Laparoscopy Today

Laparoscopy Today, The Essential Multidisciplinary Information Source

Laparoscopy Today is a semi-annual magazine and journal of the Society of Laparoendoscopic Surgeons. Circulation is 60,000 which includes all general surgeons, gynecologists, urologists, and residency programs. Laparoscopy Today features articles from leading experts on the most recent developments in minimally invasive therapies, the SLS President's Corner, Products for the Laparoscopic Surgeon, Conference Reports, Journal Watch, and the Laparoscopy Web which includes updates on websites that provide laparoscopic surgeons with invaluable information.

To your left is a Category Cloud, where frequently used categories appear larger than less frequently used categories. Click on one to bring up related postings.

This open access online version contains complete PDF files of past issues and searchable text. As well as the latest news from SLS, LaparoscopyToday.com features an innovative category cloud identifying hot MIS topics based on popularity.

www.Laparoscopy.org  The Laparoscopic Surgery Information Source

NEW VIDEO AVAILABLE: Single Incision Sleeve Gastrectomy Using a Completely Intracorporeal Liver Retractor

JSLS Ranks in the Top 100 Again!

JSLS, Journal of the Society of Laparoendscopic Surgeons, was ranked 58th for full-text downloads in March 2009 out of more than 10,000 titles!

JSLS  has been ranked in the top 100 on IngentaConnect for full-text downloads in April, June, August, November, and December 2007; March, June, July, and August 2008; and February 2009. Search JSLS for critical findings in MIS, then get the details on how to submit your research to this top ranking journal.

www.Laparoscopy.org  The Laparoscopic Surgery Information Source

EUROAMERICAN SUMMIT IV GETS A SECOND LIFE!

Miami, FL – December 31, 2008 – For the first time, surgeons from around the world can participate in the EuroAmerican Summit IV in Orlando, Florida without having to go to Orlando. Imagine sitting at a computer in your office on another continent asking questions in real time of SLS faculty avatars. SLS has established a presence in Second Life that will allow just that.

“This is just another step in meeting our mission of providing information and education to help our members improve healthcare worldwide,” said Paul Alan Wetter, MD, FACOG, FACS, Professor Emeritus, University of Miami School of Medicine and Chairman of the Society of Laparoendoscopic Surgeons. This Second Life presence will be previewed at the EuroAmerican Summit IV, Feb 11-14, 2009 in Orlando, Florida. The web portion of the Summit will be directed by Dr. Wetter; James C. Rosser, Jr., MD, FACS, Professor of Surgery, Morehouse School of Medicine, Atlanta; and Richard M. Satava, MD, FACS, Professor of Surgery, University of Washington. Second Life will allow surgeons to have access to SLS’s rich online content from journals, textbooks, and meetings. “This project is a great example of a game changing flat world application. Imagine a digital social phenomenon like Second Life being used for the greater good,” said Dr. Rosser. SLS has a strong digital presence with innovative Web content. Recently, its Index Medicus peer reviewed journal, Journal of the Society of Laparoendoscopic Surgeons, was rated in the top 100 of over 10,000 scientific journals based on downloads of its content, making it one of the most popular medical journals worldwide.

For more information, visit EuroAmerican Multispecialty Summit.


www.Laparoscopy.org  The Laparoscopic Surgery Information Source

TOP GUN LAPAROSCOPIC SKILLS AND SUTURING SUPER COURSE

February 2–6, 2009
Morehouse School of Medicine, Atlanta, Georgia

Get Your Laparoscopic Skills Up to Speed: Become One of the Best of the Best

Are you concerned that advanced laparoscopic surgery has passed you by? Afraid that you can never develop the skills needed to safely compete with you colleagues? Be concerned no longer. Dr. Butch Rosser and the Department of Surgery at Morehouse School of Medicine in Atlanta, Georgia have the solution. Come to the scheduled Top Gun Laparoscopic Skills and Suturing Super Course, Morehouse School of Medicine, National Center for Primary Care, 720 Westview Drive, Atlanta, GA and get up to speed in one week.

