Blood-Management Programs: A Clinical and Administrative Model with Program Implementation Strategies.
By Christopher Tokin; Jose Almeda, MD; Saurabh Jain, MD, MRCS; Jennifer Kim; Randy Henderson; Mitra Nadim, MD; Linda Sher, MD; Robert R Selby, MD

Blood-management programs ensure that patients can access treatment without having to forfeit their beliefs, through an enlightened approach to medical and surgical treatment that can be used to benefit the Jehovah’s witness population and the general population. The authors review a comprehensive approach to blood conservation, including acute normovolemic hemodilution simultaneous removal of the patient’s blood and its replacement with a nonblood product.
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Medical, Surgical, and Endoscopic Management of Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease.
By Deron J Tessier, MD

This article reviews the pathophysiology, presentation, workup, treat-ment, and emerging therapies for GERD with an emphasis on surgical management and outcomes to help primary care physicians have a better understanding of the role of surgery in this complex disease.
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National Practice Recommendations for Hematuria: How to Evaluate in the Absence of Strong Evidence?
By Ronald Loo, MD; Joel Whittaker, MPH;
Violeta Rabrenivich, MHA, CHIE

Hematuria is one of the most common conditions confronting clinical urologists, and generalists, however the existing lack of scientific evidence has created variations in clinical practice. Consequently, many patients with microscopic or gross hematuria undergo low-yield workups that include invasive testing and imaging with radiation. As a response, a national group of KP urology chiefs developed national practice recommendations.
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Laparoscopic Surgery for Rectal Cancer.
By Adrian Indar, MD, MBBS, FRCS, DM; Jonathan Efron, MD, FACS, FASCRS

Because of the confined space within the pelvis, laparoscopic surgery for rectal cancer is much more challenging than that for colon cancer, particularly maintenance of resection margins. Nonrandomized studies have shown both that it produces short-term outcomes equivalent to open surgery, performed safely from an oncologic perspective. This review summarizes the technical considerations, early outcomes, late outcomes, costs, and complications.
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