Laparoscopic Partial Nephrectomy: A Narrative Review and Comparison with Open and Robotic Partial Nephrectomy.

INTRODUCTION: Kidney cancer ranks among the top 10 most prevalent cancers in Western society, ∼90% of which are renal cell carcinomas. There has been a paradigm shift in the management of small renal masses with strong emphasis now placed on nephron-sparing surgery and increased utilization of laparoscopic approaches to partial nephrectomy. In this review, the current state of laparoscopic partial nephrectomy (LPN) is discussed. EVIDENCE ACQUISITION: The PubMed database was queried using the MeSH terms "laparoscopy" and "nephrectomy," as well as the search term "partial." A search was performed filtering for "clinical trial," "review," "humans", and "English." EVIDENCE SYNTHESIS: Articles that discussed intraoperative techniques, functional and oncologic outcomes, and a comparison between robot-assisted partial nephrectomy and LPN were synthesized. CONCLUSION: LPN reduces ischemia time, affords equivalent functional outcomes, oncologic outcomes, and equivalent complication rates compared with open partial nephrectomy. Future advances in laparoscopic technique and advancements in robotic technology offer potential to improve surgical and patient outcomes.

Highly sensitive reduced graphene oxide microelectrode array sensor.

Reduced graphene oxide (rGO) has been fabricated into a microelectrode array (MEA) using a modified nanoimprint lithography (NIL) technique. Through a modified NIL process, the rGO MEA was fabricated by a self-alignment of conducting Indium Tin Oxide (ITO) and rGO layer without etching of the rGO layer. The rGO MEA consists of an array of 10µm circular disks and microelectrode signature has been found at a pitch spacing of 60µm. The rGO MEA shows a sensitivity of 1.91nAµm(-1) to dopamine (DA) without the use of mediators or functionalization of the reduced graphene oxide (rGO) active layer. The performance of rGO MEA remains stable when tested under highly resistive media using a continuous flow set up, as well as when subjecting it to mechanical stress. The successful demonstration of NIL for fabricating rGO microelectrodes on flexible substrate presents a route for the large scale fabrication of highly sensitive, flexible and thin biosensing platform.