376. Basics of Microsurgery

The close of the 20th century saw endoscopy and laparoscopy evolve from passive optical tools into dynamic platforms that integrated real-time guidance, autonomous movement, and computational interpretation for navigation, diagnosis, and therapy. 

By the mid-20th century, endoscopy's long-standing challenge of safely illuminating internal structures was transformed by postwar advances—especially Harold Hopkins's 1950s rod-lens system, which enabled brighter, distortion-free, miniaturized imaging that could reliably guide c ...  Show more

Vascular surgery is full of awesome anatomy and big open vessel exposures, but endovascular surgery is here to stay and can be hard to get into, particularly as a learner. The basics of endovascular surgery share very little with the basics of open surgery and getting up to speed ...  Show more

Being able to decipher medical language means understanding the common roots, suffixes and prefixes. For example, if you know “ectomy” means the removal of something…even without recognizing the rest of the word, you at least know the patient had some kind of surgical procedure a ...  Show more

Upon encountering a patient who develops an anastomotic leak after a straight-forward low anterior resection, you are taken aback, as the patient is healthy and has no apparent risk factors. This prompts you to consider whether the microbiota may have played a role in causing the ...  Show more

Macroscopic Skin Lesions A thorough skin examination should be performed annually to assess for new or changing macroscopic skin lesions. It is critically important to be able to identify and describe normal and abnormal skin and to note your findings carefully, because a change ...  Show more