Annals of surgery
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To assess the research productivity, career advancement, grant funding, and scholarly impact of international medical graduates (IMGs) in academic cardiothoracic surgery. ⋯ IMGs represent a more junior cohort of surgeons but contribute significantly to the cardiothoracic surgery workforce, with comparable academic success. Policy efforts to streamline IMGs' path toward US practice could help alleviate surgical shortages, while enhancing diversity and strengthening academia.
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To understand how breast cancer patients experience the surgical decision process and identify strategies surgeons can employ to empower patients to engage in decision-making. ⋯ Surgeons can empower patients to engage in decision-making by getting to know patients as individuals, ensuring all treatment options are presented, and integrating patient preferences into the decision process. Through these actions, surgeons can help patients with varied preferences for decision-making engage in making high quality decisions that reflect patients' priorities. These suggestions may have the greatest impact on socially disadvantaged patients and help to reduce disparities in care.
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To validate the prognostic value of the PAncreatic NeoAdjuvant MAssachusetts (PANAMA)-score and to determine its predictive ability for survival benefit derived from adjuvant treatment in patients after resection of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) following neoadjuvant FOLFIRINOX. ⋯ The PANAMA 3-tier risk groups (low-risk, intermediate-risk, and high-risk, available via pancreascalculator.com) correspond with differential survival in patients with resected PDAC following neoadjuvant FOLFIRINOX. The risk groups also differentiate between survival benefit associated with adjuvant treatment, with only the intermediate- and high-risk groups associated with improved OS.
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To determine the prevalence of intrahospital oral benzodiazepine use in the surgical population of a tertiary care centre. ⋯ In this study, one fifth of patients admitted to surgical departments were administered oral benzodiazepines for sleep disturbances and anxiety. Future research and policies should focus on finding and implementing effective non-pharmacological methods for perioperative sleep disturbances and anxiety.
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To identify strategies to prevent and treat delayed gastric emptying (DGE) after pancreatic surgery. ⋯ This systematic review of RCTs identified 12 strategies which reduced the rate of DGE grade B/C after pancreatic surgery but no effective treatment strategy. Of the 12 preventive strategies, only minimally-invasive left pancreatectomy was confirmed effective in a meta-analysis. Future RCTs should focus on both prevention and treatment of DGE after pancreatic surgery.