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A perfect match: The story of robotics in gynaecology

Dear Editor, The first use of surgical robotics started in the domain of orthopaedic and urological surgery. However, it was the initial concept of using...

Middle-aged woman with painless neck swelling

A 57-year-old woman presented with a 2-month history of an asymptomatic left neck lump. She is a non-smoker, does not drink alcohol, and has...

Robotic surgery in morbidly obese women with endometrial cancer in Singapore

Dear Editor, The standard of care for endometrial cancer is a total hysterectomy with bilateral salpingo-oophorectomy, and pelvic lymph node dissection (THBSO-PLND). Obesity is a...

Association between self-care and chronic kidney disease in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus

Dear Editor, Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is one of the key complications occurring in 25–40% of patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM).1 Our...

Surgical margins assessment reduces re-excision rates in breast-conserving surgery

Dear Editor, Breast-conserving surgery (BCS) followed by radiation therapy for breast cancer offers improved cosmetic results and comparable long-term survival rates as mastectomy.1 However,...

A recurring nasal mass

A 56-year-old Chinese man presented to the Ear, Nose and Throat clinic with months of unilateral right-sided nasal obstruction. He reported occasional mucopurulent discharge...

National surgical antibiotic prophylaxis guideline in Singapore

Surgical antibiotic prophylaxis (SAP) refers to the administration of antibiotics prior to clean and clean-contaminated surgeries to prevent postoperative surgical site infections (SSIs). An...

Iatrogenic atrial septal defect after catheter ablation—to close or not to close?

Dear Editor, Transseptal access to the left heart is increasingly performed for electrophysiological procedures and for structural heart disease interventions such as balloon mitral valvuloplasty...

Intravascular large B-cell lymphoma associated with sudden stridor arising from thyroid mucormycosis and concomitant bacterial infection

Dear Editor, Mucormycosis is a life-threatening fungal infection that mainly affects immunocompromised patients. It typically has low prevalence, but fatality rate is as high...

Current Management of Early Vulvar Cancer

Carcinoma of the vulva is an uncommon malignancy, but one that is amenable to early diagnosis if symptoms and signs are appropriately investigated. Although...

Traumatic Dislocation of the Testes

Traumatic dislocation of the testes is uncommon. The first case was reported by Claubry in 1818 in Paris, when a 20-year-old soldier was run...

Percutaneous Needle Aspiration in the Treatment of Hepatic Abscess: Factors Influencing Patients’ Outcome

Liver abscess traditionally has been treated by open surgical drainage, mortality rates being as high as 80% to 100% if left untreated. However, with...

The Role of Multiple Segment Osteotomies in Orthognathic Surgery

Multiple segment osteotomy (MSO) orthognathic surgery serves to combine total or segmental maxillary and mandibular correction of dentofacial deformities with concurrent diastematic procedures to...

Direct Mucosal Targeting of Colonic Receptors by Prokinetic Drugs in an Experimental Model

The direct intraluminal (IL) administration of drugs into the intestine may have an important regional action and therefore clinical implications in the effective management...

Graves’ disease after COVID-19 vaccination

Dear Editor, Case 1 was a 41-year-old man with a history of primary hyperthyroidism. At the time of diagnosis, thyroglobulin antibodies were elevated although no...

Impact of COVID-19 infections among kidney transplant recipients

Dear Editor, More than 2 years since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, cases continue to climb despite global efforts at viral control. This is...

Paediatric living-donor liver and kidney transplantation during COVID-19

Dear Editor, The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has impacted global healthcare including paediatric solid organ transplantation (SOT). We report our experience of resuming paediatric...

Incidence and risk factors of delirium in post-anaesthesia care unit

Post-anaesthesia care unit (PACU) delirium is defined as a disorder in thought processes that affect cognition in terms of memory, comprehension and attention.1 It...

Remifentanil in the Management of Laparoscopic Resection of Phaeochromocytoma – Case Reports

The perioperative management of surgery for laparoscopic resection of phaeochromocytoma presents a significant challenge. Many different anaesthetic techniques and drugs have been used to...

A Case of a Diaphragmatic Rupture Complicated With Lacerations of Stomach and Spleen Caused by a Violent Cough Presenting With Mediastinal Shift

Diaphragmatic rupture is a recognised consequence of high-velocity blunt trauma to the abdomen and chest and also has been reported in 0% to 5%...

Infected Pancreatic Necrosis – An Evaluation of the Timing and Technique of Necrosectomy in a Southeast Asian Population

The management of necrotising pancreatitis has improved significantly over the last 2 decades, with a corresponding improvement in mortality rates. This improvement is largely...

Newborn Screening in Pakistan – Lessons from a Hospital-based Congenital Hypothyroidism Screening Programme

This article is available only as a PDF. Please click on “Download PDF” on top to view the full article.

The Relationship between Postoperative Complications and Outcomes after Hip Fracture Surgery

Hip fractures constitute a major health concern for older persons and are associated with significant morbidity and mortality, with 1-year mortality rates ranging from...

Induction Concurrent Chemoradiotherapy Using Paclitaxel and Carboplatin Combination Followed by Surgery in Locoregionally Advanced Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer – Asian Experience

Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer mortality in Singapore. The age standardised incidence rate is 45 per 100,000/year. This article is available only...

