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Evolving Technology

January 5, 2016
The era of 3D printing to enhance thoracic surgery is here. This video describes the various ways Mayo Clinic has employed 3D printing to enhance teamwork, patient education, resident education, surgical planning, and innovation.
July 19, 2012
The Novalung Interventional Lung Assist (iLA) device is a membrane ventilator that allows for oxygen and carbon dioxide gas exchange to occur by simple diffusion.
June 15, 2009
Percutaneous mitral repair using the MitraClip® system is a method derived from the edge-to-edge surgical procedure. The MitraClip® system replaces suturing with a clip to join the free edges of the opposing leaflets at the site of regurgitation.
March 18, 2009
Patients with recurrent or persistent spontaneous pneumothorax are treated thoracoscopically. Those with blebs or small bullae are generally managed by stapler resection of the lesions. We have recently experimented with a new device (Endo-Floating Ball) for the coagulation of blebs as an alternative to endostapler resection.
June 29, 2008
Stainless steel wires are currently used for median sternotomy closure in cardiac and general thoracic surgery; this method is safe, effective, and fast. However, the wires can damage and cut bone during respiratory and chest motion. A novel sternal reinforcement device has been designed to prevent wires cutting into the bone.
June 15, 2008
Surgical stapling devices have been used in Thoracic surgery for over 20 years and have proven as reliable as suturing for the bronchus, pulmonary artery, pulmonary vein or lung parenchyma. They have allowed for the widespread application of thoracoscopy to complex procedures within the chest.
June 15, 2008
Various diathermy techniques have been proposed to reduce intraoperative blood loss in surgery. In particular, standard bipolar technology is able to coagulate small vessels, with a diameter ranging from 1 mm to 3 mm, but it has some disadvantages, including sticking, charring, and significant thermal spread [1,2].
April 8, 2008
Radio frequency ablation (RFA) of lung tumors is a relatively new procedure allowing local treatment with minimal parenchymal damage. In fact, this technique is able to induce coagulative necrosis in a limited pulmonary area.

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