Annals of surgery
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To evaluate severe complications and mortality over years of independent practice among general surgeons. ⋯ Among general surgeons performing common operations, rates of mortality and severe complications were higher among newly graduated surgeons compared with later career surgeons.
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The aim of this study was to compare infectious complications in pancreatoduodenectomy (PD) patients with biliary stents treated with short, medium, or long durations of prophylactic antibiotics. ⋯ Among 310 PD patients with biliary stents, long-duration prophylactic antibiotics were associated with similar composite infection rates to short and medium durations but were used almost twice as often in high-risk patients. These findings may represent an opportunity to de-escalate antibiotic coverage and promote risk-stratified antibiotic stewardship in stented patients by aligning antibiotic duration with risk-stratified pancreatectomy clinical pathways.
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To determine the rate of emergency versus elective lower extremity amputations in the United States. ⋯ There is wide variation in the rate of emergency lower extremity amputations among Medicare beneficiaries, suggesting variable access to essential vascular care. Travel distance and rate of amputation have an inverse relationship, suggesting that barriers other than travel distance are playing a role.
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We analyze the ethics of sham surgical trials from a utilitarian perspective and explore whether patients can benefit from participating in these trials. ⋯ Patients often benefit from participating in sham surgery trials because the harms of the sham procedure are lower than the harms of the full procedure, which may turn out to be ineffective. Our results call for re-thinking the ethics of sham surgery trials.