26th International Conference of the Society for Medical Innovation and Technology (SMIT).

Abstract

The Society for Medical Innovation and Technology is an international society, formed in 1989 under the name ‘‘Society for Minimally Invasive Therapy’’ by an innovative group of medical practitioners led by John Wickham. The society is dedicated to the multidisciplinary advancement of minimally invasive therapy in an attempt to reduce patient trauma arising from traditional surgical operations or radiological interventions. This is the first time for this conference to be hold in China. Shanghai is one of the most developed cities in China, and at the same time, it is also an important economy center. The conference was co-chaired by Dr. Chengli Song from China and Dr. William Meng from Hong Kong. The main theme this year was ‘‘Emerging for Impacting.’’ Speakers and guests came from different parts of the world shared their experience on the innovation in the techniques, surgical instruments, new materials, computer-assisted surgeries and robots, 3D printing techniques in surgical use, new technologies in endoscopy and cardiovascular disease, and finally research, training, and education. During the conference, Prof. Chan Hak-Kim from University of Sydney shared his new technology on the translational pulmonary drug delivery, while Prof. Yinghao Sun introduced his Sun’s flexible tip semirigid ureteroscope. Prof. George Hanna from Imperial College of London and Prof. Izumi Shin Ichi from Tohoku University both discussed about medical education, auditing and assessment, especially on the objective assessment of the quality of laparoscopic surgical performance. On the other hand, Prof. Arthur Erdman concentrated on how the physical and virtual medical device prototyping will solve our healthcare dilemma. Finally, both Prof. Richard M. Satava from University of Washington and Dr. Paul Alan Wetter stressed on the importance of the innovation in medical technology. Representatives from our society were also actively involved in the meeting (Fig. 1). Dr. Dennis Ng shared his experience on the endoscopic submucosal dissection (ESD) in the treatment of early colorectal tumor, with tips and tricks on how to perform a good colorectal ESD. From March 2009 to December 2013, there were total 71 patients who underwent ESD North District Hospital. The median operation time was 101 min, while the median postoperative hospital stay was 1 day. The median polyp size was 400 mm (25–1600 mm). Majority of them were adenomas (62/71), while only 12.7 % (9/71) were malignant lesions. Perforation was reported in 12 patients (16.9 %); only one patient required laparotomy, and all others were managed successfully with endoscopic methods. Recurrence was reported in 6.3 % of cases. The authors concluded that ESD is safe and feasible in the treatment of selected patients with colorectal polyps and early colorectal cancer. On the other hand, Dr. Irene Lo educated us on how the APACHE II score can be used in predicting mortality in laparotomy patients above 90 years old. A total of 70 patients aged 90 and above underwent emergency laparotomy over the 4-year period. Overall mortality within the & D. C. K. Ng dennis_ckng@yahoo.com.hk