Over 6000 surgeons have trusted Dr. Rosser to jump-start their journey into advanced laparoscopic surgery and he can help you also. Whether you are a gynecologist, general surgeon, cardiac surgeon, or urologist come join us from February 2–6, 2009. Remember the edge of the envelope starts here.

For more information go to rosseramti.com or contact Myra Stewart, Administrative Assistant, Morehouse School of Medicine, Department of Surgery (404) 616-3562 or via e-mail at mstewart@msm.edu.

Presentation of the 2008 SLS Excel Award, 17th SLS Annual Meeting and Endo Expo 2008, September 17–20, 2008

September 18, 2008

Chicago, Illinois, USA

SLS' 2008 Excel Award recipient was presented to Harrith M. Hasson, MD, who lectured on "Evaluating Surgical Performance."

“I knew Harrith before I knew Harrith,” said Dr. Charles Koh in his introduction of Dr. Harrith Hasson, the 2008 Excel Award recipient. “He is humble but has an ever-searching brain.”

Attending the award ceremony, to Dr. Hasson’s surprise and delight, were “Harry’s Angels,” a group of devoted employees who worked by his side for many years while he was in Chicago.

Dr. Hasson has many firsts. He was the first to perform the open laparoscopy technique, which was named after him, the Hasson Technique, along with the instruments to be used during the procedure. His experience using this new technique was published in the Journal of Reproductive Medicine in 1974. He was the first to design a simulator for training surgeons, he has 52 patents for medical devices, and he has numerous publications and awards to his credit. RealSim Systems, founded by Hasson in 2004, develops laparoscopic simulators, which are considered better than virtual training simulators.

“To perform laparoscopic surgery,” said Hasson, “certain abilities are required. These include the ability to operate on a 3-D object from a 2-D image and the ability to develop psychomotor hand-eye coordination.” His current goal is to bring about a paradigm shift in the assessment and training of surgeons. He hopes the current system of using subjective measures to assess skills will be replaced by the use of objective measures for this purpose. With the use of simulators, skills can be objectively tested. “Some things are not teachable,” said Dr. Hasson. Each person is born with a certain skill level. Some have greater skill than others. Through the use of simulators, each person can practice until his or her particular skill is developed to its highest level. 

by Ann Conti Morcos, MA, ELS

www.Laparoscopy.org  The Laparoscopic Surgery Information Source

SLS Evening with Faculty, 17th SLS Annual Meeting and Endo Expo 2008, September 17–20, 2008

September 18, 2008

The Adler Planetarium and Astronomy Museum, Chicago, Illinois, USA

The magnificent Chicago skyline welcomed SLS faculty and guests to an incredible evening in extreme environments–soaring in space above the Earth and swimming in the depths of the Earth’s ocean.

Sailboats sliced through Lake Michigan’s calm waters as SLS faculty and guests arrived for this special event at the Adler Planetarium and Astronomy Museum, which sits along Lake Michigan near Soldier Field and the Chicago Field Museum. It was founded in 1930 by Max Adler and contains astronomical and planetarium artifacts dating from the 12th through the 20th centuries. It is the largest of its kind in the western hemisphere.

After touring the museum, faculty and guests enjoyed food, fun, and conversations with fellow SLS members and guests, then were awed by footage of space travel and the International Space Station and surgery in the depths of the ocean.

Imagine doing surgery from any position even while floating upside down or having a few-second delay from the time you move the arm of a surgical robot to the time the instrument performs the action in the patient. These are among the experiences that Dave R. Williams, MD, shared during his talk “Telerobotic Surgery in Extreme Environments.” Williams, a Canadian native, has made 2 space flights to the International Space Station, one in 1998 the other in 2007, and 3 space walks. He has also participated in the NEEMO missions in the ocean and is the first Canadian to do both. 

