Bulletin No. 2, 2009

Research   45  Research Research on Single-Incision Laparoscopic Appendectomy Bears Fruit T he CUHK Depar tment of Surger y applied with success the new technique of single-incision laparoscopic operation on seven cases involving patients with a clinical diagnosis of acute appendicitis. There was no major postoperative complication. All patients were able to resume oral intake on day one and were discharged on day two. Single-incision laparoscopic appendectomy is a novel, feasible and safe treatment approach for acute appendicitis. It has the advantages of less wound pain, faster recovery and significantly better cosmetic outcome compared to standard laparoscopic appendectomy. Silent Cerebral Infarct Found to Worsen Glaucoma A pioneering study by CUHK has identified a new relationship between silent cerebral infarct and the deterioration of normal tension glaucoma. This poses more evidence against the old belief that glaucoma is a disease due only to high eye pressure. A prospective three-year study of 286 patients with normal tension glaucoma (NTG) demonstrated that patients with silent cerebral infarcts, an asymptomatic stroke-precursor condition, were 61% more likely to have worsened NTG than those without. The result is consistent with a growing body of evidence that vascular factors are likely to be involved in normal tension glaucoma. The results of this study were published in Ophthalmology , the official journal of the American Academy of Ophthalmology, a leading authority in the field.