate the need for multiple measurements with open-ended coaxial probe for malignant and healthy tissue differentiation by applying support vector machine (SVM) classification algorithm to the dielectric measurement data. To do so, first, in vivo malignant and healthy rat liver tissue dielectric property measurements are collected with open-ended coaxial probe technique between 500 MHz to 6 GHz. Cole-Cole functions are fitted to the measured dielectric properties and measurement data is verified with the literature. Malign tissue classification is realized by applying SVM to the open-ended coaxial probe measurements where as high as 99.2% accuracy (F1 Score) is obtained.

Total thyroidectomy makes up the majority of all thyroidectomy cases. Energy-based advanced vessel-sealing devices which were developed in recent years for the control of vascular pedicles allowed significant progress in thyroid surgery. This study is designed to compare the efficiency and safety of the two energy-based vessel-sealing devices (Ligasure™ LF1212 and Harmonic FOCUS(®)) in sutureless thyroidectomy. Two hundred and forty-five consecutive patients underwent sutureless total thyroidectomy. Patients were randomized for the Ligasure™ LF1212 (n = 126) or Harmonic FOCUS(®) (n = 119). The parameters of demographics, surgical indications, morbidity, incision length, duration of operation, weight of specimen, amount of drainage, postoperative pain, hospital stay, and histopathology of specimen were recorded. Mean duration of operation was 37.98 ± 14.98 min (16-92 min) and was significantly shorter for Harmonic FOCUS(®) (p < 0.001). Mean hospital stay was 1.09 ± 0.3 (1-3) days. Morbidity rate was 9.8 % in total, whereas no mortality was observed. In terms of morbidity rates, no significant difference was determined between the two groups (p = 0.476). In both groups, there was no need for extra analgesic application other than the routine given after surgery. According to our experience, sutureless thyroidectomy can be performed with low morbidity rates in secure and efficient way.

LigaSure Precise + in der Schilddrü senchirurgieZusammenfassung. Grundlagen: Die meisten Komplikationen der Schilddrü senchirurgie sind mit Ligatur und Koagulation verbunden. LigaSure Õ ist eine alternative Methode zur Gefä ßversiegelung und Ligatur und kann mö glicherweise beitragen, postoperative Komplikationen zu vermindern.Methodik: Vierzig Patienten mit multinodulä rer Struma wurden in zwei gleich große Gruppen eingeteilt. Die erste Gruppe wurde mit konventionellen Methoden und die zweite mit LigaSure Õ operiert. Die Gruppen wurden in Bezug auf postoperative Komplikationen, Krankenhausaufenthalt und OP-Dauer statistisch verglichen.Ergebnisse: LigaSure Õ hat die OP-Dauer verglichen mit der konventionellen Gruppe signifikant verkü rzt (ungefä hr 13 Minuten kü rzer), und es gab keinen signifikanten Unterschied bei den Komplikationen und der Krankenhausaufenthaltsdauer.Schlussfolgerungen: LigaSure Õ in der Thyreoidektomie kann als eine sichere Methode angewandt werden. Es kann als wichtiges Gerä t bei Operationen der Schilddrü se erachtet werden.Schlü sselwö rter: LigaSure + , Schilddrü senchirurgie, chirurgische Komplikationen.Summary. Background: Most of the complications of thyroid operations are related to ligation and coagulation procedures. LigaSure Õ is an alternative method for vessel sealing and ligation and may decrease operative complications. This study analyzed the effect of LigaSure Õ use on duration of operation and on complication occurrence, compared to that of conventional methods.Methods: Forty patients with multinodular goiter were included. They were divided into two groups; the first operated with conventional methods and the second with LigaSure Õ . The groups were compared statistically for post-operative complications, hospital stay and operation time.Results: LigaSure Õ shortened the operation time significantly (approximately 13 min shorter) compared to conventional group and there was no significant difference on complication and hospital stay.Conclusions: LigaSure Õ can be safely used for thyroidectomy. It is considered to be a major tool in thyroid surgery.

Background and purpose:Etiologic role, incidence, demographic, and response-to-treatment characteristics of urinary tract infection (UTI) among neonates, its relationship with significant neonatal hyperbilirubinemia, and abnormalities of the urinary system were studied in a prospective investigation in early (≤10 days) idiopathic neonatal jaundice in which all other etiologic factors of neonatal hyperbilirubinemia were ruled out.Patients and methods:Urine samples for microscopic and bacteriologic examination were obtained with bladder catheterization from 155 newborns with early neonatal jaundice. Newborns with a negative urine culture and with a positive urine culture were defined as group I and group II, respectively, and the 2 groups were compared with each other.Results:The incidence of UTI in whole of the study group was 16.7%. Serum total and direct bilirubin levels were statistically significantly higher in group II when compared with group I (P = .005 and P = .001, respectively). Decrease in serum total bilirubin level at the 24th hour of phototherapy was statistically significantly higher in group I compared with group II (P = .022).Conclusions:Urinary tract infection should be investigated in the etiologic evaluation of newborns with significant hyperbilirubinemia. The possibility of UTI should be considered in jaundiced newborns who do not respond to phototherapy well or have a prolonged duration of phototherapy treatment.

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Local bupivacaine administration into the surgical field after total thyroidectomy reduces pain and analgesic requirement during the hospital stay.

The presence of a palpable goiter, thyroid weight ≥40 g and thyromental distance <6.5 cm were risk factors associated with difficult intubation in the multivariate regression model.

ABS may support anastomotic healing in septic conditions. Topical ABS application controlling the mucosal bleeding at the cut ends of the colon may also improve the anastomotic wound healing by means of increasing mechanical strength and positively affecting angiogenesis. Further studies shall focus on the clinical importance of those findings.