Today’s astronaut, said Williams, need not be a person with a military background. Today’s astronauts come from various fields, including medicine, education, and science. Surgery is being attempted in space as a way of preparing for a future flight to Mars, which will require three years of space travel. However, as in military deployments, medical care may be provided in space by a team member who is not a physician but who has training in wilderness medicine. Thus far, no humans have been operated on in space, only animals such as rats. During space travel, astronauts practice minimally invasive exercises on each other. Zero gravity causes changes to the human body, resulting in physiological challenges. Astronauts must learn ways to cope with these physiological changes before successful surgery can be performed in space. Astronauts are trying to understand the human body parts, including blood, which are altered in space. Other challenges include working in microgravity where everything must be restrained or it will float around, so astronauts must learn to work with instruments that are tied down in some way or that float around. By 2020, it is hoped that man will be able to return to the moon. One NEEMO mission included robotic telesurgery in which a physician in Canada performed a medical exercise using a simulator housed in a NEEMO facility deep underwater. This exercise provided practice in telesurgery, which may become necessary during long flights in outer space. As mankind advances toward exploring the universe, it is important to be able to provide medical care to astronauts, just as it is necessary to care for wounded soldiers in far off countries. Telesurgery with the use of robots and telementoring in extreme environments are vital for safety in future space exploration.

by Ann Conti Morcos, MA, ELS

Opening Ceremony, 17th SLS Annual Meeting and Endo Expo 2008, September 17–20, 2008

September 17, 2008

Chicago, Illinois, USA

The biggest thing “This Week in Chicago” was the SLS Annual Meeting and Endo Expo!

Opening the conference were the Blues Brothers who set the tone for an enjoyable evening with jokes and songs from days gone by that everyone could sing-along with. Dr. Paul Wetter announced several significant SLS achievements over the past year to the physicians from Korea, Turkey, Germany, the United Kingdom, Italy, Australia, Portugal, Japan, France, Singapore, China, Venezuela, India, Pakistan, Czech Republic, Iran, Mexico, Canada, and other countries, and almost every state in the Union who attended the conference. Kudos are in order for the following:

·      JSLS, Journal of the Society of Laparoendoscopic Surgeons ranked in the top 100 downloads on the Ingenta Web site 6 times over the past year.

·      The JSLS table of contents ranked 9 of 10,000 downloads on the Ingenta site.

·      Prevention and Management of Laparoendoscopic Surgical Complications, 1st edition, is now available free online in Spanish. This translation is the result of the joint effort of SLS and ALACE (la Asociación Latinoamericana de Cirugía Endoscópica) and the work of Dr. Gustavo Stingel of SLS and Dr. Roberto Gallardo, President of ALACE. Prevention and Management has now been translated into Chinese, Portuguese, and Spanish.

·      The History of Endoscopy by Dr. Camran Nezhat was recently published at http://laparoscopy.blogs.com/endoscopyhistory/. This is an open access publication, which is envisioned to operate like Wikipedia, with minimally invasive surgeons from around the world submitting information, photos, and their experiences for review and addition to the book. The book is available through RSS feed for downloading to your cell phone or other device. Dr. Nezhat had a fellowship to research and write this book, which took him 2 years.

·      Laparoscopy Today has been available online for 2 years. The latest issue is the first “green” issue, which can be downloaded as a PDF.

Following these announcements awards for the best scientific papers, videos, and poster presentations were handed out, and Dr. William E. Kelley, Jr., SLS President, gave his address. The Honorary Chairs for this year’s conference were Makote Hashizume, MD, PhD, of Japan who shared his expertise on image-guided minimally invasive robot-assisted surgery, and Errico Zupi, MD, of Italy who discussed NOTES. Rounding out the evening was a special talk by James “Butch” Rosser, Jr., MD, of “Top Gun” fame who shared his inspiring thoughts about virtual learning. With that, conference attendees followed the Blues Brothers into the welcome reception and opening of the exhibit hall, which marked the official opening of the conference.

by Ann Conti Morcos, MA, ELS

Laparoscopy Today, The Green Issue

Available online only.
Download your copy from the PDF Archives in the left column.

