AW: [HSF] The fallacy of surgical research

[Hgrmd at aol.com]

Ani,
  Maybe we surgeons aren't as rigorous in setting up our studies as  our 
medical colleagues.  However, we do have the unequivocal satisfaction  of truly 
helping patients through our mechanical interventions.  How often  does an adult 
oncologist get that feeling when treating solid tumors?  That  82 yo man with 
the postinfarction VSD, MVR, CABG, TVR that I did last July 4th  came to see 
me in the office yesterday.  He had only mild DOE.   Otherwise, he was 
completely asymptomatic with no murmurs.  When I first  met him, he was in shock, 
intubated, anuric, with an IABP.  Do you need an  RCT to determine if we help 
patients like that?
  I believe Murray definitely deserved his Nobel Prize.  It's a  damn shame 
that Shumway never got his.  I also believe Carpentier should  get one.  All 
three of these physicians have, in aggregate, saved countless  thousands of 
lives through their untiring research, courage, and teaching.
 
Hal



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