News & Commentary on Prescription Drug & Medical Device Lawsuits
In 2014, a study was published in Annals of Surgical Oncology by BH Lang et al. titled “A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis Comparing Surgically-Related Complications between Robotic-Assisted Thyroidectomy and Conventional Open Thyroidectomy.” that aimed to determine the relative safety of robotic-assisted by conventional thyroidectomy.
For this study, researchers reviewed 11 previously-conducted studies and…
Part I: Destroying Valentine’s Day
Two weeks ago was Valentine’s Day— a holiday that is supposed to be full of romance and heartfelt encounters with those you love. For many lucky people, Valentine’s Day was exactly that this year. Countless couples across the country could be seen on dates, filling restaurants, theaters, and dance-halls to…
Over the course of the past several days, Ethicon, a Johnson & Johnson company, has crowed over the fact that it “prevailed” in a lawsuit regarding the pelvic mesh devices it manufactured and promoted. At first glance, the media headlines regarding Ethicon’s recent “triumph” are confusing, and might even make it seem like Ethicon has…
An article published in the January-February, 2014 edition of Female pelvic medicine and reconstructive surgery titled “Pneumomediastinum after robotic sacrocolpopexy.” reviews a case of pneumomediastinum in a woman who underwent robot-assisted surgery for the repair of posthysterectomy prolapse. The team writes “Pneumomediastinum is a rare but potential complication of laparoscopy that is related…
In 2012, an article titled “Use of thiazolidinediones and the risk of bladder cancer among people with type 2 diabetes: a meta-analysis.” was published by IN Colmers et al. in Canadian Medical Association Journal investigating the relationship between Actos and bladder cancer. Thiazolidinediones are a class of diabetes drugs including pioglitazone, the chemical…
In the December, 2013 edition of European Urology, a team of researchers led by RK Kumar published the results of a study titled “Robot-assisted Partial Nephrectomy in Patients with Baseline Chronic Kidney Disease: A Multi-institutional Propensity Score-Matched Analysis.” that aimed to evaluate the relative safety of robot-assisted nephrectomy, as compared with a…
A recent article published in the January 2014 edition of Obstetrics and Gynecology titled “Robotic compared with laparoscopic sacrocolpopexy: a randomized controlled trial.” lives up to its title and compares the safety and efficacy of robot-assisted to traditional sacrocolpoplexy.
The team, led by JT Anger, writes “Laparoscopic and robotic sacrocolpopexy are widely used…
In 2014, an article by AM Coker et al. titled “Outcomes of robotic-assisted transhiatal esophagectomy for esophageal cancer after neoadjuvant chemoradiation.” in Journal of Laparoendoscopic & Advanced Surgical Techniques aimed to “determine if [robotic-assisted transhiatal esophagectomy (RATE)] could be performed safely with good outcomes for esophageal cancer in a more recent series of…
In a 2013 article published in the December issue of Journal of Gastric Cancer titled “Emerging Role of Robot-assisted Gastrectomy: Analysis of Consecutive 200 Cases.”, a team of researchers led by JY Park “aimed to evaluate whether gaining experience in robotic gastrectomy could improve surgical outcomes in the treatment of gastric cancer.” In…
An article published earlier this month (February 2014) titled “Systematic Review and Meta-analysis of Robotic vs Conventional Thyroidectomy Approaches for Thyroid Disease.” by GH Sun et al. in Otolaryngology provides us with helpful insight into the relative safety and efficacy of surgical robots, which have become increasingly prevalent in the modern operating room…