In the News

MEGADYNE introduces the education program “It’s So Easy Being Green”

It has been stated that more than 4 million tons of general waste is produced each year by US healthcare facilities (See “Medical waste: the issue,” Health Care Without Harm, www.noharm.org/us/medicalWaste/issue).

Introduced to support the AORN ‘s guidelines encouraging hospitals and surgical centers to create environmentally responsible policies and procedures, MEGADYNE’s “It’s So Easy Being Green” training program allows healthcare pro-viders to earn continuing education credit for learning about green practices. The program covers waste management, resource conservation and recycling practices, applied conservation, item re-processing, reuse and repair, and green construction practices. Register for the course online: www.megadyne.com.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: 17TH SLS ANNUAL MEETING AND ENDO EXPO 2008

Contact:    Paul Wetter, MD, FACOG, FACS
                 Chairman, The Society of Laparoendoscopic Surgeons
                 7330 SW 62nd Place, Suite 410, Miami, FL, USA
                 (800) 446-2659
                 Register online at www.sls.org   

                       17th SLS Annual Meeting and Endo Expo 2008

Miami, FL – April 21, 2008

    “Make no little plans. They have no magic to stir men’s blood…” so said
    Daniel H. Burnham, a visionary leader for the City of Chicago and the organizer
    of the World’s Columbian Exposition held in Chicago in 1893 and publisher of
    the 1909 Plan of Chicago.

As an attendee of the 17th Society of Laparoendoscopic Surgeons Annual Meeting and Endo Expo 2008 in Chicago, birthplace of the skyscraper, you too can “make no little plans.”

From September 17-20, 2008, esteemed national and international laparoscopic surgeons will assemble at the Hyatt Regency McCormick Place to increase their own knowledge and share what they know with others at this multispecialty conference on laparoscopic, endoscopic, and minimally invasive surgical techniques.  The meeting offers six Master’s Classes; Plenary Sessions; Lap Updates of multiple topics; Live Surgery Telecasts; Exhibitions; Competition for Best Papers, Videos, and Posters from Professors to Fellows and Residents; Future Technology Sessions; and over 200 Scientific presentations in General Surgery, Gynecology, and Urology.

As in 2007, you can custom-tailor your 2008 conference experience to address your needs and interests–GYN Laparoscopy, Surgical Endoscopy, or Endourology.  What a conference!

Awards will be presented for Best Poster ($500) and for the Resident Award-Winning Paper ($1,000). Distinguished inventor, pioneer, and physician, Dr. Harrith Hasson, is this year’s Excel Award recipient.  Virtual Live Telesurgeries will be a robotic colon resection and a hysterectomy of endometriosis. Visit our Virtual Exhibit Hall where you can participate in the “Top Gun Laparoscopy Shoot-Out,” learn about the latest innovations of the past year, and meet and greet our corporate sponsors at over 40 booths. The SLS booth and Cyber Café offer information about upcoming conferences, membership and its benefits, plus cyber services like a WiFi station, E-mail access, and hands-on online resources. Our special event is the SLS Evening with Faculty, which features a tour, dinner, and a keynote speaker. This years’ Evening is “Exploring Space at the Adler Planetarium and Astronomy Museum.”  Another special event for spouse or guest is an architecture tour of Chicago, which begins at the Frank Lloyd Wright Museum and Studio.

This is the vanguard of medical conferences. It organizers—with you in mind—have “made no little plans”!

Visit our Web sites at www.sls.org and www.laparoscopy.org for complete information for attendees, exhibitors, and those who would like to submit an abstract.

NEW SLS Scholarly Laparoscopy Search Web Page

Spend Less Time Looking for an Article!  Check Out the NEW SLS Scholarly Laparoscopy Search Web Page!

What is the Scholarly Laparoscopy Search?

The Scholarly Laparoscopy Search provides a simple way to search for information and literature on a wide range of laparoscopic and MIS topics.  From one place, you can search across many sources using the subset of MIS search topics by specialty.

