NATIONAL HARBOR, MD. – The biggest theme of the 2017 AAGL Global Congress was the importance of understanding anatomy, Charles E. Miller, MD, a minimally invasive gynecologic surgeon in Naperville, Ill., and past president of the AAGL, said at the meeting.
“It’s about doing surgery in the right place, in the right space,” he said.
One of the advantages of this year’s Congress is a greater emphasis on cadaveric dissections, Dr. Miller said during an interview. “Understanding how the nerves are placed, how the vessels are in place, the muscles and the different spaces, and how that all relates to our most complex dissections.”
In a presentation on neuropelveology, Michael Hibner, MD, and Mario Castellanos, MD, of St. Joseph’s Hospital and Medical Center, Phoenix, performed a live cadaveric dissection showing how to deal with a trapped pudendal nerve, working over the gluteus maximus and dissecting down.
In a video session, surgeons demonstrated a needleless robotic-assisted transabdominal cerclage. The nonneedle procedure used a unique, posterior placement of the cerclage knot, a technique which Dr. Miller said he plans to use in his own practice.
The incorporation of colleagues from around the country, and around the world, was another strength of this year’s Congress, said Dr. Miller, particularly a presentation from a Chinese ob.gyn. association on isthmoceles. “To be able to see that this transcends miles upon miles upon miles, but yet we’re seeing the same type of problems, is quite interesting,” he said.
ezimmerman@frontlinemedcom.com
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