Abstract
Not long ago before a New York audience of general surgeons I was asked the question: what will be the future of esophageal surgery? My answer, based on personal sagacity, conjecture and guesses, was designed not to speculate what is to be, but to stimulate what could be. In short, I said General Surgery will be forced into subspecialization and esophageal will become part of a subspecialty called Foregut Surgery. The reason for my prediction was the existence of strong forces that are pushing general surgery in this direction. The movement towards sub-specialization is a natural phenomenon. Stones drop, water wets, fire burns and knowledge begets sub-specialization. Resistance to this natural process can slow it down, but can never stop the inevitable flow from reaching its natural end. The working schema of this natural process is: new knowledge fosters specialization, specialization fosters new technology, and new technology fosters new knowledge. By this process the present becomes history and the future labeled progress.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Inoue H, Minami H, Kobayashi Y et al (2010) Peroral endoscopic myotomy (POEM) for esophageal achalasia. Endoscopy 265(42):265–271
Bell RH Jr, Biester TW, Tabuenca A et al (2009) Operative experience of residents in US general surgery programs: a gap between expectation and experience. Ann Surg 249:719–724
Ritchie WP Jr, Rhodes RS, Biester TW (1999) Work loads and practice patterns of general surgeons in the United States, 1995–1997: a report from the American Board of Surgery. Ann Surg 230:533–543
Khuri SF, Henderson WG, Daley J et al (2008) Successful implementation of the Department of Veterans Affairs’ National Surgical Quality ImproveÂment Program in the private sector: the Patient Safety in Surgery study. Ann Surg 248:329–336
Gawande AA, Zinner MJ, Studdert DM, Brennan TA (2003) Analysis of errors reported by surgeons at three teaching hospitals. Surgery 133:614–621
Fabri PJ, Zayas-Castro JL (2008) Human error, not communication and systems, underlies surgical complications. Surgery 144:557–563
Dimick JB, Goodney PP, Orringer MB, Birkmeyer JD (2005) Specialty training and mortality after esophageal cancer resection. Ann Thorac Surg 80:282–286
Dimick JB, Birkmeyer JD, Upchurch GR Jr (2005) Measuring surgical quality: what’s the role of provider volume? World J Surg 29:1217–1221
Birkmeyer JD, Siewers AE, Finlayson EV et al (2002) Hospital volume and surgical mortality in the United States. N Engl J Med 346:1128–1137
Begg CB, Cramer LD, Hoskins WJ, Brennan MF (1998) Impact of hospital volume on operative mortality for major cancer surgery. JAMA 280:1747–1751
Oral report given by Dr. Frank Lewis, Executive Director of the American Board of Surgery, to the 2011 meeting of the American Surgical Association
Bell RH Jr (2009) Why Johnny cannot operate. Surgery 146:533–542
Gawande AA (2001) Creating the educated surgeon in the 21st century. Am J Surg 181:551–556
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2012 Springer-Verlag Italia
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
DeMeester, T.R. (2012). The Future of Esophageal Surgery. In: Bonavina, L. (eds) Innovation in Esophageal Surgery. Springer, Milano. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-88-470-2469-4_16
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-88-470-2469-4_16
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Milano
Print ISBN: 978-88-470-2468-7
Online ISBN: 978-88-470-2469-4
eBook Packages: MedicineMedicine (R0)