Features of the Scholarly Laparoscopy Search

• Search multiple sources from one convenient place
• Find papers, abstracts, articles, research material and MIS Information
• Locate complete journal articles from JSLS, Journal of the Society of Laparoendoscopic Surgeons
• Learn about key advancements in MIS
• Fast one-click search is easy to use. Search Now!

www.Laparoscopy.org  The Laparoscopic Surgery Information Source

1st MEETING OF THE ITALIAN CHAPTER OF THE SOCIETY OF LAPAROENDOSCOPIC SURGEONS (SLS)

SLS Italy Chapter
Joint Session in conjunction with
4th SEGI Annual Meeting
June 20-23, 2007
Teatro Massimo
Palermo, Italy

The first meeting of the SLS Italy Chapter in conjunction with the SEGI meeting in Palermo, Italy in June 2007 at Teatro Massimo, was a tremendous success. Presentations available on TheTrocar.com at http://www.thetrocar.net/view.asp?ID=39
 
Introduction
Paul Alan Wetter, MD, Miami USA - Chairman of SLS
Rosario Vecchio, MD, Catania Italy
President Italian Chapter of SLS

09.30 am - 10.30 am CLINICAL SESSION
CHAIR P.A. Wetter (USA)
Moderators T.Gargiulo (Italy)
R.Vecchio (Italy)

1 - TECHNIQUES FOR DIFFICULT LAPAROSCOPIC HYSTERECTOMIES
O.Sizzi (Italy)
2 - RISKS AND COMPLICATIONS IN LAPAROSCOPIC COLORECTAL SURGERY
R.Vecchio (Italy)
3 - LAPAROSCOPIC SIGMOID RECTUM RESECTION FOR BENIGN DISEASES
M.Civello (Italy)
4 - LAPAROSCOPIC EXTRAPERITONEAL RADICAL PROSTATECTOMY
M.Falsaperla (Italy)

11.30 am - 12.30 pm DISCUSSION LECTURE:
LAPAROSCOPIC TREATMENT OF ENDOMETRIOSIS OF BOWEL, BLADDER, URETER AND DIAPHRAGM
C. Nezhat

MEETING OF THE MEMBERS OF ITALIAN CHAPTER OF SLS

www.Laparoscopy.org  The Laparoscopic Surgery Information Source

MIS Information at Your Fingertips!

BOOKMARK THAT SITE!

PAUL ALAN WETTER, MD, ANN MORCOS, MA, ELS

Imagine the following scenarios: making rounds and attending to a patient with a condition that you are not familiar with; writing a paper based on your recent research, or patient case; writing a review article to submit to JSLS, Journal of the Society of Laparoendoscopic Surgeons or another medical journal. In addition to using your computer, now imagine using your PDA or your cell phone as the tool for retrieving pertinent medical information in those situations! With the press of a few buttons, you can download the appropriate chapter of the first edition of Prevention and Management of Laparoendoscopic Surgical Complications, for example, or the “SLS Guide: Writing Effectively for MIS Journal Publication,” or other valuable information from the SLS website.

The mission of SLS is to “improve patient care and promote the highest standards of practice through education, training, and information distribution and to ensure that members have access to the newest ideas and approaches, as rapidly as possible.” Simply stated, SLS strives to make information available using the most convenient and practical means possible. They want to put information at your fingertips!

HOW IS THIS POSSIBLE?

This mission might seem like a tall order; however, SLS is succeeding at its mission and now even taking it a step further. The newly expanded and redesigned websites, www.SLS.org and www.LaparoscopyToday.com have features that will allow you to access MIS information anytime, anywhere. This is possible using an RSS feed. Once you have an RSS feed reader, also known as an aggregator, installed on your computer, PDA, or cell phone, you can use your device to access the SLS website and obtain information instantly.

WHAT IS AN RSS FEED?