Surgical Training in Singapore: Will Patients Consent to Trainee Surgeons Performing Their Operations?

Teaching, training, appraising and assessing doctors and students are important for the care of patients now and in the future.1 In most hospitals, trainee...

The Role of Electrophysiology in the Diagnosis and Management of Cervical Spondylotic Myelopathy

Cervical spondylosis is an extremely common condition managed by both physicians and surgeons in daily clinical practice. Cervical spondylotic myelopathy (CSM), resulting from longstanding...

An End to “See One, Do One and Teach One” Residency Training Programme – Impact of the Training, Education, Surgical Accreditation and Assessment (TESA) Programme on Medical Care and Patients’ Safety†

The delivery of good medical care and the safety of patients are of utmost importance in all healthcare systems. Indeed, healthcare providers need to...

From a “Generalist” Medical Graduate to a “Specialty” Resident: Can an Entry-level Assessment Facilitate the Transition? Assessing the Preparedness Level of New Surgical Trainees

Undergraduate medical education is considered a continuum leading into postgraduate training and ultimately medical practice.1 To this effect, it has been suggested that measures...

The Role of Surgery in High-grade Glioma – Is Surgical Resection Justified? A Review of the Current Knowledge

High-grade glioma (malignant glioma) is the most common primary intra-axial tumour of the central nervous system (CNS). Despite recent therapeutic advances in glioma treatment,...

Incidence of Cancer in Nodular Goitres

The incidence of malignancy in multinodular goitres have been found to vary from 4% to 17%.1 The incidence of malignancy in solitary nodules is...

Mohs micrographic surgery in Singapore: A long-term follow-up review

Dear Editor, Mohs micrographic surgery (MMS) has become the treatment of choice for high-risk non-melanoma skin cancers (NMSC) worldwide.1 Unlike wide local excision, MMS...

5th College of Surgeons Lectureship: Surgery beyond Scalpels

The training of surgeons composed of two aspects: (1) Clinical skill and competence; (2) The ‘soft’ skill and ‘art’ of surgery. With the gradual...

Surgical Metastasectomy in AJCC Stage IV M1c Melanoma Patients with Gastrointestinal and Liver Metastases

The prognosis of patients with stage IV melanoma or recurrent melanoma is poor with an estimated median survival period of 6 months. The recent...

Renojejunal Fistula: An Extremely Rare Form of Renoenteric Fistula

Obstructive calculous disease of the kidney often results in infectious complications such as pyelonephritis and perinephric abscesses. Renojejunal fistula formation may occur as the...

Submandibular Mass Excision in an Asian Population: A 10-year Review

Submandibular masses are common presenting complaints in the outpatient setting. The differential diagnosis of a submandibular mass lesion can be salivary gland pathology, lymph...

Early Outcome Following Emergency Gastrectomy

Emergency gastrectomy has been associated with high morbidity and mortality rates. These complications arise as a direct consequence following the procedure, such as duodenal...

Routine intraoperative frozen section adds little value to the management of thyroid nodules with Bethesda III cytology

Dear Editor, We would like to highlight the need to reduce intraoperative frozen section (FS) during diagnostic hemithyroidectomy performed on thyroid nodules with Bethesda III...

Managing buccal space tumours

Dear Editor, The buccal space is an infrequently addressed fascial space of the head and neck region. Intrinsic tumours of the buccal space are...

Get “Real” with Hysteroscopy Using the Pig Bladder: A “Uterine” Model for Hysteroscopy Training

Hysteroscopy is an important surgical component of any training programme in gynaecology. Traditionally, surgical training in hysteroscopy occurred in the operating room where trainees...

A Novel “Box Lesion” Minimally Invasive Totally Thoracoscopic Surgical Ablation for Atrial Fibrillation

  Atrial fibrillation (AF) is the most common and severe cardiac arrhythmia. It affects 0.4% to 1% of the general population, and the prevalence of...

A maxillary sinus mass

A 55-year-old Chinese woman presented to the ear, nose and throat clinic with a 6-month history of left-sided blood-stained mucus. It was dark brown...

Rapidly progressive ulcer in an older woman

A fit and well 78-year-old woman with no significant past medical history presented to the Emergency Department with large painless perianal ulcers. It started...

Joint preserving surgery for osteoarthritis of the big toe using a cartilage-like implant

Dear Editor, Osteoarthritis of the big toe (hallux rigidus) is a common arthritic condition of the first metatarsophalangeal joint (MTPJ), beginning with stiffness, pain...

A survey of Singapore anaesthesiologists for practice and prevention of peri-operative hypothermia in adult surgical patients

Core temperature is the temperature of blood and internal organs; influenced by biorhythm, metabolism, activity and hormones. It is regulated within a narrow range,...

Pilot study of single-session radiofrequency ablation of benign thyroid nodules in Singapore

Radiofrequency ablation (RFA) has been shown to be safe and efficacious in the treatment of benign thyroid nodules. Ion agitation during RFA generates high...

Impact of Chronic Kidney Disease on Outcomes in Transcatheter Aortic Valve Implantation

With improvements in device technology as well as increasing experience, transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI) has replaced open surgical aortic valve implantation as the...