Newsletter
Best Papers in General Surgery
The five that matter, every day.
Conversion surgery significantly improves survival outcomes in patients with positive responses to PD-1/PD-L1 inhibitor-based combined therapy for unresectable biliary tract cancer. Median progression-free survival and overall survival were significantly longer with conversion surgery compared to continued systemic therapy alone. The estimated 3-year survival rates post-surgery…
Utilizing mediastinal drains alone post-esophageal cancer surgery is safe and reduces postoperative pain. It can potentially replace closed thoracic drains, showing comparable results in terms of hyperthermia, leukocytes, drainage, hospitalization, and pulmonary complications. Early detection of abnormal drainage fluid is a significant benefit, with no…
Alcoholism, poor road conditions, and speeding contribute to severe injuries in motorcycle crashes in Barcelona. Elderly riders are less at risk, while those aged 25-40 face higher odds of injury. Both supervised and unsupervised techniques effectively identify these risk factors, emphasizing the need for enhanced…
Surgical and anesthesiology departments in high-income countries adapted to COVID-19 through staffing changes and task-shifting. A scoping review of 108 articles revealed these common strategies, emphasizing that well-resourced surgical systems were more resilient during the pandemic. However, the absence of reports from low-income countries suggests…
Ultrasound-guided subcostal approach of transversus abdominis plane (STAP) blocks offers superior postoperative analgesia compared to wound infiltration (WI) in patients undergoing laparoscopic cholecystectomy (LC). A meta-analysis of 6 randomized controlled trials (RCTs) with 314 participants showed significantly lower 24-hour opioid consumption and reduced pain scores…
High-volume and high-performance centers had lower risk-standardized mortality rates for hepato-pancreatobiliary procedures. Redistributing patients based on risk-standardized mortality rate may save more lives compared to volume-based redistribution. These findings suggest that risk-standardized mortality rate may be a superior measure of hospital quality in complex oncologic…
Endoscopic resection is a safe and effective method for treating intermediate- or high-risk gastric small gastrointestinal stromal tumors, with a 5-year overall survival rate of 97.4%. Close follow-up is necessary for these patients, but there were no recurrences or metastases observed, even among those with…
A meta-analysis of eight studies with 610 patients found that caffeine intake after colorectal surgery significantly reduces time to first bowel movement and time to first solid food intake. The data suggest that postoperative caffeine consumption can be a useful strategy to prevent postoperative ileus.…
Meta-analyses show that the WHO Surgical Safety Checklist is associated with lower complication and mortality rates. However, the studies in these analyses were mostly observational, with potential biases, leading to critically low overall confidence in the results. Using the AMSTAR 2 assessment tool, the systematic…
This study of 245 patients with locally advanced rectal cancer (LARC) found that post-treatment blood markers, such as platelet-to-lymphocyte ratio (PLR), predicted pathological complete response. The neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) at two treatment timepoints significantly predicted overall survival, while the platelet-neutrophil (PN) index was associated with…