There is some discussion as to what RSS stands for, but the vote commonly goes to “Really Simple Syndication.” Essentially, it is a format for distributing content from sources on the web. RSS is particularly useful because it allows one to check for and retrieve the latest content available online from multiple information sources. The concept is based on syndicating information, much like newspapers have syndicated columns. The feed reader or aggregator software will grab the RSS feeds from your chosen websites and then display them on your computer or even manipulate them to be read on your cell phone or PDA.

HOW TO START USING FEEDS

The first thing you need is an RSS feed reader or aggregator which can either be accessed using a browser or as a downloadable application. At your request, the aggregator searches your chosen sites and sends new information from those sites directly to your computer, PDA, or cell phone. Aggregators are available for free (NewsGator or NetNewsWire Lite for Mac are available at www.NewsGator.com) or for a small fee ($29.95 for NetNewsWire, the fully functional version of NewsGator for Mac, also available at www.NewsGator.com). To take advantage of RSS on your PDA, try Quick News for Palm OS (http://standalone.com/palmos/quick_news). At just $14.95, it’s a bargain.

The number of sites offering RSS is rapidly increasing, with websites such as those for the New York Times and the BBC as well as www.WebMD.com and www.MedicineNet.com offering the feature to keep viewers informed of the latest news. Sites offering RSS will typically show the RSS icon (Figure 1) or offer site viewers the option of subscribing to the site.

SLS uses RSS feeds to allow easier communication of MIS information from its website to physicians around the world who have access to computers and hand-held communication devices. Surgeons might also use RSS feeds within their institutions to share protocols, new procedures, news, or institutional policies with their colleagues.

CHECK OUT THESE OTHER NEW FEATURES ON SLS’ WEBSITES!

•    New search engines powered by Google and IngentaConnect make gathering information from SLS’ publications easy. Search and download past issues of JSLS (Full text is available online 3 months after publication for free; new issues are available exclusively to members via password and login). A search of the SLS websites, powered by Google, is very effective for looking up the educational information available online. SLS prides itself on providing medical content from varied sources including journals, textbooks, conferences, forums and blogs.

•    SLS Guide: Writing Effectively for MIS Journal Publication. This is a concise guide for both experienced writers and novices. It provides an overview of the steps to writing and preparing a submission worthy paper to MIS journals.  Useful tips on how to present your information; preparing for writing; types of articles; outlining your paper; reviewing and editing your paper; how to prepare abstracts both structured and unstructured; and helpful references for more in-depth information are also available.

•    MIS Discussion Forum. SLS is also starting a discussion page that provides a means of exchanging information and ideas. The current topic of discussion is hernias. Michael S. Kavic, MD, has submitted the article “Tension-free Repair Versus Watchful Waiting for Men with Asymptomatic or Minimally Symptomatic Inguinal Hernias: a Cost-effectiveness Analysis” by Stroupe KT, et al, published in the Journal of the American College of Surgery 2006;203(4):458-468 to stimulate discussion. One can log on, ask questions, provide feedback, and read others’ comments.

•    The 1st edition of Prevention and Management of Laparoendoscopic Surgical Complications—full text and illustrations—is now free online to both members and nonmembers of SLS. The first printing of this classic textbook was a complete sellout and has been translated into Chinese and Portuguese. With RSS feed reader installed on your PDA, cellphone, or computer you can access this textbook anywhere.

•    Prevention and Management of Laparoendoscopic Surgical Complications, 2nd Edition, which is a completely revised edition with 57 chapters and contributions from over 100 authors, is available for purchase through the website. This textbook is now being used in over 95% of MIS training programs. SLS members receive a discount when they purchase this text.

•    SLS Annual Meeting and Endo Expo proceedings are available online beginning with the 15th SLS Annual Meeting and Endo Expo 2006 held in Boston, Massachusetts, and will continue with the 16th SLS Annual Meeting and Endo Expo 2007  taking place in San Francisco, California, September 5-8, 2007. Information and proceedings for future meetings, including syllabi, will also be available online.

What more could you want from a society website? Well, there IS more! SLS’ publication Laparoscopy Today now has an online counterpart, LaparoscopyToday.com, with an innovative “category cloud” (Figure 2). The category cloud identifies the hottest topics based on popularity. Site visitors can download all previous issues of Laparoscopy Today which contain membership news, scientific articles, and important information about minimally invasive surgery.

