Editor's Note Older cancer patients undergoing major abdominal procedures at Roger Williams Medical Center in Providence, Rhode Island, significantly benefitted from the American College of Surgeons (ACS) Geriatric Surgery Verification (GSV) program, Medical Xpress reported December 10. Citing a study published in the Journal of the American College of Surgeons,…

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Editor's Note Active monitoring for certain breast cancer patients offers similar outcomes to surgery with fewer side effects, according to research detailed in a December 16 article from Oncology News Central. Presented at the 2024 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium and published in JAMA, The COMET trial supports the safety…

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Editor's Note Skipping sentinel lymph node biopsy (SLNB) in patients with clinically node-negative early breast cancer provides noninferior outcomes compared to undergoing the procedure, MedPage Today reported December 13. Presented at the San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium and published in the New England Journal of Medicine, the INSEMA trial found…

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Editor's Note Perioperative immunotherapy is reshaping treatment strategies for early-stage non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) without actionable mutations, according to Dr. Roy S. Herbst of Yale Cancer Center. In a recent interview with OncLive, the oncology expert highlighted the promise of neoadjuvant and adjuvant therapies to improve outcomes for these…

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Editor's Note A scoping review of 15 studies reveals that the COVID-19 pandemic significantly disrupted oncological abdominal surgery (OAS), leading to postponed or canceled procedures, adoption of alternative treatment plans, and increased psychological stress among surgical teams. Published November 5 in the American Journal of Surgery, the findings emphasize the…

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Editor's Note Early surgical intervention should be prioritized over endoscopy-first treatment in managing chronic pancreatitis with dilated pancreatic ducts, according to the results of a follow-up study of the ESCAPE randomized clinical trial. Published November 20 in JAMA Surgery, the findings specifically highlight pain relief, patient satisfaction, and need for…

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Editor's Note Adverse events (AEs) remain widespread in perioperative care, affecting nearly one in three patients and resulting in substantial and often preventable patient harm, according to a retrospective cohort study published November 13 in The BMJ. The study analyzed 1,009 weighted admissions from a sample of 64,121 surgical patients…

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Editor's Note A recent study presented at the American Society of Anesthesiologists’ 2024 meeting reveals that a computerized mental health assessment, KCAT, may effectively identify anxiety and depression in pediatric surgical patients. According to an October 20 report in Anesthesiology News, the single-center pilot study involved 65 children aged 7…

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Editor's Note Kinematics-based AI similar to the technology behind ChatGPT enabled a multi-armed robot to learn new surgical techniques by watching video of human surgeons, according to a November 12 report in Healthday. “The robot is powered by the same AI that underpins ChatGPT, but instead of words and text,…

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Editor's Note Older adults face a significantly higher risk of complications including stroke and recurrent heart attacks if they undergo elective noncardiac surgeries soon after myocardial infarction, according to a University of Rochester study published October 30 in JAMA Surgery.  According to a University announcement, current guidelines from the American…

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