The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently gave clearance to Intuitive Surgical, Inc., a Mountain View, CA–based company to begin selling its da Vinci™ Surgical System in the United States. The clearance allows the System to be used for such laparoscopic abdominal surgical procedures...
Intradiscal electrothermal therapy (IDET™) is a minimally invasive surgical procedure for treating patients with chronic lower back pain caused by tears and small herniations of the lumbar discs. With IDET, physicians deliver heat directly within the symptomatic discs to alleviate the pain.
Percutaneous lumbar discectomy (PLD) is a minimally invasive procedure for treating patients who suffer from low back and leg pain due to a herniated vertebral disc. Vertebral discs are the cushioning and connecting materials that lie between the vertebrae of the spine. They protect the...
Vascular ultrasound is a noninvasive procedure used to diagnose and locate disorders of the vascular system. Widespread practical application of ultrasonography began in the 1960s. Neurosonography; echocardiography; obstetrical, gynecological, and ophthalmologic ultrasound are additional...
Discography is an invasive radiographic technique that uses the injection of contrast media to visualize intervertebral disk space. Developed in Sweden in 1948, it soon became widely used to diagnose such diseases or conditions as lumbar degenerative disease, disc herniation, disc protrusion,...
Total parenteral nutrition (TPN) is a complex, expensive, and life-saving therapy used to meet the nutritional needs of patients with a variety of diseases and medical conditions. TPN may be used when a patient has a nonfunctional or inaccessible intestine, or cannot take food by mouth or...
Medical science has developed many procedures to stabilize the spinal column in the lower back and fuse vertebrae. These techniques range from the simplest, lumbar fusion, to the more complex, the use of instrumentation in pedicle screw fixation and Harrington rod placement. Currently, there is...
Physicians are now able to open an airway in the trachea by controlled percutaneous introduction of tracheostomy tubes. Elective percutaneous dilatational tracheostomy (PDT) is the gradual dilation of the tracheal entrance site made by sequentially sized dilators being placed over a wire guide,...
During endoscopic carpal tunnel release, physicians insert an optical device through a small incision into the carpal tunnel of the wrist in order to release pressure of the median nerve, which passes through this canal into the wrist.