True to its mission of promoting high practice standards through education, training, and distributing information, SLS is providing the most current research findings and educational material to minimally invasive surgeons worldwide through its newly updated Web sites. See for yourself at www.SLS.org and www.LaparoscopyToday.com.

Correspondence: Paul Alan Wetter, MD, 7330 SW 62nd Place, Ste 410, Miami, FL 33143. Telephone: 305 665 9959, Fax: 305 667 4123

Paul Alan Wetter, MD, is Professor Emeritus, University of Miami School of Medicine; Chairman of the Society of Laparoendoscopic Surgeons, which he founded in 1990; Executive Editor of Laparoscopy Today; and Managing Editor of JSLS. He is the first gynecologist to bring endoscopic and microincision techniques for the treatment of tubal pregnancy, appendectomy, uterine fibroids, ovarian problems, and abnormal uterine bleeding to the State of Florida. He is also Florida’s first gynecologic surgeon to perform laparoscopic hysterectomy, laparoscopic appendectomy, and laparoscopic treatments for tubal pregnancy.

Ann Conti Morcos, MA, ELS, has been a medical writer/editor for 20 years. She is a member of the American Medical Writers Association, the Council of Science Editors, and is board certified by the Board of Editors in the Life Sciences. Her work has appeared in ADVANCE for Directors in Rehabilitation, ADVANCE for Nurse Practitioners, Annals of Internal Medicine, ASCO Daily News, Cardiology World News, CBS HealthWatch, Kids Health.org, Boy's Life Magazine, and others. She is the Copy Editor for JSLS, Journal of the Society of Laparoendoscopic Surgeons and the English-language editor for the Brazilian Archives of Cardiology. She also edits manuscripts for the Heart Institute (InCor) of the University of Sao Paulo Medical School in Sao Paulo, Brazil.

www.Laparoscopy.org  The Laparoscopic Surgery Information Source

16TH SLS ANNUAL MEETING: DON’T MISS THIS YEAR’S SPECIAL CONFERENCE EVENTS!

The Annual Meeting features four special events. The SPOUSE/GUEST WINE TOUR will whisk you away for a day to experience several wineries outside of San Francisco.

The SLS EVENING WITH FACULTY will be held at the Conservatory of Flowers. Join us for an evening of visual splendor, entertainment, and “Food among the Flowers.”

The EXCEL AWARD PRESENTATION AND LECTURE will feature 2007 Excel Award Recipient Elspeth M. McDougall, MD speaking on The Future of Surgery in Education.  

The BREAKFAST AND FUTURE TECHNOLOGY SESSION, titled The Edge of Innovation in Surgery, Space and Business, will feature three presentations on cutting edge technology in surgery.
 

Click here to view in-depth descriptions of Special Events.

www.Laparoscopy.org  The Laparoscopic Surgery Information Source

16th SLS Annual Meeting: Laparoscopy's First 100% Custom-Tailored Conference

By providing topic-specific schedules, SLS is making it easier for Annual Meeting attendees to meet their individual educational needs. Visit the Meeting Personalizer Page and select your area of interest to view your personalized curriculum for the 16th SLS Annual Meeting and Endo Expo 2007.

www.Laparoscopy.org  The Laparoscopic Surgery Information Source

THE SOCIETY OF LAPAROENDOSCOPIC SURGEONS, ITALY CHAPTER

The first international chapter of SLS, The Society of Laparoendoscopic Surgeons, Italy Chapter, was established last year as an expansion of SLS. Keeping intact the mission of the Society, this new chapter will promote and expand the purposes and goals of SLS in Italy. The officers for 2006 are Prof Rosario Vecchio, President; Dr Ornella Sizzi, Vice President, and Prof Ignazio Massimo Civello, Secretary-Treasurer.

www.Laparoscopy.org  The Laparoscopic Surgery Information Source