The British journal of surgery
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The use of social media platforms among healthcare professionals is increasing. A Twitter social media campaign promoting the hashtag #colorectalsurgery was launched with the aim of providing a specialty-specific forum to collate discussions and science relevant to an engaged, global community of coloproctologists. This article reviews initial experiences of the early adoption, engagement and utilization of this pilot initiative. ⋯ Online global communities formed via healthcare-related hashtags, such as #colorectalsurgery, unify social media posts, scientists, surgeons and authors who have an interest in coloproctology. Furthermore, they facilitate greater connectivity among geographically separate users.
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Intraoperative nerve monitoring (IONM) provides dynamic neural information and is recommended for high-risk thyroid surgery. In this analysis, the cost-effectiveness of IONM in preventing bilateral recurrent laryngeal nerve (RLN) injury was investigated. ⋯ Use of IONM is cost-effective in patients undergoing bilateral thyroid surgery.
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Centralization of pancreatic surgery has resulted in improved short-term outcomes in a number of healthcare systems. The aim of this study was to see whether hospital volume influenced long-term prognosis, use of adjuvant therapy or histopathological evaluation of patients undergoing surgical resection for pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC). ⋯ Both short- and long-term survival was significantly better for patients operated on in HVCs. Histopathological analysis appears to be more comprehensive in HVCs.